The 2026 Giro d'Italia Women begins on Saturday in Cesenatico and finishes nine stages later in Saluzzo, covering 1,177km of racing that is largely based around a 12.7km uphill time trial to Nevegal on stage 4 and the Colle delle Finestre climbing to a summit finish at Sestriere on stage 8. The best fit for those stages and the race as a whole that is on the startlist is Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez).
Vollering returns to racing for the first time since dominating Liège-Bastogne-Liège and her broader Classics campaign this spring. The European champion arrives with her team confirming her contract extension through to 2028, and the squad around her, including Lauren Dickson, Franziska Koch, Ally Wollaston, Celia Gery, Vittoria Guazzini, Eva van Agt, and Amber Kraak, looks built around a single GC leader. The uphill time trial plays directly to her strengths, and if she carries time into the final mountain weekend, FDJ United-Suez has the climbing depth to control the race from the front.
Behind Vollering, the GC picture is shaped by two riders returning from extended absences. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) starts with bib number 1 as the defending champion, chasing a third consecutive Giro title after winning in 2024 and 2025. She has not raced, however, since finishing eighth at the Tour of Flanders in April. That gap matters with the Italian champion being absent for a large part of the calendar she was originally due to race. That said, if she has been able to put in good training blocks as preparation then she may well be involved in the GC shake-up.
Giro d'Italia Women Start List
Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) is also making her way back to racing after the world time trial champion had a strong Classics campaign this spring, winning Dwars door Vlaanderen before crashing out of the Tour of Flanders and fracturing a vertebra. She was runner-up at the 2025 Giro and won the opening time trial in that race, so the route to Nevegal on stage 4 fits her profile precisely. Movistar said the team will "fight once again for top general classification positions and stage victories", and Reusser is the rider who makes that credible. The question is whether a spinal fracture six weeks ago allows her to sustain the effort across the final mountain stages.
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) arrives with pedigree but cautious expectations. "I'm coming out of a rest period and it's difficult to estimate how far I will go in this Giro d'Italia Women," she said in the team's pre-race statement. The team are being realistic with the Dutch star aiming for a conservative objective of a top five leaving her to have less pressure after a brutal final day where she lost the red leader's jersey at La Vuelta Femenina. The team is also splitting ambitions, chasing GC with Van der Breggen while also deploying Lorena Wiebes for sprint stages, will shape how aggressively they can commit resources in the mountains.
The next tier
Marion Bunel (Visma | Lease a Bike) has earned real standing after finishing on the podium at La Vuelta Femenina and taking the best young rider's jersey. She replaced Pauline Ferrand-Prévot as the team's GC focus after the Frenchwoman disappointed at that race, and the 2026 Giro gives Bunel a chance to confirm she belongs at this level on a harder, more mountain-heavy course.
Lidl-Trek arrive with several options. Niamh Fisher-Black, Amanda Spratt and Isabella Holmgren all carry GC potential, and the team's flexibility could become a tactical advantage throughout the race. Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) finished seventh at La Vuelta Femenina and gives the Australian team a real contender for a top five and even a push at a podium if on top form. Further down the startlist, world champion Magdaleine Vallières (EF Education-Oatly), Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly), Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM), Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal), British rising star Lauren Dickson and Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) all add depth to a GC field where the podium fight behind Vollering could be open.
The sprint to early pink
The first part of this year's race is ideal for the sprinters with the stages from Cesenatico to Ravenna and from Roncade to Caorle flat enough to guarantee sprint finishes and the first pink jersey. It is almost certain that Wiebes will win the opening day with the Dutch champion just looking unbeatable in a dash to the line, handing SD Worx-Protime an early Maglia Rosa. Behind her is a solid line-up of fast women, including Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) are the most obvious challengers on a clean flat sprint, while Cat Ferguson (Movistar) is a threat on more selective days. Movistar said Ferguson, who won the Navarra Women's Elite Classic on 13 May, will target stage wins "most likely in sprint finishes on the more selective days", which points to stages 3 and 7 as her best opportunities. The wider sprint cast, including Rachele Barbieri, Georgia Baker, Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM), Ally Wollaston (FDJ United-Suez), Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) and Majolein van 't Geloof, ensures the flat days will be hotly contested.
Stage 6 from Ala to Brescello offers one more sprint window before the race heads into its decisive final weekend. By then, the time trial on stage 4 will have established a provisional GC order, and stage 5 through the mountains around Santo Stefano di Cadore will have confirmed who is climbing well enough to survive what follows.
The race should ultimately be settled on stage 8. The Colle delle Finestre is the hardest climb on the route and follows La Vuelta Femenina and the Tour de France Femmes in adding brutal and legendary climbs into the race as women's racing gets to show off exactly what they can do and write their own epic history on the legendary climb. And, with the summit finish at Sestriere, it gives GC riders little chance to recover before the road tilts upward again. Stage 9 around Saluzzo looks to be a tough day but largely an open one with a break or even a rider like Ferguson and Wiebes going for the win.
Cover image credit: Thomas Maheux/SWpix.com
