The 2026 Giro d'Italia will kick off with a Grande Partenza in Bulgaria, the president of RCS Urbano Cairo has confirmed this week.
Rumours of a possible Bulgarian start for the race have been swirling over the summer after reports in local media, and while the Giro hasn't made an official announcement just yet, Cairo confirmed at the Festival dello Sport in Trento that the start will be in the Balkan nation in May.
This will mark the second consecutive foreign Grande Partenza for the Giro, after starting in Albania this year, and another particularly far away start too, for the race that has started in Hungary and Israel in recent years.
Speaking at the Festival dello Sport in a panel about the economic impact of the Giro d'Italia, Cairo confirmed the news.
"In May, we started from Albania, and next year from Bulgaria," he said, after speaking about how the foreign starts add value to the race at home and abroad.
"These initiatives have a positive impact, they're appreciated by the countries we visit but also by Italians who are familiar with a new territory. We're boosting Italian exports, and this is a goal for our country.
"The Giro d'Italia is an ambassador for sport around the world, bringing it to a foreign country opens up all sorts of opportunities."
If the start in Bulgaria follows the trend of other foreign starts, it seems likely that the race could get underway in the capital of Sofia, visiting other parts of the nation before heading back to Italy, possibly with a travel day included.
The Giro is currently scheduled to start on May 9 and run until May 31, but could start a day earlier to facilitate the Grande Partenza and an added travel day. Sofia is around 1,000km away from the eastern border of Italy by road.
Technically, races are only allowed to request an extra travel day once every four years, to minimise excessive foreign departs. If the start in Bulgaria goes ahead as planned with an added day, it would be the second occurrence in four years, and would mark three foreign starts in five editions.
2025 saw foreign starts for both the Giro and the Vuelta a España, whilst the Tour de France is set to start in Barcelona in 2026.
Bulgaria currently hosts one UCI race, the five-day Tour of Bulgaria for men, and their most prolific rider is junior Nicholas Van der Merwe.
In August, the UCI suspended the president and vice president of the Bulgarian cycling federation over violation of the UCI Code of Ethics.
Despite Cairo's confirmation, the Giro organisers are yet to officially announce the Grande Partenza for 2026.
Full details of the Giro d'Italia route are set to be unveiled before the end of the year.
