Outgoing Giro d'Italia director Mauro Vegni described the 2026 race route as "modern, balanced but tough", admitting it was designed to tempt the likes of Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and perhaps even Tadej Pogačar to attempt a Giro-Tour double.
Back in 2024 the Giro d'Italia was marked by a 20% cut in altitude gain to 'help' Pogačar take on both Grand Tours and now the 2026 Giro route includes seven mountain finishes and 49,150 metres of altitude gain, less than last year’s 52,325 metres. It also lacks a triple whammy of mountain stages in the last week and, as a whole, the 2026 route does not seem harder than in 2024. Vegni has offered several carrots, rather than try to use a stick, to convince the big riders to race in Italy next May.
A flat and fast 40km time trial has surely been added to try to tempt world time trial champion Evenepoel to ride, while the reduction in the length of some key mountain stages and the flattening of others may perhaps appease Vingegaard. There are early mountain stages, including the 246km ride to the Blockhaus mountain finish on stage 7, but there are also lots of 'recovery' stages for the GC contenders, when they can let the sprinters and baroudeur riders hog the spotlight as they sit on the wheels in the peloton.
The performance staff at the biggest teams have surely already crunched the numbers to understand if their riders can handle both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in 2026.
"If I was Jonas Vingegaard I wouldn't let a chance like this escape him. If he won the 2026 Giro, he'd complete the Grand Tour set," Vegni said of the Danish Visma-Lease a Bike leader.
"We've heard both Vingegaard and Evenepoel want to ride the Giro. They'd be two big-name riders. Even Pogačar will be back sooner or later…"
RCS Sport CEO Paolo Bellino will soon take over the public and media spotlight from Vegni and confirmed that the Italian organiser has a strategy to attract some big-name Giro contenders. In the past organiser RCS Sport has splashed the cash to secure the presence of Lance Armstrong, Chris Froome, Tom Dumoulin, Alberto Contador, Pogačar and others. It's perhaps as risky a game as investing in Bitcoin but one RCS Sport seems ready to play.
"We're working on it," Bellino told Cyclingnews in Rome.
"We're trying to set up a real battle between some 'grande campione', some real big names. But I only like to announce things when they're a done deal."
Pogačar dominated in 2024, winning six stages and beating Daniel Martínez by almost ten minutes. The Italian tifosi loved to see him in the Giro but the wider public soon got bored of his dominance.
RCS Sport know they need a balanced GC battle, hence their desire to lure Vingegaard and Evenepoel plus a host of other big name riders that could perhaps include Pogačar UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Isaac del Toro, Primož Roglič and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) or even French super talent Paul Seixas (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale). A number of sprinters are likely to ride at least the first two weeks of the Giro, even Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) may be tempted to return in 2026.
"The 2025 Giro was a great race with a thrilling finale on the Colle delle Finestre. It confirmed Simon Yates' love for the Giro but also discovered some great young talents like Isaac del Toro. We hope for even more in 2026," Bellino said.
"This year's Giro has a lot of stages that are like a Classics, so we hope to attract raiders who will go for stage wins, while also creating a fascinating GC battle. I agree with the idea of having a balanced GC battle, but we want to have all the best riders at the Giro, not just one or two."
