After coming close on more than one occasion over the past two years, Joshua Giddings has finally secured his first professional victory by winning the opening stage of the Tour of Taihu Lake 2026 in China. At the finish line in Tangshan (the arrival point of a 96.5-kilometre stage starting from Nanjing), the twenty-three-year-old from Nottingham got the better of last year's Chinese race winner Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana) and Cameron Scott (Li Ning Star) in a thrilling sprint, inaugurating in the best possible way his Lotto Intermarchè team's venture into the Far East.

The latter, which has now reached thirteen seasonal victories (five of which obtained on Asian soil), will see the young British rider wearing the overall leader's jersey tomorrow in the longest stage of the short .1 category stage race, the Changxing-Changxing of 153.2 kilometres, which, barring any late-race moves, should once again be decided by the fast men.

It is therefore likely that those who will throw themselves into the fray in 24 hours will be the same riders we admired in today's sprint, including Alexander Konychev (China Anta - Mentech Cycling Team), who finished ninth and was the second Italian in the top ten at the end of the opening stage.

STAGE RESULTS

1. Joshua Giddings (Lotto Intermarchè) 2:08:11

2. Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana Team) s.t.

3. Cameron Scott (Li Ning Star) s.t.

4. Dušan Rajović (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali) s.t.

5. Gleb Syritsa (XDS Astana Team) s.t.

6. Hodei Muñoz (Euskaltel - Euskadi) s.t.

7. Luke Mudgway (Li Ning Star) s.t.

8. Paul Hennequin (Euskaltel - Euskadi) s.t.

9. Alexander Konychev (China Anta - Mentech Cycling Team) s.t.

10. Luke Verburg (Azerion / Villa Valkenburg) s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Joshua Giddings (Lotto Intermarchè) 2:07:58

2. Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana Team) +0:07

3. Cameron Scott (Li Ning Star) +0:09

4. Su Haoyu (XDS Astana Team) +0:10

5. Luke Mudgway (Li Ning Star) +0:11

6. Lucas De Rossi (China Anta - Mentech Cycling Team) +0:11

7. Alexander Konychev (China Anta - Mentech Cycling Team) +0:12

8. Matthew Fox (Lotto Intermarchè) +0:12

9. Dušan Rajović (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali) +0:13

10. Gleb Syritsa (XDS Astana Team) +0:13

OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS

Points Classification: Joshua Giddings (Lotto Intermarchè)

Best Young Rider: Joshua Giddings (Lotto Intermarchè)