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Italy 08 May – 31 May 2026 Class 2.UWT – Stages – UCI WorldTour
Website www.giroditalia.it
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The 2026 Giro d’Italia will be the 109th edition of the race, running from Friday, May 8th to Sunday, May 31st.
The race will feature a unique start, known as the Grande Partenza, which for the first time takes place in Bulgaria. Over three weeks, the peloton will cover approximately 3,466 kilometers with a staggering 48,700 meters of vertical climbing before the final finish line in Rome.
Here is the complete schedule of all 21 stages:
🗓️ Key Stages to Watch
- The Great Start (Stages 1-3): The race begins in Bulgaria. While Stage 1 and 3 are expected to be sprints, Stage 2 features a climbing finish in Veliko Tarnovo, meaning the first Maglia Rosa could go to a puncheur or climber.
- First Major Mountains (Stage 7): At 244 km, this is the longest stage of the race. It ends with a summit finish at the infamous Blockhaus, which will be the first major test for the General Classification (GC) contenders.
- The “Tappa dei Muri” (Stage 8): The short, steep walls (muri) of Fermo make this a painful day for pure sprinters and a perfect opportunity for punchers and attackers.
- The Only Race Against the Clock (Stage 10): A 42 km individual time trial in Tuscany. With only one against-the-clock stage this year, GC contenders who are time-trial specialists will need to make this day count.
- The High Alps (Stage 14 & 16): Stage 14 features a brutal finish in Pila (over 4,400m of climbing), while Stage 16 is a short but explosive Swiss mountain stage ending in Carì.
- The Queen Stage (Stage 19): This stage in the Dolomites is the decider. Riders will tackle iconic peaks like the Passo Giau (Cima Coppi) before the steep ascent to Piani di Pezzè.
- The Final Showdown (Stage 20): Before the procession to Rome, the GC battle concludes on the slopes of Piancavallo, a climb featuring double ascents in the final 200km.
👑 Who is Racing in 2026?
The headline story of the 2026 Giro is the debut of two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who enters as the heavy favorite.
He will face strong opposition from:
- Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), the 2022 winner.
- Adam Yates (UAE Emirates-XRG).
- Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).
- Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto).
In the sprints, look out for Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rockets), and French fast-man Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step).
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| Rest Day | Mon 11-May | Transfer to Italy |
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
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| Rest Day | Mon 11-May | Transfer to Viareggio |
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
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The Giro d’Italia, or “Tour of Italy,” is more than just a bike race; it is a cherished Italian institution. Born from a newspaper rivalry in 1909, this annual pilgrimage across the pink-hued routes of Italy is a grueling test of endurance and strategy. As one of cycling’s three Grand Tours, it trails only the Tour de France in prestige, built on a history of legendary champions, fierce rivalries, and incredible human drama.
Here is a timeline of the Giro’s rich history:
🗞️ The Birth of ‘La Corsa Rosa’
The Giro was born from a circulation war between Italian sports newspapers. In 1908, the editor of La Gazzetta dello Sport was inspired by the Tour de France’s success and proposed a grand tour of Italy to boost sales. The paper’s rival, Corriere della Sera, had similar plans, prompting La Gazzetta to act quickly despite a lack of funds. They raised the necessary 25,000 lire through donations—even receiving 3,000 lire from their rival.
At 2:53 AM on May 13, 1909, 127 riders set off from Milan. The first edition was an epic 2,448km journey divided into 8 stages. Italian Luigi Ganna emerged as the first champion, winning three stages and the overall classification.
🇮🇹 The Golden Era of Italian Champions
For over four decades, the Giro was an almost exclusively Italian affair, producing a pantheon of national heroes whose rivalry captivated the country.
- The Unbeatable Pioneer: In the 1920s, Alfredo Binda was so dominant that the race organizers allegedly asked him to “take it easy” for the sake of competition. He still finished his career with a record-tying 5 overall victories.
- The Fierce Rivals: The late 1930s and 40s saw the legendary rivalry between the devout Tuscan Gino Bartali and the modern, revolutionary Fausto Coppi (each with 5 wins). Their contrasting styles and personal histories divided Italy and elevated the Giro to new heights.
🌍 Europe Takes the Lead
While Italian champions continued to shine, the post-war era saw the Giro become a truly international battleground.
- The First Foreigner: Hugo Koblet of Switzerland broke the Italian stranglehold in 1950, becoming the first non-Italian winner.
- The Cannibal: Belgian Eddy Merckx is arguably the greatest cyclist of all time. In the 1970s, “The Cannibal” devoured the competition, matching Binda and Coppi with 5 Giro victories (1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974).
- The Badger: Frenchman Bernard Hinault, known as “The Badger” for his tenacity, added three more wins for France in the 1980s.
📊 Records and Legends
🏆 The Champions of the Modern Era
The 21st century has seen the Giro become a truly global race, with winners from over a dozen countries. After a long Italian drought, the race has been dominated by a new generation of champions.
The Giro d’Italia continues to write its story each spring. From its humble beginnings as a newspaper promotion, it has become a legendary event where the next chapter of cycling history is always just a pedal stroke away.
Charly Gaul is one of the most fascinating and iconic figures in the history of the Giro d’Italia. Known as “The Angel of the Mountain” (L’angelo della montagna), the small Luxembourger was a pure, almost mythical climber who won the Giro in 1956 and 1959, as well as the Tour de France in 1958.
His story is one of incredible feats, immense suffering, and a character as steep and unpredictable as the mountains he conquered.
⛰️ The Legend of the 1956 Giro: The “Tappa della Morte” (Stage of Death)
Charly Gaul’s place in cycling legend was forged on a single, brutal day: June 8, 1956. It was Stage 20 of the Giro, a 242km route from Merano to the summit of Monte Bondone.
- The Conditions: A fierce storm turned the stage into a nightmare. Riders faced freezing rain, gale-force winds, and eventually, a blinding blizzard with temperatures dropping well below freezing.
- The Race: Gaul, a 23-year-old who loved the cold, attacked from the start. He was not a favorite, sitting over 16 minutes behind the race leader, Pasquale Fornara. At one point, his brakes froze on a descent, forcing him to drag his feet on the ground to slow down, almost plunging into a ravine.
- Ingenious Help: His directeur sportif, the legendary Learco Guerra, drove ahead to a house on the climb. He paid the owner to light a fire and fill two tubs with hot water. When Gaul arrived, Guerra pulled him off his bike and into a hot bath to revive him, while the woman dried his clothes by the stove.
- The Aftermath: Reignited by the hot bath, Gaul rode on through the snow. The race broke apart. 44 of the 87 riders abandoned, collapsing from hypothermia. The race leader, Fornara, gave up. Gaul crossed the finish line alone, his hands frozen to the handlebars. He had to be physically pried from his bike and wrapped in blankets. He had gained over 15 minutes on his rivals, taking the pink jersey.
He defended his lead in the final days to win his first Giro. This single stage alone is arguably the most famous “epic” in Giro history.
🏆 The 1959 Giro: Beating the Best
He won his second Giro in 1959 in a different, but equally impressive, tactical battle against one of the sport’s greatest champions, Jacques Anquetil.
While Anquetil, a master of time trials, dominated the flat races, Gaul was the superior climber. The race came down to the penultimate Stage 21 from Aosta to Courmayeur, over the Piccolo San Bernardo pass.
- The Duel: Anquetil had taken the pink jersey from Gaul and looked set to win. But on the final mountain, Gaul launched a relentless attack. He rode away from Anquetil and crossed the line nearly 9 minutes ahead of him.
- The Final Blow: That single attack wiped out all of Anquetil’s lead. Gaul finished the stage back in the pink jersey and carried it to the final podium in Milan, winning by over 6 minutes.
📊 Key Achievements and Legacy
Beyond these two famous wins, Gaul’s career and reputation are defined by a few other key points:
- The First Pure Climber: He is considered the first great “pure climber” to win a Grand Tour. His style of dancing on the pedals and attacking relentlessly in the mountains was later perfected by riders like Marco Pantani, who Gaul himself called his true heir.
- Complete Palmarès: His two Giri are complemented by that 1958 Tour de France victory, 11 individual Giro stages, and 10 Tour stages.
- An Eccentric Character: Gaul was famously aloof, enigmatic, and private. He was known for disliking heat and often training in heavy clothes. Later in life, after retiring early at 30, he became something of a recluse. He was deeply affected by Pantani’s death, attending his funeral in 2004, and passed away himself in December 2005.
🏆 Charly Gaul’s Major Palmarès
| Year | Race | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Giro d’Italia | 1st Place (Overall) + Mountains Classification |
| 1958 | Tour de France | 1st Place (Overall) |
| 1959 | Giro d’Italia | 1st Place (Overall) + Mountains Classification |
| 1955 | Tour de France | 3rd Place + Mountains Classification |
| 1958 | Giro d’Italia | 3rd Place |
| 1960 | Giro d’Italia | 3rd Place |
| 1961 | Tour de France | 3rd Place |
| 1954 | UCI Road World Championships | Bronze Medal |
