2026 Giro d’Italia Route

The 2026 Giro d’Italia route has been unveiled. Here’s the stage by stage look at the course.

Stage 1 – Friday 8 May

A Slavic start with the opening stage in Bulgaria on the Black sea coast. Why Bulgaria? Like Albania in 2025 this is a country courting the Italian audience to promote a nearby low cost holiday destination. Similarly it has had a few pro riders over the years and hosts a 2.2-rated national tour. Unlike Albania it’s an EU member but it’s got its own currency the Lev tied to the Euro and uses the cyrillic script. So plenty to discover.

There’s one climb but it’s almost imperceptible, a ruse to award the mountains jersey for the day. There’s one lap of a finishing circuit in Burgas which has its charms but the skill of TV production will be to showcase these ahead of the giant oil refinery.

Stage 2 – Saturday 9 May

The second longest stage in the race at 220km. The final climb out of Lyaskovets is steep and will see most of the sprinters in trouble.

Stage 3 – Sunday 10 May

A race between the two major cities with the finish in the capital. If you want to learn some Bulgarian, why not start with ceдловина or sedlovina which means a saddle, as in a mountain pass because the race goes over Borovec sedlovina but with 75km to regroup. The race then has a Monday rest day as the convoy makes its way to the foot of Italy.

Stage 4 – Tuesday 12 May

144km and a climb midway. The race manual says its “easy” but it’s still 17km at 5% and via a twisting side road too so bound to sap some sprinters.

Stage 5 – Wedesday 13 May

Similar to Stage 7 in 2022 where Koen Bouwman won in Potenza to salvage Jumbo-Visma’s Giro after their GC ambitions had already evaporated, although this has a slightly different finish in town. Like that day the climb of Montagna Grande di Viggiano is the hardest of the day, 6km at 9% towards a small ski station.

Stage 6 – Thursday 14 May

A spin along the Mediterranean coast. Napoli is the new Pau. A regular mid-race haunt, a ready supply of hotels and the ability to draw on a variety of local terrain. This time the climb in the Fuorigrotta part of town should be gentle before the habitual sea front finish.

Stage 7 – Friday 15 May

Blockhaus via Roccaraso. A long day at 246km – the longest grand tour stage since 2021 – so there’s plenty to tire the riders before they reach the final climb of the day with 4,600m of vertical gain, most of it before Roccamorice. The final climb is 18km at over 8% so comparable to Mont Ventoux in terms of stats. The road goes on to over 2,000m but 1,665m is plenty for the first week.

Stage 8 – Saturday 16 May

Almost a day out of Tirreno-Adriatico, this puts the emphasis on the Adriatic with a long ride along the coast before turning inland for the final 60km for the some wall-like climbs. Capodarco is known to the peloton for its selective U23 race and there’s a steep climb to the finish in Fermo.

Stage 9 – Sunday 17 May

A summit finish? Yes, just a gradual one with a long but often gentle climb. The Corno alle Scale is the peak above, this is the road via Acero. It kicks up right at the end but this is the sort of finish where a sizeable group comes into the final kilometre together.

Stage 10 – Tuesday 19 May

A flat time trial where the obstacles are the numerous corners to the first time check as the course stays in the streets of Viareggio. Then it’s along the coast to the finish. This is relatively long – the world champs are shorter at 39km – but as the only TT in the Giro, the thinking is that it might be insufficient to tempt Remco Evenepoel. Nevermind for organisers RCS who will be equally happy with a Ganna stage win.

Stage 11 – Wednesday 20 May

A ride out of Tuscany and into the hills of the Cinque Terre. The roads here vary, the Giro has often stuck to the main arteries but this time it’s got some smaller roads and they’re very tricky in places.

Stage 12 – Thursday 21 May

Not quite a reverse Milano-Sanremo but a start in Imperia and then taking part of the via Aurelia. The climbs make life harder for the sprinters, the Bric Berton has 4km nudging 7% but there’s 50km to regroup.

Stage 13 – Friday 22 May

Two tricky climbs to thwart the sprinters in the finish. The local rider in Verbania is Filippo Ganna – or was as in he’s moved to Switzerland – so he might be interested but the course is hardly designed for him. The final climb to Ungiasca will sting as it tackles backroads.

Stage 14 – Saturday 23 May

4,400m of vertical gain in just 133km. It’s on lots of familiar roads now around the vineyards of Aosta. One selling point of Aosta is you can get a ski lift out of the city to reach the slopes and it’s the Pila lift. The road to Pila featured in 2022 but it was a descent. It’s 17km at mostly 7% so think of a steady ski-station summit finish.

Stage 15 – Sunday 24 May

An urban interlude with the finishing hosting four laps around Milan but not the city centre, more towards the Vigorelli velodrome. As much as cycling is a rural sport it’s important to visit cities along the way too and good especially for the Giro and RCS to be back in Milan after issues with the townhall and the move of Milan-Sanremo to Pavia… which features here too.

Stage 16 – Tuesday 26 May

The race goes to Switzerland for a mini-stage, just 113km and crammed into a small zone too but still 3,000 of vertical gain and all on Swiss tarmac. The south-facing finish is steep with lots of 8-9%.

Stage 17 – Wednesday 27 May

The breakaway stage, half the field should have this in their diaries as it’s open to plenty with a loop around Andalo below the peaks of Paganella which makes it a Dolomite stage or at least a finish but in geological terms more than the usual roads we associate this with.

Stage 18 – Thursday 28 May

Didn’t win from the breakaway yesterday? A chance for teams to correct things if they missed the move and by now for riders strong in the third week to try again. The Ca’ del Poggio wall is a staple of cycling and always a good point for fans.

Stage 19 – Friday 29 May

The tappone. Even if it is just 151km there’s still 5,000m of vertical gain. Plenty of tough climbs in the Dolomites including the Giau via its harder side which weather-permitting is the Cima Coppi high point. The final climb is only 5km but 10% most of the way.

Stage 20 – Saturday 30 May

After a start to commemorate the 1976 Friuli earthquake in Gemona the stage is all about the double rations of Monte Cavallo. It’s a steep climb that’s often 10% and most selective at the start, but all on a wide road. It should make things marginally easier to control, especially for a stronger team.

Stage 21 – Sunday 31 May

The final stage in Rome with the now traditional trip to the coast in Ostia, the return via Eur and before that, the 700km transfer to debate.

The Verdict
It took a marathon presentation long on speeches from middle-aged men and short on sporting details but the Giro route has been unveiled and with more time to spare than last time this year.

It’s very much a Giro route. If you did not see the map and could could view the the stage profiles stripped of their place names it would still be easy to identify but Mauro Vegni’s final route before retirement is neither swan song nor bucket list, it’s a more a handover that continues the trend of shorter stages which not long ago the Giro seemed immune to but now embraces.

Is it easier? When Tadej Pogačar got a route to suit in 2024 the course difficulty was pruned back, over 6,000m of vertical gain lopped off to make the Giro-Tour double easier. The appeal to Jonas Vingegaard this time is not as direct: 49,500m of vertical gain puts it within 1km of the average under Mauro Vegni. It’s certainly shorter as the x-axis shrinks more, the 246km Blockhaus stage is notable but the story is the brevity of the main summit finishes, 133km to Pila, 113km to Cari and 151km for the Dolomite day. It’s often more medio than gran fondo.

The average stage length is 165km, down from 179km in 2025 and 193km in 2023. It’s backloaded with mountain stages but less so than recent years, just three mountain stages in the final week compared to the usual four.

There are seven stages likely for the sprinters but some of these have significant climbs to get over and open up the day to a breakaway, all the better as this is a way to create sport and suspense. There are some likely breakaway days.

As ever the course seems to be one element when it comes to luring key riders, the other is wrangling over appearance fees as RCS offers a package to teams that varies according to who starts. As blogged on the evening of his defeat on Hautacam, it’s most likely Jonas Vingegaard will start. UAE will likely return with Del Toro and several others too but Vingegaard is already the obvious pick for pink.