Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia 2026 Route: Speculation, Rumours and Announcements

[Brullnux]

Okay. I interpreted the Cicloweb article in a way that no profile meant fairly flat stage. But you're of course right that stages to like Andalo and Fermo wont be that.

I like the first 9 days more than in a long time. The Potenza stage seems great, a Blockhaus MTF is very good and a Fermo stage could be that.

The first week has the potential to be the best since 2015. It's a shame for the possibly unipuerto Stage 9 – I'd have traded that for a flattish stage and then had Blockhaus/Fermo for the weekend, on an ideal world.

The biggest issue is the number of MTFs and the lack of good mountain stages, and then also the weird Stage 15 to Milan. There could be six pure MTF shootouts (Blockhaus, Stage 9, Pila, the Swiss stage, Pian del Pezze, Piancavallo) which feels very excessive.

 

[YavorD]

I think Blockhaus as a early MTF is very good. The Pila stage is also quite good. Piani di Pezze stage could be anyting. I think the most likely scenario there is action only on the last 5 kms.

What I miss the most are the "classic" Giro stage like Finestre/Sestriere, Mortirolo/Aprica, Stelvio/Torri di Fraele, etc. Or secondary; proper medium mountain stages like Sappada or Torino 2022.

Blockhaus is nice and I like it as well.
Pila, of course, is very likely to be totally different from what is proposed, but the proposed one is full of tempo climb's with limited amount of really steek kilometres and Pila itself is hard enough to neutre all the action before, while not a great MTF on it's own. Think a sprint is a likely scenario there.
Pezze is a good stage, I agree, but still has the potential to be a MTF shoot-out because of how steep the climb is (would be much better if they suddenly cancel the final climb).


First week can be good. Stage 2 ends in a very hilly area, so there is a possibility and Potenza is also good. Fermo can feel like a wasted opportunity with the pacing.

 

[ashhutch1997]

The Piani di Pezze gives me Finestre/Bardonecchia vibes from 2018, very hard climb/ shallow climb/ valley then short steep climb. If it works and the race breaks up on the Gaui we could have a legendary stage, however, if it doesn't work we could have a very underwhelming stage where nothing happens until the last 4km.

 

[YavorD]

Just make Cari an ITT and I'm happy..ish.

 

[Brullnux]

The Piani di Pezze gives me Finestre/Bardonecchia vibes from 2018, very hard climb/ shallow climb/ valley then short steep climb. If it works and the race breaks up on the Gaui we could have a legendary stage, however, if it doesn't work we could have a very underwhelming stage where nothing happens until the last 4km.

I think if it hadn't been for all the other MTFs I'd say it's a risk worth taking. Lots of upside. Giau isn't as hard as Finestre but it's a great climb anyway

 

[Red Rick]

I think if it hadn't been for all the other MTFs I'd say it's a risk worth taking. Lots of upside. Giau isn't as hard as Finestre but it's a great climb anyway

I don't think we're gonna see someone smash the bottom of Giau with Duran and Staulanza before it.

The climb is absurdly well suited in itself for it though, with the little bumper to Selva di Cadore.

 

[ashhutch1997]

I think if it hadn't been for all the other MTFs I'd say it's a risk worth taking. Lots of upside. Giau isn't as hard as Finestre but it's a great climb anyway

True, but the approach to the Giau is harder than the Finestre in 2018.

 

[ashhutch1997]

I don't think we're gonna see someone smash the bottom of Giau with Duran and Staulanza before it.

The climb is absurdly well suited in itself for it though, with the little bumper to Selva di Cadore.

The Duran is a very tough climb, it blew the race apart in the 2005 Giro.

 

[Red Rick]

The Duran is a very tough climb, it blew the race apart in the 2005 Giro.

It's too far away to blow the race apart.

 

[ashhutch1997]

It's too far away to blow the race apart.

Obviously, but what I mean is that it fatigues the riders nicely before the Giau, if someone wanted to blow the race apart on the Giau.

 

[Brullnux]

I don't think we're gonna see someone smash the bottom of Giau with Duran and Staulanza before it.

The climb is absurdly well suited in itself for it though, with the little bumper to Selva di Cadore.

Too hard of a combo? As in, it'll fatigue domestiques too much to then nuke it?

I think it depends on race situation and on the riders. The opportunity will be there, and I don't think it's a waste of the climb like the Giro has done with some others recently. It's one of the rare stages where the riders really will make the race, and not much is guaranteed.

 

[Red Rick]

Too hard of a combo? As in, it'll fatigue domestiques too much to then nuke it?

I think it depends on race situation and on the riders. The opportunity will be there, and I don't think it's a waste of the climb like the Giro has done with some others recently. It's one of the rare stages where the riders really will make the race, and not much is guaranteed.

A bit like that yes. I think that as riders get more tired, they also become less likely to make really long range attacks, especially if they don't have domestiques up the road. I think that part of the reason Finestre and Mortirolo often work so well is actually that there's usually not that much climbing before it.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

A bit like that yes. I think that as riders get more tired, they also become less likely to make really long range attacks, especially if they don't have domestiques up the road. I think that part of the reason Finestre and Mortirolo often work so well is actually that there's usually not that much climbing before it.

Can I infer from this that you would complain about the design of Gardeccia 2011 if it had been announced for this Giro instead of 15 years ago?

 

[Red Rick]

Can I infer from this that you would complain about the design of Gardeccia 2011 if it had been announced for this Giro instead of 15 years ago?

No, I would merely act smug if the action were to be less than anticipated.

I also dont say that it is bad, only that I dont think it is that great for a particular scenario

 

[Sciatic]

A bit like that yes. I think that as riders get more tired, they also become less likely to make really long range attacks, especially if they don't have domestiques up the road.

Except for that one guy . . . What’s his nam again?

 

[Red Rick]

Except for that one guy . . . What’s his nam again?

None of his super long solo's have been queen stages in Grand Tours either.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

None of his super long solo's have been queen stages in Grand Tours either.

Pogacar's four major GT solos lengthwise are Gredos 2019, Grand Bornand 2021, Mottolino 2024 and Bassano del Grappa 2024. All of those had legitimate attritional climbing before the big attack and Mottolino is the textbook example of a a queen stage that relied entirely on stage length and sheer elevation gain.

 

[Red Rick]

Pogacar's four major GT solos lengthwise are Gredos 2019, Grand Bornand 2021, Mottolino 2024 and Bassano del Grappa 2024. All of those had legitimate attritional climbing before the big attack and Mottolino is the textbook example of a a queen stage that relied entirely on stage length and sheer elevation gain.

And on all those stages, how big were gaps between the riders behind Pogacar?

I would also add that the former two examples were pretty heavily down to weather and the later two were in the 2024 Giro against a complete meme field so Pogacar could have won in any way he wanted. "Pogacar won by more" itself isn't really great evidence that more attrition is better for the race.

And I don't say all attrition is bad either. I just say that attrition alone isn't sufficient for good design, and if you rely on riders being dead as main reason for action to start then that's typically a very poor recipe for great stages. I'd actually go as far as saying nearly every legendary stage with multiple climbs of action had the action fire off before riders were already dead and neaerly every stage that just relied on sheer volume grinding riders down heavily disappointed.

Now the reason I would be perfectly happy to see Gardecchia 2011 happen again is because is because the stage isn't contingent on insane solo rides and because Fedaia is hard enough to function as a seperation point. But we must also remember that despite the insane attrition and super weak teams that Giro that stage the GC group still almost all started Gardecchia together.