diff --git a/src/winml/modelkit/loader/resolution.py b/src/winml/modelkit/loader/resolution.py
index 871c7c817..8f9425d80 100644
--- a/src/winml/modelkit/loader/resolution.py
+++ b/src/winml/modelkit/loader/resolution.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 
 from .task import (
     HF_TASK_DEFAULTS,
+    KNOWN_TASKS,
     get_default_task_for_model_id,
     get_supported_tasks,
     normalize_task,
@@ -253,6 +254,7 @@ class TaskSource(str, Enum):
     SENTINEL_DEFAULT = "sentinel-default"  # (model_type, None) sentinel
     TASKS_MANAGER = "tasks-manager"  # Optimum inference (incl. fill-mask upgrade)
     WRAPPED_LIBRARY = "wrapped-library"  # no architectures -> first supported task
+    PIPELINE_TAG = "pipeline-tag"  # Hub pipeline_tag fallback
     HF_TASK_DEFAULT = "hf-task-default"  # last-resort default
 
 
@@ -440,8 +442,8 @@ def resolve_task(
     """Resolve a single model's task + class from an HF config.
 
     Stages: 0 user override -> 1 detect (override / no-architectures /
-    TasksManager / default) -> 2 model class -> 3 modality upgrade
-    (detection path only) -> 4 composite tag.
+    TasksManager / pipeline-tag / default) -> 2 model class -> 3 modality
+    upgrade (detection path only) -> 4 composite tag.
 
     ``model_type_override`` lets a caller drive resolution with a build variant
     (e.g. ``qwen3_transformer_only``) without mutating the loaded HF config; when
@@ -572,6 +574,17 @@ def resolve_task(
         except ValueError:
             opt_task = None
 
+    # 1e. Hub pipeline_tag fallback
+    if opt_task is None and model_id:
+        from ..utils.hub_utils import get_pipeline_tag
+
+        tag = get_pipeline_tag(model_id)
+        if tag:
+            normalized_tag = normalize_task(tag)
+            if normalized_tag in KNOWN_TASKS:
+                opt_task = normalized_tag
+                source = TaskSource.PIPELINE_TAG
+
     # 1d. last-resort default
     if opt_task is None:
         opt_task = next(iter(HF_TASK_DEFAULTS))
diff --git a/src/winml/modelkit/utils/hub_utils.py b/src/winml/modelkit/utils/hub_utils.py
index d45adf87f..a62876d98 100644
--- a/src/winml/modelkit/utils/hub_utils.py
+++ b/src/winml/modelkit/utils/hub_utils.py
@@ -144,6 +144,28 @@ def is_hub_model(model_name_or_path: str) -> tuple[bool, dict]:
         return False, {"type": "local", "path": model_name_or_path}
 
 
+_PIPELINE_TAG_TIMEOUT = 10  # seconds
+
+
+def get_pipeline_tag(model_id: str) -> str | None:
+    """Return the Hub ``pipeline_tag`` for *model_id*, or ``None``.
+
+    Lightweight helper that skips the full metadata extraction of
+    ``is_hub_model``. Returns ``None`` (never raises) when *model_id* is a
+    local path, the Hub is unreachable, or the model has no tag.
+    """
+    if _is_local_path(model_id):
+        return None
+    try:
+        from huggingface_hub import HfApi
+
+        info = HfApi().model_info(model_id, timeout=_PIPELINE_TAG_TIMEOUT)
+        return getattr(info, "pipeline_tag", None)
+    except Exception:
+        logger.debug("pipeline_tag lookup failed for '%s'", model_id, exc_info=True)
+        return None
+
+
 def inject_hub_metadata(onnx_model: Any, model_name_or_path: str, metadata: dict) -> None:
     """Inject HuggingFace Hub metadata into ONNX model.
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/loader/test_detect_task.py b/tests/unit/loader/test_detect_task.py
index e2a39aea6..8b8745488 100644
--- a/tests/unit/loader/test_detect_task.py
+++ b/tests/unit/loader/test_detect_task.py
@@ -228,3 +228,58 @@ def test_resolve_task_case1_surfaces_modality_aware_task() -> None:
         r = resolve_task(cfg)
     assert r.task == "image-feature-extraction"
     assert r.optimum_task == "feature-extraction"
+
+
+# =============================================================================
+# Stage 1e — Hub pipeline_tag fallback
+# =============================================================================
+
+_GET_PIPELINE_TAG = "winml.modelkit.utils.hub_utils.get_pipeline_tag"
+
+
+def test_resolve_task_uses_pipeline_tag_when_architecture_fails() -> None:
+    """When config.architectures contains a generic name (e.g. 'Model') that
+    TasksManager cannot resolve, the Hub pipeline_tag is used as fallback."""
+    cfg = _FakeConfig("faketype", name_or_path="audeering/wav2vec2-large-robust-24-ft-age-gender")
+    with (
+        patch(_INFER, side_effect=ValueError("unknown arch")),
+        patch(_GET_PIPELINE_TAG, return_value="audio-classification"),
+    ):
+        r = resolve_task(cfg)
+    assert r.task == "audio-classification"
+    assert r.source == TaskSource.PIPELINE_TAG
+
+
+def test_resolve_task_pipeline_tag_skips_invalid_task() -> None:
+    """When pipeline_tag is not a recognized task, falls through to last-resort default."""
+    cfg = _FakeConfig("faketype", name_or_path="someone/some-model")
+    with (
+        patch(_INFER, side_effect=ValueError("unknown arch")),
+        patch(_GET_PIPELINE_TAG, return_value="not-a-real-task"),
+    ):
+        r = resolve_task(cfg)
+    assert r.source == TaskSource.HF_TASK_DEFAULT
+
+
+def test_resolve_task_pipeline_tag_handles_api_failure() -> None:
+    """When the Hub API call fails (network error, etc.), get_pipeline_tag returns None."""
+    cfg = _FakeConfig("faketype", name_or_path="someone/some-model")
+    with (
+        patch(_INFER, side_effect=ValueError("unknown arch")),
+        patch(_GET_PIPELINE_TAG, return_value=None),
+    ):
+        r = resolve_task(cfg)
+    assert r.source == TaskSource.HF_TASK_DEFAULT
+
+
+def test_resolve_task_pipeline_tag_skips_local_path() -> None:
+    """When model_id is a local path, get_pipeline_tag is still called but returns None
+    (local-path rejection is internal to get_pipeline_tag)."""
+    cfg = _FakeConfig("faketype", name_or_path="./local-model")
+    with (
+        patch(_INFER, side_effect=ValueError("unknown arch")),
+        patch(_GET_PIPELINE_TAG, return_value=None) as mock_tag,
+    ):
+        r = resolve_task(cfg)
+    mock_tag.assert_called_once_with("./local-model")
+    assert r.source == TaskSource.HF_TASK_DEFAULT