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

[Breh]

Perhaps not the most entertaining route GC-wise but I think most of the stages will have some kind of interesting battle happening, atleast for the stage win.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

no.

this sums up the deterioration of the giro.

paying big fees for a few riders, castrating the route, and roll over and beg whenever the riders dont feel like riding.

the lion doesnt concern himself with tour riders wanting a warm up with a trophy. make a good race and make it watched by as many as possible. its not done in a year, but a better strategy will have the race rely less on any specific rider.

You never know, maybe pman is Damiano Cunego.

I mean this argument basically argues that the 2004 Giro is better than the 2005 Giro because it's better for people to attempt a Giro-Tour double. And I can't think of anybody other than Cunego or Ale-Jet who would have thought that 2004 was better than 2005...

 

[hrotha]

You never know, maybe pman is Damiano Cunego.

I mean this argument basically argues that the 2004 Giro is better than the 2005 Giro because it's better for people to attempt a Giro-Tour double. And I can't think of anybody other than Cunego or Ale-Jet who would have thought that 2004 was better than 2005...

Maybe Gonchar and his plucky De Nardi domestiques

 

[pman]

You never know, maybe pman is Damiano Cunego.

I mean this argument basically argues that the 2004 Giro is better than the 2005 Giro because it's better for people to attempt a Giro-Tour double. And I can't think of anybody other than Cunego or Ale-Jet who would have thought that 2004 was better than 2005...

That really did brighten my morning. Don’t you think the better comparison is 2024 vs 2025? To answer that, I enjoyed 2025 but I’d take 2024 10 times out of 10. I’ll watch regardless but give me the stars. I care about routes more in October and November than I do in May and July. I care about riders and how they race during those months. Maybe I am Pog, lol.

 

[YavorD]

That really did brighten my morning. Don’t you think the better comparison is 2024 vs 2025? To answer that, I enjoyed 2025 but I’d take 2024 10 times out of 10. I’ll watch regardless but give me the stars. I care about routes more in October and November than I do in May and July. I care about riders and how they race during those months. Maybe I am Pog, lol.

So you'll watch 10 out of 10 a race that's not really a race, but almost staged event with a winner that's set and competition doing nothing to bother him and very little to fight between themselves over a race with an uncertain winner and riders that actually tried to race (and would have made an all time edition on a proper route)?
Okay.

I don't think you need the top stars for a great race. I couple of great routes with different types of stages to suit different riders and good stage designs would do more good to the Giro than Pogacar or Vingegaard destroying everyone white riding themselves into shape for the Tour. But I guess that's just me.

 

[ashhutch1997]

In general, the 2024 Giro was a horrible race, but it did some entertaining stages. However, the 2025 Giro in my opinion was the best edition since 2018. It could've been an all time great edition, but the poor route let it down. There were plenty of stages where the riders wanted to race aggressively but didn't have the opportunity due to the poor route.

 

[pman]

So you'll watch 10 out of 10 a race that's not really a race, but almost staged event with a winner that's set and competition doing nothing to bother him and very little to fight between themselves over a race with an uncertain winner and riders that actually tried to race (and would have made an all time edition on a proper route)?
Okay.

I don't think you need the top stars for a great race. I couple of great routes with different types of stages to suit different riders and good stage designs would do more good to the Giro than Pogacar or Vingegaard destroying everyone white riding themselves into shape for the Tour. But I guess that's just me.

But then why not just watch a well designed junior race? If it’s just about a tough route? Plus, not to get on a high horse but obviously nothing in a race is predetermined. Pog still had to finish that Giro. Plus, I enjoyed seeing his attacks and how big he could make his margin. We’re going in circles. I get where you guys are coming from. This is a route design thread, not a rider fandom thread. We clearly care about route design- I just care more about who shows up when it’s time for the actual race.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

But then why not just watch a well designed junior race? If it’s just about a tough route? Plus, not to get on a high horse but obviously nothing in a race is predetermined. Pog still had to finish that Giro. Plus, I enjoyed seeing his attacks and how big he could make his margin. We’re going in circles. I get where you guys are coming from. This is a route design thread, not a rider fandom thread. We clearly care about route design- I just care more about who shows up when it’s time for the actual race.

I get why some people would rather watch a 0-0 between Barcelona and Real Madrid than a 3-3 between Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano. I'm not one of those people, but I get that some people are.

But you're now arguing that a 6-0 between Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano is better than both.

 

[pman]

I get why some people would rather watch a 0-0 between Barcelona and Real Madrid than a 3-3 between Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano. I'm not one of those people, but I get that some people are.

But you're now arguing that a 6-0 between Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano is better than both.

I mean I obviously rather watch a 3-3 Chelsea- Arsenal game than a 6-0 between Chelsea and Burnley. But what I am saying is that I rather see Chelsea beat Burnley 6-0 than Burnley beat Southampton 5-4.

 

[pman]

No offense to Burnley, lol

 

[dobrien]

So you'll watch 10 out of 10 a race that's not really a race, but almost staged event with a winner that's set and competition doing nothing to bother him and very little to fight between themselves over a race with an uncertain winner and riders that actually tried to race (and would have made an all time edition on a proper route)?
Okay.

I don't think you need the top stars for a great race. I couple of great routes with different types of stages to suit different riders and good stage designs would do more good to the Giro than Pogacar or Vingegaard destroying everyone white riding themselves into shape for the Tour. But I guess that's just me.

It's definitely not just you; agree completely with this.

 

[pman]

It's definitely not just you; agree completely with this.

I think most people on a forum like this probably agree with this.

 

[YavorD]

But then why not just watch a well designed junior race? If it’s just about a tough route? Plus, not to get on a high horse but obviously nothing in a race is predetermined. Pog still had to finish that Giro. Plus, I enjoyed seeing his attacks and how big he could make his margin. We’re going in circles. I get where you guys are coming from. This is a route design thread, not a rider fandom thread. We clearly care about route design- I just care more about who shows up when it’s time for the actual race.

But you're not gonna watch a junior race lol.
You will always watch a few of the top 10 riders in the world plus every now and then some of the stars.
On top of that, I'm fairly sure that the median start list quality of 2024 was one of the lowest (if not the lowest) in recent years.
So you didn't watch stars, you watched a star and some sort of a support cast. Okay, the spinters field was good.


Or in Football turns you're picking a 6:0 City-Burnley over 3:3 Spurs-United or maybe Villa-Newcastle (if I have to use a bit more 2023-2025 comparison). Nothing wrong with that of course, it's all personal choice.

Edit; Going by PCS, 2025 has much higher start list quality. And 2024 is indeed the lowest in the last 20 years

 

[pman]

But you're not gonna watch a junior race lol.
You will always watch a few of the top 10 riders in the world plus every now and then some of the stars.
On top of that, I'm fairly sure that the median start list quality of 2024 was one of the lowest (if not the lowest) in recent years.
So you didn't watch stars, you watched a star and some sort of a support cast. Okay, the spinters field was good.


Or in Football turns you're picking a 6:0 City-Burnley over 3:3 Spurs-United or maybe Villa-Newcastle (if I have to use a bit more 2023-2025 comparison). Nothing wrong with that of course, it's all personal choice.

Yeah, exactly. And yes, I’d take a 6-0 City- Burnley game over a marvelous mid table duel. I just think seeing Haaland going for a hat trick would be worth my time more , but like you said, personal choice.

 

[YavorD]

Yeah, exactly. And yes, I’d take a 6-0 City- Burnley game over a marvelous mid table duel. I just think seeing Haaland going for a hat trick would be worth my time more , but like you said, personal choice.

But 3rd vs 6th isn't mid table, unless your table only has 10.

 

[pman]

But 3rd vs 6th isn't mid table, unless your table only has 10.

How many riders capable of winning grand tours of quality are there? Cycling is great because of the various competitions but the GC table itself isn’t that large so yeah, I want a route that might attract a 2x Tour winner

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yeah, exactly. And yes, I’d take a 6-0 City- Burnley game over a marvelous mid table duel. I just think seeing Haaland going for a hat trick would be worth my time more , but like you said, personal choice.

OK, so you're legitimately saying that a game that you admit is "marvelous" would be worse than watching a complete foregone conclusion because you enjoy stat-padding more than the actual sport being played. Like I say, I understand why watching a less exciting competition between the stars might be more appealing than watching a more exciting competition between less significant stars because though there might be less action, the action that there is feels more meaningful. But I don't really understand why watching a foregone conclusion between a star and a series of also-rans that can't compete at their level is appealing. Hell, combat sports has a long history of lower buyrates when challengers are weaker, because people are more likely to pay to see a good fight than one which will be one-sided or over quickly.

But I guess it's like those fans at the Qatar World Cup in the Portugal-Switzerland game that sat on their hands for 70 minutes while Portugal ran riot and gave less response to Gonçalo Ramos being subbed off after scoring a hat trick than they gave to Cristiano Ronaldo coming off the bench for a token appearance after the fixture was done for. They hadn't come to see Portugal-Switzerland. They hadn't come to see the World Cup. They hadn't even come to see football. They'd come to say that they'd seen Cristiano Ronaldo, and they weren't interested until they had.

 

[pman]

OK, so you're legitimately saying that a game that you admit is "marvelous" would be worse than watching a complete foregone conclusion because you enjoy stat-padding more than the actual sport being played. Like I say, I understand why watching a less exciting competition between the stars might be more appealing than watching a more exciting competition between less significant stars because though there might be less action, the action that there is feels more meaningful. But I don't really understand why watching a foregone conclusion between a star and a series of also-rans that can't compete at their level is appealing. Hell, combat sports has a long history of lower buyrates when challengers are weaker, because people are more likely to pay to see a good fight than one which will be one-sided or over quickly.

But I guess it's like those fans at the Qatar World Cup in the Portugal-Switzerland game that sat on their hands for 70 minutes while Portugal ran riot and gave less response to Gonçalo Ramos being subbed off after scoring a hat trick than they gave to Cristiano Ronaldo coming off the bench for a token appearance after the fixture was done for. They hadn't come to see Portugal-Switzerland. They hadn't come to see the World Cup. They hadn't even come to see football. They'd come to say that they'd seen Cristiano Ronaldo, and they weren't interested until they had.

I wouldn’t be sitting on my hands for 70 minutes. I’d be marveling at the best in the world doing something few humans can do at the highest level.

 

[pman]

The star part doesn’t matter, it’s the gap between jonas/ pog and the rest that matters. Same as in football

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I wouldn’t be sitting on my hands for 70 minutes. I’d be marveling at the best in the world doing something few humans can do at the highest level.

The people there weren't interested in seeing many of the best in the world. They were only interested in seeing one of a very small handful of people who are the very best in the world.

I don't see how that's different to the point you're trying to make about the different Giri. Gonçalo Ramos is an extremely good footballer. But he's more a Simon Yates than a Tadej Pogačar. The people there didn't care until they'd seen Ronaldo, and it didn't matter what Ramos did, all bar the few actual genuine Portuguese fans in the stands wouldn't care because he wasn't who they came to see. The same as you're saying you don't care about the 2025 Giro compared to the 2024 Giro, because Tadej Pogačar wasn't at it.

 

[YavorD]

How many riders capable of winning grand tours of quality are there? Cycling is great because of the various competitions but the GC table itself isn’t that large so yeah, I want a route that might attract a 2x Tour winner

Plenty of people are capable untill they don't win and plenty of people aren't capable untill they win.
And yet, any route may attract a 2x Tour winner. I don't think it's too much about the route, but what his team thinks he has to do. If it was up to Vingegaard, I'm certain he would start on any route.
So no, it's not the route that "attracts" the stars, but their desire to start and win the race. Besides, a "well designed route" isn't necessarily a hard route. 2025 is a prime example, you could have designed it much better without making it harder.
So you could stil attract stars with your not-so-hard route while you design stages so that you have a good battle even without them.

How would this route look without Vingegaard to you? And how would the 2024 look without Pogacar? Judging by what I read, absolutely horrendous.

 

[pman]

The people there weren't interested in seeing many of the best in the world. They were only interested in seeing one of a very small handful of people who are the very best in the world.

I don't see how that's different to the point you're trying to make about the different Giri. Gonçalo Ramos is an extremely good footballer. But he's more a Simon Yates than a Tadej Pogačar. The people there didn't care until they'd seen Ronaldo, and it didn't matter what Ramos did, all bar the few actual genuine Portuguese fans in the stands wouldn't care because he wasn't who they came to see. The same as you're saying you don't care about the 2025 Giro compared to the 2024 Giro, because Tadej Pogačar wasn't at it.

I think you’re conflating the fact that stars attract non- fans looking to see a spectacle with the fact the they attract true fans as well, who just want to see the best at what they do best. Both things can be true at the same time,

 

[pman]

How would this route look without Vingegaard to you? And how would the 2024 look without Pogacar? Judging by what I read, absolutely horrendous.

Of course, that’s the gamble the Giro is making, I just think it’s a worthwhile gamble

 

[YavorD]

Of course, that’s the gamble the Giro is making, I just think it’s a worthwhile gamble

The point is, the Giro doesn't need to gamble. Vingegaard will go there at some point regardless of the route.
And, perhaps, stars aren't taking the Giro seriously because the race doesn't seem to take itself seriously?
Design a good routes, leading to great battles, more viewers and the stars will come alone because the Giro is big and important enough to be won, not as a tour preparation/side kick.


As someone mentioned the Giro attracted all of the 10's stars without designing **** routes, so they don't really need to fall into that trap.