Giro d'Italia 2026 will start from Bulgaria: twenty-one stages presented
For the 16th time in its more than 100-year history, the Giro d’Italia will start outside national borders: specifically, Bulgaria will host the first three fractions of the 2026 edition of the Corsa Rosa, involving from May 8 to 10 the cities of Nessebar, Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Plovdiv and Sofia, capital of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Giro will then go on to conclude about three weeks later, on May 31, in Rome, at the end of a total route of 3,459.2 kilometers, with a total elevation gain of 49,150 meters. The presentation of the Giro 2026 took place Monday in the capital itself, at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone.
After the Bulgarian trip, the Carovana Rosa will use the day of Monday, May 11, to return to the Bel Paese, then resume the race in Catanzaro on Tuesday, May 12. The route includes starting and finishing points not only in Calabria, but also in Basilicata, Campania, Lazio, Abruzzo, Marche, Tuscany, Liguria, Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, Lombardy, Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia-Giulia. Another trespassing is also planned in the sixteenth stage, scheduled for Tuesday, May 26, in Canton Ticino, Switzerland: departure from Bellinzona and arrival in Carì after a 113-kilometer route.
The 2026 stage will be held in the Ticino canton.
The 2026 stage will be the’eighth Grand Arrival in Rome, the fourth in a row after those that saw Primoz Roglie, Tadej Pogacar and Simon Yates take the top step of the podium with the pink jersey on. There will be only one time trial stage: it will be held on Tuesday, May 29, and will see the riders tackle 40.2 kilometers against the clock in northwestern Tuscany, from Viareggio to Massa. The Cima Coppi of the 2026 edition will be the Giau Pass, among the climbs featured in the third-to-last stage on Friday, May 29, starting in Feltre and finishing at Piani di Pezzé, a nature reserve in the Alleghe area. The penultimate stage, moreover, will start from Gemona del Friuli: a tribute by the’organization to the territories affected by the dramatic earthquake of 1976.
Below are all twenty-one stages of the Giro d’Italia 2026:
08/05 – 156 km – Nessebar – Burgas
09/05 – 220 km – Burgas – Veliko Tarnovo
10/05 – 175 km – Plovdiv – Sofia
11/05 transfer from Bulgaria to Italy
12/05 – 124 km – Catanzaro – Cosenza
13/05 – 202 km – Praia a Mare – Potenza
14/05 – 164 km – Paestum – Naples
15/05 – 156 km – Formia – Blockhaus
16/05 – 180 km – Chieti – Fermo
17/05 – 174 km – Cervia – Corno alle Scale
19/05 – 33 km – Viareggio – Massa Tudor (time trial)
20/05 – 161 km – Porcari (Paper District) – Chiavari
21/05 – 176 km – Imperia – Novi Ligure
22/05 – 162 km – Alessandria – Verbania
23/05 – 145 km – Aosta – Pila
24/05 – 160 km – Voghera – Milan
26/05 – 174 km – Bellinzona – Cari (Switzerland)
27/05 – 168 km – Cassano d’Adda – Andalo
28/05 – 177 km – Fai della Paganella – Pieve di Soligo
29/05 – 147 km – Feltre – Alleghe (Piani di Pezzè)
30/05 – 176 km – Gemona del Friuli 1976-2026 – Piancavallo
31/05 – 126 km – Rome
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