The 2026 Giro d'Italia opens on Friday May 8 in Bulgaria with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) as the clearest pre-race favourite for the corsa rosa.
Racing begins on the shores of the Black Sea in Nessebar and travels along the coastline to Burgas before heading inland for the second and third stages of this new Grande Partenza location with Burgas hosting the start of stage two finishing in Veliko Tarnovo before the third day from Plovdiv to the Bulgarian capital of Sofia finishes the time away from Italy.
The riders cover the 21 stages over a distance of 3,468km with seven summit finishes and a single 40.2km individual time trial. It couldn't be more set up for the Danish superstar and reigning Vuelta a España champion, Jonas Vingegaard. The Visma | Lease a Bike man comes into the race off the back of two commanding wins at Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya where he took two stages in each race. He has been clear from the off this season. "The goal is to win the Giro."
Vingegaard has been made to look like the absolute standout favourite even more so by the fact that João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) pulled out after lingering illness, saying: "I just won't quite be ready." With Basque star, Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) out with a pelvic fracture. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) became the latest contender to withdraw, still recovering from surgery. All these absentees means that Vingegaard faces challenges from fewer directions.
The race is unpredictable by its very nature, though. And we have seen some incredible surprises over the three weeks on multiple occasions. It is by no means a foregone conclusion. And Vingegaard will need to be wary of going too hard as he plans to race the Tour de France this year as well.
Race Stages
21 Stages • 3,469km total
| Stage | Date | Route | Distance | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 8 | Nessebar - Burgas | 147 km | flat |
| 2 | May 9 | Burgas - Veliko Tarnovo | 221 km | hilly |
| 3 | May 10 | Plovdiv - Sofia | 175 km | flat |
| 4 | May 12 | Catanzaro - Cosenza | 138 km | flat |
| 5 | May 13 | Praia a Mare - Potenza | 203 km | hilly |
| 6 | May 14 | Paestum - Napoli | 142 km | flat |
| 7 | May 15 | Formia - Blockhaus | 244 km | mountain |
| 8 | May 16 | Chieti - Fermo | 156 km | hilly |
| 9 | May 17 | Cervia - Corno alle Scale | 184 km | hilly |
| 10 | May 19 | Viareggio - Massa (ITT) | 42 km | itt |
| 11 | May 20 | Porcari - Chiavari | 195 km | hilly |
| 12 | May 21 | Imperia - Novi Ligure | 175 km | flat |
| 13 | May 22 | Alessandria - Verbania | 189 km | hilly |
| 14 | May 23 | Aosta - Pila (Gressan) | 133 km | mountain |
| 15 | May 24 | Voghera - Milano | 157 km | flat |
| 16 | May 26 | Bellinzona - Carì | 113 km | mountain |
| 17 | May 27 | Cassano d'Adda - Andalo | 202 km | hilly |
| 18 | May 28 | Fai della Paganella - Pieve di Soligo | 171 km | flat |
| 19 | May 29 | Feltre - Alleghe (Piani di Pezzè) | 151 km | mountain |
| 20 | May 30 | Gemona del Friuli - Piancavallo | 200 km | mountain |
| 21 | May 31 | Roma - Roma | 131 km | flat |
The field around him
Most would say that, based on the form guide, the man most likely to properly challenge Vingegaard is the young Italian, Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), the 22-year-old Italian comes to the race with a strong team around him including former Giro champion, Jai Hindley. He won the recent Tour of the Alps, which has become a key race for riders building form towards the first Grand Tour of the year. This is the first time that Pellizzari it properly leading a team in the GC fight after sharing the role with Hindley at La Vuelta last year. This may be the tactic again here.
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) will be hoping that he can follow what his twin brother managed last year and win the whole race. Simon Yates retired at the start of this year after winning a truly miraculous full circle where he took pink on a stage which took on the climb where he so unceremoniously lost it to Chris Froome in 2018. Adam will want to grasp the chance to go for the GC. The team's full focus will be on the rider from Greater Manchester with Almeida unable to race. He should have strong support, however, with the whole team being packed with talent such as Jay Vine, Marc Soler, Igor Arrieta, Jan Christen, Jhonatan Narváez and others. The team alone will really put pressure on Visma | Lease a Bike and Vingegaard.
A new name will appear for the first time on the start line in Nessebar, Netcompany-Ineos bring a very strong lineup of riders led by the co-leaders of Thymen Arensman and former winner Egan Bernal. Other names to watch for would be the pure climber, Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), who has shown this season how he has taken a step forward in his climbing but lacks that ability on the descents, seeing his Catalunya podium hopes dashed because of it. Michael Storer (Tudor) comes to the race with a strong showing of building form at the Tour of the Alps but not the dominance of last year as he hopes to manage his form to peak during the Giro where he finished 10th last year.
Beyond that, Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) should never be counted out. Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) fills the shoes of injured Juan Ayuso but the Canadian champion has the exceptional back up of Giulio Ciccone as well. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) isn't confirmed to be riding yet but should be one of the main focuses for his team. Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla), Alessandro Pinarello (NSN) and Johannes Kulset (Uno-X Mobility) complete the likely contenders for the overall.
A win to prove a point
One team that comes to the Giro d'Italia is making their debut in a Grand Tour and wants to start their three week journey with a bang. Unibet Rose Rockets are a second division French registered team that have been given a wildcard place for the Giro d'Italia by RCS Sport after the organisers of the Tour de France, ASO, snubbed the French registered team in favour of Spanish squad, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA.
They come to the Giro, then, to prove a point with a very clear target: "Our clear objective is to win a stage." Their main focus is all on the sprints with their rejuvenated Dutch sprinter, Dylan Groenewegen. He has had four wins this season already with a win on his very first day of the season in the Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana before winning at Bredene Koksijde, GP Monseré and the Ronde van Brugge, the latter handing the team their first WorldTour victory. Pink will also be a goal for them as the opening stage to Burgas is almost as flat as flat can be. They do come with other options in the lumpier stages, though, with Wout Poels and the punchy Slovakian champion Lukáš Kubiš among others.
New names to compete with
The Giro often plays a role in revealing new names that we will see a lot more of in the future. Two riders that spring to mind are Ciccone and Pellizzari who both shone while riding for the now named Bardiani CSF-7 Saber. This year may be the same as they do have another up-and-coming climber in the shape of Filippo Turconi. Whether the 20-year-old gets a start is one thing, but he has shown some promise and could be a factor in the mountainous breakaways on home soil.
One standout rider to make a big step in his career at this race would be the aforementioned Alessandro Pinarello (NSN). The 22-year-old Italian has shown exceptional form already this year, most recently at O Gran Camiño where he finished third as well as taking the KOM and points classifications and the final stage, his first career victory. On top of that, a 10th place finish at Tirreno-Adriatico and 12th at the Volta ao Algarve shows that he is consistent enough to perform in stage races. Will it translate to a Grand Tour, though? Well, it didn't go too well last year where he abandoned on stage 6 after a disappointing start. He will be hoping that he can go the distance this year.
Another Italian hoping for a good performance is the punchy Simone Gualdi (Lotto-Intermarché) who has shown this year that he can be right up there on the lumpy stages with the best puncheurs. A couple of top 10s at Catalunya and a stint in the best young riders jersey showed he has good legs this year. He also managed an impressive top 10 in the Trofeo Laigueglia. The first year pro has shown some promising performances so far.
Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is another up-and-coming climber. The German registered team seems to be packed full of them. The 21-year-old Australian is currently playing the teammate role for Florian Lipowitz at the Tour de Romandie in the fight for the GC, but he has shown that he is capable of being up there in the GC himself. While he has played the teammate role this year, last year he finished second in the U23 Giro d'Italia before taking fifth at the Tour de l'Avenir. He has a lot of promise.
Two Italians at Soudal-QuickStep that are worth keeping an eye on are the flourishing Gianmarco Garofoli and the young talent of Andre Raccagni Noviero. The former has been kept as a domestique at his old team of XDS-Astana before joining the Belgian squad last year to support Remco Evenepoel. Since the Olympic champion has left, however, he has really found his feet taking second in the GC at the Giro di Sardegna as well as solid results at Strade Bianche, Trofeo Laigueglia and the AlUla Tour. The lack of Mikel Landa may allow him to thrive, Alongside him, Raccagni Noviero started the year very well at the Tour Down Under where he put in a series of consistent displays to finish sixth in GC and top of the best young rider standings. Since then, a top 10 at the opening stage of Catalunya and a top 20 at Brabantse Pijl are the only things to write home about, but this may change here.
Mathys Rondel (Tudor) seems like he should be an obvious pick for a top 10 in the final GC, but the 22-year-old Frenchman is often forgotten. He is having a wonderful season without taking a win in his career just yet. He finished 12th at the UAE Tour before going on to finish eighth at Paris-Nice followed by fifth at the recent Tour of the Alps. He has been steadily improving. But, will his time trialing let him down in the long test against the clock on stage 10.
Finally, Robert Donaldson (Jayco-AlUla). Those of you familiar with the British domestic scene will already likely know the name, mainly for a very impressive win in a sprint at the prestigious Otley Grand Prix. Since then, though, he has thrived and has been steadily improving. Various top 10s at the Tour of Britain over the year has shown he has the legs to perform. This year, this came through on the biggest of stages where he took fifth at In Flanders Fields (formerly known as Gent-Wevelgem). He looked to be the fastest finisher on the day. Maybe the 24-year-old Mancunian will finally throw his hands in the air to take a win in his Grand Tour debut.
Startlist is, of course, open to change before the race begins.
Cover image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com
