The final central Rome stage of the 2026 Giro d'Italia will go ahead as designed and planned, with race organiser RCS Sport refuting all doubts that the GC classification could be neutralised for the finishing circuits as occurred in Milan on Sunday.
Giro race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) dropped back to the race director's car during Sunday's stage, and the UCI Commissaire Vicente Tortajada Villarroya and RCS Sport management eventually agreed to neutralise the GC time with the final 16km lap to race.
That sparked confusion and debate during the race, with riders concerned about the rough roads of central Milan and RCS Sport insisting the roads were safe.
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Stefano Allocchio is a former sprinter and is now one of the Giro d'Italia race directors and the designated Safety Manager. He insisted to Cyclingnews that the Milan circuit was safe and that there would not be a similar decision for Sunday's final stage.
"What happened in Milan should never happen again. The Milan circuit was safe," Allocchio told Cyclingnews.
"I understand the riders have concerns about safety, but what are we going to do? Never have sprint finishes?
"The Rome circuit is exactly the same as last year, so the riders and teams know it and have raced on it. We accepted the riders' request in Milan, and they thanked us, but it won't happen again."
The Milan neutralisation sparked debate across the sport and especially between the sport's stakeholders and their associations: the UCI, race organisers, teams and riders.
Brent Copeland is team manager at Jayco-AlUla, but also the president of the International Association of Professional Cycling Teams (AIGCP). He was with guests at the Milan finish and was forced to try to explain what happened and how the neutralisation impacted the racing.
"RCS had done a great job organising everything for the Giro to return to central Milan. There were a lot of special guests and partners who were all invited to the race on Sunday. Everyone was watching, but then the last lap was neutralised, the vibe flopped," Copeland told Cyclingnews.
"People were asking me what was going on. I tried to explain, but people thought it was like the Safety Car in F1, even though the race continued.
"There were people there who could be interested in investing in the sport, and suddenly they were confused about what was going on. At the end of the day, cycling suffered last Sunday in Milan."
Copeland was at the 2007 Giro when Lance Armstrong and Danilo di Luca led a similar protest.
"It's now 17 years later, and a similar thing happened, so we've not learnt from it," Copeland said.
"Discussions about safety on specific stages need to take place before the race, and let's communicate things better. Let's not destroy cycling's image, with riders going back to the car during the race and no one understanding what's going on.
"I really encourage the GC riders to get together before the race and certain stages to agree to stay out of trouble, but let the race go on and let the sprinters do their race.
"That way we save the image of cycling, the organisers don't have the issue of having to neutralise the race, and everyone stays safe."
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