2026 Giro d'Italia Route Starts in Bulgaria

Organizers of the Giro d'Italia unveiled the route for the 2026 edition on Monday in Rome, marking the 109th running of the prestigious Italian Grand Tour. The three-week race will commence with its first three stages in Bulgaria from May 8 to 10, before transferring to Italy and concluding with a ceremonial procession in the capital on May 31.

This will be the 16th time the Giro begins abroad and the second consecutive year following a foreign start, after Albania hosted the opening stages of the 2025 edition won by Britain's Simon Yates of Visma-Lease a Bike. The peloton will cover 3,459 kilometers in total, tackling approximately 50,000 meters of elevation gain across 21 stages. The route features seven summit finishes, eight flat stages suited for sprinters, seven hilly days, and one individual time trial measuring 40.2 kilometers from Viareggio to Massa along the Tuscan coast on stage 10.

The Bulgarian leg, known as the Grande Partenza, begins with a 156-kilometer flat stage from Nessebar to Burgas along the Black Sea coast, likely ending in a bunch sprint. Stage two stretches 220 kilometers from Burgas to Veliko Tarnovo, the historic City of the Tsars, incorporating three...