Giro d'Italia Rate the 2026 Giro d'Italia route

[Krzysztof_O]

I gave it 4, weak route by Giro standards.

The Dolomites stage is epic with tons of elevation gain and going near majestic rocky giants (i.e. finish near Civetta, going close to Tofane). But you know what? The GC action on Giau is far from guaranteed as there is still a lot of climbing afterwards. They may opt for the last muro attacks as there's still a difficult MTF the day after.

Other than that a bunch of unipuerto stages straight from Vuelta, some decent MTFs. Alps are so underused. No Lombardia, no epic combo (huge climb + shallow finish) included i.e. Mortirolo, Stelvio or Finestre (while Fauniera is still just a wet dream). Too many breakaway stages.

 

[hrotha]

Guys can you please stop trolling with your 10's, it's working too well on me

 

[Brullnux]

Something remarkable is that only five stages have a climb Cat 3 or harder in the first third of the stage. I think only six have one in the first half of the stage.

 

[Red Rick]

Another one is that only 2 stages go over 1700m in altitude, and only 4 climbs go over it.

 

[Jan the Man]

I voted 6- would have preferred a second ITT or to make the first one 50km and would have preferred a proper mountain stage with a descent finish. A couple of the mountain stages are a bit meh but stage 14 and 19 are proper Tappone.

A couple of the medium mountain stages are nice

 

[hrotha]

stage 14 and 19 are proper Tappone.

But they're 133 km and 151 km long, they're barely tappe

 

[improb]

So, I have a friend who works for RCS and has designed a few of the stages here. Here are a few infos he told me:

Stage 17 was meant to finish in Madonna di Campiglio but would have been a unipuerto stage. They enquired about putting Fai della Paganella before Andalo but the stage would have been way too long (over 240 kms long). They wanted to include Daone and Duran in the Andalo stage but municipalities didn't want to pay the money needed to repave the roads.

The Swiss stage was meant to go over Passo del Lucomagno, Oberalp Pass and San Gottardo but a few of the Swiss municipalities on the German side didn't want the Giro to pass as the Tour of Switzerland will go over those same roads a month later.

The ITT was inserted in the parcours a week ago, a last minute entry. The Milan stage was the one meant to be an ITT. If they ever skipped Milan (which meant not doing the flat stage on the second weekend), stage 19 would have to end in Cortina because there was big money to end the stage in one of the 2026 Olympics host cities.

Campania features often and will probably continue to feature in the Giro parcours because it's one of the few regions willing to repave roads up to Giro standards. Next year, there will likely be a stage ending in Matera, there's a contract already.

Said there's no chance in hell to see Fauniera in the near future of the Giro. Also said that there's very real talk within RCS to move the Giro to September and swap with the Vuelta.

Also confirmed that this Giro was easier so that they could attract Remco and it will backfire should Remco not be there. Vingegaard is pretty much confirmed to do the Giro and likely the Tour after.

Next year route will be harder as there are no constraints tied to the Olympics or the World Cup.

 

[Berniece]

Also said that there's very real talk within RCS to move the Giro to September and swap with the Vuelta.

Would be pleasantly surprised if they actually did this. I can imagine ASO not having an issue with the Vuelta in may, so if RCS is okay with the Giro in september it should be a done deal.

 

[Red Rick]

Making routes to court a specific rider will never not be pathetic

 

[Berniece]

Making routes to court a specific rider will never not be pathetic

Makes the race more exciting?

 

[improb]

Making routes to court a specific rider will never not be pathetic

It does bring more eyes on the race. I guess they thought a Vingegaard win could otherwise be a foregone ending so they tried to attract Remco.

 

[vappaxbipmv]

So, I have a friend who works for RCS and has designed a few of the stages here. Here are a few infos he told me:

Stage 17 was meant to finish in Madonna di Campiglio but would have been a unipuerto stage. They enquired about putting Fai della Paganella before Andalo but the stage would have been way too long (over 240 kms long). They wanted to include Daone and Duran in the Andalo stage but municipalities didn't want to pay the money needed to repave the roads.

The Swiss stage was meant to go over Passo del Lucomagno, Oberalp Pass and San Gottardo but a few of the Swiss municipalities on the German side didn't want the Giro to pass as the Tour of Switzerland will go over those same roads a month later.

The ITT was inserted in the parcours a week ago, a last minute entry. The Milan stage was the one meant to be an ITT. If they ever skipped Milan (which meant not doing the flat stage on the second weekend), stage 19 would have to end in Cortina because there was big money to end the stage in one of the 2026 Olympics host cities.

Campania features often and will probably continue to feature in the Giro parcours because it's one of the few regions willing to repave roads up to Giro standards. Next year, there will likely be a stage ending in Matera, there's a contract already.

Said there's no chance in hell to see Fauniera in the near future of the Giro. Also said that there's very real talk within RCS to move the Giro to September and swap with the Vuelta.

Also confirmed that this Giro was easier so that they could attract Remco and it will backfire should Remco not be there. Vingegaard is pretty much confirmed to do the Giro and likely the Tour after.

Next year route will be harder as there are no constraints tied to the Olympics or the World Cup.

Could you ask your friend why didn't they include another TT if they were actually serious about attracting Remco? Great info otherwise

 

[Red Rick]

Makes the race more exciting?

By minimizing the possibility that anything interesting happens during the race?

 

[houtdffan]

Would be pleasantly surprised if they actually did this. I can imagine ASO not having an issue with the Vuelta in may, so if RCS is okay with the Giro in september it should be a done deal.

except CN has reported RCS has said no chance will they ever swap dates

'We're not even going to think about the idea' – RCS firmly against Tadej Pogačar's suggestion to switch Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España dates

Italian race organiser only open to a one week move into June to benefit from better weather and Italian national holiday

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[KZD]

I gave it a 5/10 the same as in the Tour but for different reasons.

This Giro actually manages to find a decent balance between TT kilometers and climbing but only because its one of the easiest Giro routes that I remember.

I like that we have a proper long TT and the Blockhaus stage could give us surprising results with such a long distance. Its also not as backloaded as this year's with a good 'Italian first week' and I applaud the return of Giau.

Now on to the negatives, the Bulgarian stages are disappointing, only stage 2 could be remotely interesting so they could have made one of them a short TT. The second and third week are too easy, stages 16 and 17 are very disappointing and I wish there was another mountain stage on the second week.

 

[vappaxbipmv]

except CN has reported RCS has said no chance will they ever swap dates

'We're not even going to think about the idea' – RCS firmly against Tadej Pogačar's suggestion to switch Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España dates

Italian race organiser only open to a one week move into June to benefit from better weather and Italian national holiday

www.cyclingnews.com

I wouldn't necessarily trust what's being said publicly

 

[Berniece]

By minimizing the possibility that anything interesting happens during the race?

You are the one always complaining about solo's from Pogacar making the race predictable and less exciting. Why would you want the same to happen with Vingegaard in the Giro? Does the race get more interesting if it's unnecessarily hard, and we already know the outcome? At least now there's a balance which creates the opportunity for multiple riders to win, which will make it more interesting.

 

[hrotha]

Does the race get more interesting if it's unnecessarily hard

 

[CXXC]

8 Giro is sure to be good , it always is . If only it was starting next week I would have voted 10, road racing is such a miss currently .

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Does the race get more interesting if it's unnecessarily hard, and we already know the outcome?

POV: you didn't watch the 2011 Giro.

Also, so long as Vingegaard is still a level above everyone not named Pogacar, the GC battle is going to be bad no matter what the route is if he starts. So there's little point in optimising for that scenario, and insofar as there is a point it's an argument for cutting down on the quantity of mountain stages, not the quality.

Finally, if Vingegaard starts and is not that good by his standards, then a soft route will actively hamper the race, as proven by the Vuelta this year.

 

[ashhutch1997]

POV: you didn't watch the 2011 Giro.

IMO the 2011 Giro is very overatted on here, had some good mountain stages on stage 13, 14 and obviously stage 15. But the last week was terrible, we literally had a bunch ride up Finestre, as pretty much everyone was on their knees, it was just too hard. It literally cost Zomegnan his job as race director.

Good examples of races being interesting despite a having already knowing the winner would be the 2015 Giro or the 2019 Vuelta.

 

[houtdffan]

I gave it a 5/10 the same as in the Tour but for different reasons.

This Giro actually manages to find a decent balance between TT kilometers and climbing but only because its one of the easiest Giro routes that I remember.

I like that we have a proper long TT and the Blockhaus stage could give us surprising results with such a long distance. Its also not as backloaded as this year's with a good 'Italian first week' and I applaud the return of Giau.

Now on to the negatives, the Bulgarian stages are disappointing, only stage 2 could be remotely interesting so they could have made one of them a short TT. The second and third week are too easy, stages 16 and 17 are very disappointing and I wish there was another mountain stage on the second week.

I wouldn't call a 40km TT a proper long ITT. That is still intermediate length

Give us 2015 again. That's an ITT

 

[red_flanders]

So, I have a friend who works for RCS and has designed a few of the stages here. Here are a few infos he told me:

Stage 17 was meant to finish in Madonna di Campiglio but would have been a unipuerto stage. They enquired about putting Fai della Paganella before Andalo but the stage would have been way too long (over 240 kms long). They wanted to include Daone and Duran in the Andalo stage but municipalities didn't want to pay the money needed to repave the roads.

The Swiss stage was meant to go over Passo del Lucomagno, Oberalp Pass and San Gottardo but a few of the Swiss municipalities on the German side didn't want the Giro to pass as the Tour of Switzerland will go over those same roads a month later.

The ITT was inserted in the parcours a week ago, a last minute entry. The Milan stage was the one meant to be an ITT. If they ever skipped Milan (which meant not doing the flat stage on the second weekend), stage 19 would have to end in Cortina because there was big money to end the stage in one of the 2026 Olympics host cities.

Campania features often and will probably continue to feature in the Giro parcours because it's one of the few regions willing to repave roads up to Giro standards. Next year, there will likely be a stage ending in Matera, there's a contract already.

Said there's no chance in hell to see Fauniera in the near future of the Giro. Also said that there's very real talk within RCS to move the Giro to September and swap with the Vuelta.

Also confirmed that this Giro was easier so that they could attract Remco and it will backfire should Remco not be there. Vingegaard is pretty much confirmed to do the Giro and likely the Tour after.

Next year route will be harder as there are no constraints tied to the Olympics or the World Cup.

Nice to see a post which actually recognizes the realities race organizers face. It's not as simple as "make it the hardest ever and use all my favorite roads all the time".

It'll be a great race. Almost always is, and if it hasn't been, it's not generally been because of the course.

 

[houtdffan]

Nice to see a post which actually recognizes the realities race organizers face. It's not as simple as "make it the hardest ever and use all my favorite roads all the time".

It'll be a great race. Almost always is, and if it hasn't been, it's not generally been because of the course.

it doesn't explain why Milan still could not have been a ITT though...

 

[red_flanders]

it doesn't explain why Milan still could not have been a ITT though...

It's not meant to.