2026 Giro d'Italia expected to be packed with sprint opportunities and high mountains

The routes of the 2026 Giro d'Italia and Giro d'Italia Women will be presented in Rome on Monday, December 1, with the two Italian Grand Tours overlapping on the calendar in late May. Both race routes are expected to be mountainous, with limited time trialing, and so suiting the climbers, but with lots of sprint opportunities too.

The Giro d'Italia Women has moved from its usual date in July, during the men's Tour de France, to May 30-June 7. The men's Giro d'Italia will be held between May 8-31, meaning the two Italian Grand Tours will overlap for a weekend, after the men's race starts in Bulgaria.

The Vuelta a España Femenina will be held between May 3-10 and the Tour de France Femmes from August 1-9, making the Giro-Tour double far more appealing and physically possible for the big-name GC contenders.

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2025 Giro d'Italia Women winner Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) is expected to try to win for a third consecutive year but reports in Italy suggest Demi Vollering (Suez-FDJ) may also ride the Giro d'Italia Women in 2026.

2025 men's Giro winner Simon Yates could return to defend the maglia rosa he snatched from Isaac del Toro on the final mountain stage over the Colle delle Finestre to Sestriere, but his Vima-Lease a Bike leader Jonas Vingegaard has dropped several hints that he would also like to target the Giro in 2026, before riding the Tour de France.

Del Toro is widely expected to lead UAE Team Emirates-XRG in the Corsa Rosa, while Tadej Pogačar focuses on the Classics and the Tour de France. Rumours of just one flat time trial is reportedly not enough to tempt Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) to ride the Giro, with the German super team expected to send Primož Roglič and young teammate Giulio Pellizzari to the Corsa Rosa as team leaders.

The 2026 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes routes were presented on October 23 in Paris, while the Vuelta a España route presentation will be held on December 17 in Monaco, which will host the race start next August.

Teams will watch the Giro route presentations with attention as they try to decide their goals and leadership strategies for 2026. Lidl-Trek are expected to back Juan Ayuso at the Tour de France and so Jonathan Milan could return to target the sprint finishes at the Giro. There could be as many as eight sprint finishes in the 2026 race route.

Stephen Farrand will attend the Giro d'Italia presentation for Cyclingnews and we will have full details of the race route, maps, profile, and reaction from riders and team managers on Monday and beyond.

From Bulgaria to Rome via Calabria, Tuscany, Switzerland and Friuli-Venezia Giulia

The 2025 Giro d'Italia Women started in Bergamo with a time trial, climbed into the central Apennines and ended in Modena, with Longo Borghini beating Marlen Reusser (Movistar) by just 18 seconds. Little is known about the 2026 women's route but it is expected to again be demanding.

The men's Giro will start in Bulgaria for three stages, with the remaining 18 stages likely to climb through the Italian peninsula, from Calabria via Naples, Tuscany, Milan, the Swiss Alps, before the final week in the high mountains of north-east of the country. The final stage will again be a circuit stage in central Rome after a long transfer to the capital.

Long-time race director Mauro Vegni has designed the 2026 men's Giro route but will officially retire in February. He has reportedly tried to include some legendary high mountains in the route, which have been avoided in recent years due to the risk of bad weather and rider protests.

Italian website Cicloweb took pride in revealing what it believes are all the stages of the 2026 Giro, going as far as generating stage and key mountain profiles.

The Grande Partenza will again be held outside 'il Bel Paese', as Giro owner Urano Cairo let slip in early October, with three stages, starting on Friday, May 8 and taking the riders from Nesebăr on the Black Sea coast to the capital Sofia. The sprinters are expected to fight for the first leader's pink jersey in nearby Burgas before stage 2 heads west for a hillier stage and fast finish in Sofia.

The riders will enjoy an extra rest day on Monday, May 11 but will consider it as a travel day as they fly to probably Calabria in the south of Italy. Stage 4, rumoured to finish in Cosenza, should be short but again largely flat with a late climb. Stage 5 looks set to head to Potenza and should be hiller, with stage 6, likely in Naples, giving the sprinters another shot at victory.

The mountains look set to begin on stage 7 in the central Apennines with a tough day to the Blockhaus summit finish possible after four little-known other climbs. According to rumours, the route heads north via the Adriatic coast and a short and steep 'muri' climb stage in Le Marche, before another mountain finish at Corno alle Scale in the Apennines that separate Emilia Romagna and Tuscany.

There does not appear to be a gravel stage in the 2026 Giro but Tuscany will likely host the only time trial stage on the Tyrrhenian coast, where Tirreno-Adriatico usually begins. A mostly flat and fast 40km 'cronometro' is expected to be held between Viareggio and Massa. It may not be enough to tempt Evenepoel to ride the Giro but will surely please the likes of Roglič and Vingegaard, who would be happy to gain time on their GC rivals before the high mountains begin in earnest.

The Giro is expected to head north into Liguria on stage 12 via the coastal hills, before a reverse Milan-San Remo stage from Imperia, over the Turchino to Novi Ligure, where Fausto Coppio once lived and where a cycling museum tells the story of his career.

A transfer stage is expected to Verbania before a tough mountain stage in the Aosta region, with a series of constant mountains and a finish up to Pila. Milan will reportedly return to host a stage on May 24 and is expected to end with a city centre circuit race, again suited to the sprinters. Jonathan Milan could perhaps have half a dozen opportunities by the time the Giro enjoys its third rest day.

Into the high mountain in the third week 

The final week is likely to begin with a short mountain stage in Switzerland and a climb of the Passo del San Gottardo, up to 2000 metres before another climb to the finish in the ski resort of Cari'.

Stage 17 was expected to finish in Madonna di Campiglio but may have suffered some late changes and may finish in Andalo. If Vegni gets his way, it could still climb the Stelvio, which would surely be the Cima Coppi, as the highest climb of the race.

Stage 18 looks likely to be in the Veneto Prosecco wine area and could climb the short but steep Muro di Ca' del Poggio several times before the finish in nearby Pieve di Soligo. It would be a GC day but with limited climbing but lots of tension in the peloton and thousands of tifosi along the route.

The decisive high mountains look set to come on stages 19 and 20. Stage 19 could include the Passo Duran and the Staulanza before the Passo Giau in the spectacular Dolomites and then the Passo Falzarego before the double-digit climb of Piani di Pezzè. This climb was used in the 1992 amateur Giro, when a certain Marco Pantani won the stage and the race.

Stage 20 is rumoured to start in Gemona del Friuli and could end with two climbs of the painful road up to Piancavallo. Tao Geoghegan Hart won on the 14.4km, 8.9% climb in 2020 on the way to overall victory.

The riders will fly from northeastern Italy on Sunday morning for the final circuit stage around Rome on May 31. It is again expected to head out to the coastline and then return to the rough roads of the capital. The final winner of the Giro will again be crowned with a view overlooking the Colosseum and the Foro Romano ruins as the sun sets on the Corsa Rosa for another year.