Giro d’Italia 2026: Guide to the route, stages, and riders

Grand Tour racing is back on the menu in May, with the Giro d’Italia running from May 8-31. The 21-stage race kicks off in Bulgaria for the first time ever and traverses through Italy before finishing in Rome, with the overall winner taking home the coveted maglia rosa.  

As ever, there are stages for all types of riders, from pure sprinters to puncheurs, mountain climbers and of course the GC contenders who will light up one of the most iconic and important races on the cycling calendar.  

The Giro d’Italia is a must-watch bike race for all fans of the sport, with drama around every corner and some of the most unpredictable and exciting racing imaginable. Last year’s battle went down to the wire, and we can hope and expect something similar in 2026. 

• Race dates: May 8-31, 2026  
• Total distance: 3,468 km  
• Total elevation gain: 48,700 m  
• 7 summit finishes  
• 7 stages expected to suit sprinters  
• 1 individual time trial of 42 km

Founded in 1909 by the pink Italian newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Giro d’Italia has become one of the biggest and most-loved races in the cycling calendar. One of just three Grand Tours, the race is now run and operated by RCS Sport. 

The Giro d’Italia is synonymous with some of cycling’s most memorable moments. From Fausto Coppi destroying the field across five mountain passes on his way to a 1949 Giro win; Eddy Merckx soloing to victory on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo in 1968; Andy Hampsten conquering the Passo di Gavia during an actual blizzard en route to his maglia rosa win in 1988, and Chris Froome’s solo attack in 2018 that netted him his first and only Giro d’Italia thanks to a daring solo ride. The 2025 Giro d’Italia was a thrilling affair too, with Simon Yates attacking on the final mountain stage to win alone and seal a memorable GC win.

Alfredo Binda, Coppi, and Merckx are the only riders in history to have won the race five times. The fastest edition was in 2024, with an average winner’s speed of 41.866 kph.

The 109th Giro d’Italia will hold its Grande Partenza in Bulgaria on May 8 with a stage between Nessebar and Burgas. After three stages, the three-week Grand Tour will travel from Bulgaria into Italy for stage 4. The rest of the race will run from south to north, concluding in Rome on May 31, with the final stage set for a bunch sprint. 

With the defending champion missing from the race for the second time in a row, all attention will turn to a new collection of GC stars. Enric Mas (Movistar) will be a contender to watch on his Canyon, as he goes up against the likes of Jonas Vingegaard, Giulio Pellizzari, Jai Hindley, Egan Bernal, Adam Yates and several other GC specialists.

Mas has never started the Giro d’Italia, but his pedigree in Grand Tours is highly respectable, with podium finishes at the Vuelta a España and top-10s at the Tour de France.

The all-important 42km time trial between Viareggio and Massa on stage 10 will be a pivotal moment in the race, but with a heavily loaded second half of the race with plenty of mountains, the race should end on a thrilling high.

There’s no gravel stage this year, but expect plenty of winning breakaways, and of course, tightly contested bunch sprints, with Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) looking to add to his two stage wins from 2023 and 2025, respectively.

The 2026 Giro d’Italia route consists of 21 stages and three rest days. The race kicks off in Bulgaria for the first time in the Giro’s history, with the opening three stages. The first stage is likely to be decided in a bunch sprint, with the winner taking the first maglia rosa (pink jersey) of the race. After the third stage, the race will head to Italy, with a brief rest day for travel, before resuming on stage 4, which runs from Catanzaro to Cosenza.

The race heads north with a combination of sprints and breakaway stages before the first GC appointment on the slopes of Blockhaus on stage 7. This should create a significant shift in the GC complexion as the race builds towards the key individual time trial on stage 10.

The second week is a blend of stages that should suit the sprinters and long-range attacks before the final rest-day of the race, and then a mouthwatering final week.

From here on in, the race is dialled towards the GC specialists and pure climbers, with three massive mountain stages on offer.

The most important stages will be towards the end of the week, with stages 19 and 20 likely to decide the final outcome of the 2026 Giro d’Italia.

Stage 19 in the Dolomites from Feltre to Alleghe isn’t overwhelmingly long, coming in at 151km, but there are 5,000m within the route profile and ascents of the Passo Duran, Staulanza, Passo Giau, Passo Falzarego, and the final climb of the Piani di Pezzè. This is not a day for the faint-hearted, and time gaps between the GC contenders could stretch to minutes, especially if the attacks come early. This is the hardest day of the race.

The penultimate stage between Gemona del Friuli and Piancavallo isn’t as tough, but it will certainly be decisive, with two ascents into Piancavallo, including the final summit finish of the race.

The final stage into Rome will conclude with a sprint finish, before the final winner of the 2026 Giro d’Italia is crowned.

The first week of the Giro d’Italia sees a finely balanced blend of sprint stages and days for the breakaways, but stage 7 flips the script and sees the race tackle the first serious summit finish of the race in the Apennines. The opening 100km of the stage are undulating, but as the riders head deeper into the climb, it becomes serious, with a second-category climb at Roccaraso before the race dives down towards the foot of the final ascent of the Blockhaus. The final climb averages over 8 per cent and goes on for 13.6km, but there are pitches over 10%, and this is a real slog of a climb. As it’s the first serious GC test of the race, expect some cagey racing from the main contenders, but if there’s any weakness shown by any of the favourites, then no mercy will be shown. A bad day here could make or break a rider’s Giro d’Italia.

There’s only one time trial in this year’s Giro d’Italia, but its effect on the race could be huge. Coming just after the second rest day, the TT specialists and GC contenders will have plenty of time to recon the route, but that might not help any of the weaker riders against the clock. The 42km route is almost entirely flat, but this is a long effort compared to most modern-day time trials in Grand Tours, and so it’s a rare chance for some of the favourites to put the climbers on the back foot and gain an advantage ahead of the demanding terrain that awaits in the final week. If a rider has endured a difficult start to the race and lost time in the first week, this is also a chance to gain back time, but there’s no hiding place on a stage like this.

Following the time trial, the next three days of racing are tailor-made for the sprinters and breakaway specialists, but stage 14 sees the race head back into the mountains for what will surely be a defining stage in the GC battle. Coming in at 133km in length, it’s far from the longest day of racing, but race organisers have put together a brutal parcours, with riders set to tackle five ascents, including the final climb to Pila, which stretches out for more than 16km at around 7 per cent. It’s not just the last climb that will strike fear into the riders’ hearts, but the fact that there’s no moderate start, with the riders kicking off the stage with the first category climb of Saint-Barthélémy as soon as the flag drops. There will no doubt be a fight to get into the break, and this could be a day for the sprinters and those already struggling to simply try and avoid the time cut. If the weather is bad, this could be an epic day in the saddle, and one of the most memorable days of the entire Giro d’Italia.

The Giro d’Italia tends to save the best for last, and that typically means a final week that’s backended with mountain stages that bring fans to the edges of their seats. That’s certainly the case with the Giro’s queen stage from Feltre to Alleghe. In total, there are around 5,000m of vertical climbing as the riders face up to the challenge of climbing the Passo Duran, Forcella Staulanza, Passo Giau, the Passo Falzarego and then the final climb of the Piani di Pezzè. All five ascents could be launchpads for stage-winning antics, and the fight for the maglia rosa could explode at any point. This is certainly the toughest stage of the race.

Both Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel are set to miss the Giro d’Italia for Alpecin-Premier Tech, with their focus firmly on the Tour de France later in the year, but Kaden Groves is set to return to the race. The Australian sprinter has two Giro stages to his name, and while he’s certainly a formidable sprinter, he’s also a much underrated climber, meaning that he can still be in the mix on days decided by reduced bunch sprints or when he’s allowed up the road in a breakaway. 

At Movistar, Enric Mas will lead the line for the Spanish team on his debut. If on form, the veteran should be in the mix for a top-five or even a podium place, but a stage win should certainly be within his sights, too. On his day, he’s one of the best climbers in the world. Javier Romo and Einer Rubio have the talent to win from breakaways, and the latter was a stage winner at the Giro d’Italia back in 2023.

The 2026 Giro d’Italia will be shown on HBO Max and TNT Sports in the UK, Eurosport/HBO Max and discovery+ in parts of Europe, FloSports in Canada, HBO Max/truTV in the USA, and SBS in Australia.

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