The Giro d’Italia is finally here; the Corsa Rosa has got underway today in Bulgaria, with the first of three stages in the Balkans before heading back to Italy for a three-week percorso including the Apennines, Dolomites and Alps.
Jonas Vingegaard leads the list of favourites for pink, having decided to go for the Pantani-Pogačar approach of tackling the Giro and Tour in the same season. The Dane will be joined by Guilio Pellizzari, who anchors a strong Red Bull squad that includes former Giro champion Jai Hindley. Elsewhere, Egan Bernal, Felix Gall and Adam Yates occupy the remaining spots as podium contenders.
We at Cyclist have been hard at work reading the tea leaves, trying to figure out who the lucky jersey wearers will be in three weeks’ time in Rome. Here are our team’s predictions for the big prizes, plus a bonus call for good measure.
Pete Muir, editor
As the boss, Pete gets the first word (and the first of many Vingegaard predictions).
GC: Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
The Giro is the least predictable of the Grand Tours. A quick visit to the race archives (OK, it was Wikipedia) informs me that the past 12 Giros (Giri, for pedants) have been won by 12 different riders. Who’d have ever predicted wins by Simon Yates, Jai Hindley or Tao Geoghegan Hart? So will this year see an outsider snatch the pink jersey? No. Jonas Vingegaard will win it at a canter.
Points: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek)
What was I just saying about predictability? OK, this one is a bit more open – there will be stiff competition from the likes of Kaden Groves, Paul Magnier and even Dylan Groenewegen – but only a fool or a romantic would bet against an in-form Milan.
Mountains: Jonas Vingegaard
Now this really is a lottery, but the likeliest outcome is that Vingegaard rides everyone else off his wheel on the big climbs and scoops the maglia azzurra entirely by accident on his way to the overall. Boring, but true.
White: Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
I know, I know, I’m plucking all the low hanging fruit. But as he’s just shown with his win at the Tour of the Alps, Pellizzari is a kid in form, and will have the whole of Italy on his side.
Bonus: Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos) to shine
He won’t win – he’s not the same rider he was when he took pink in 2021 – but Bernal is showing occasional signs of why he was once the next big thing. And it would be great for him to scoop a stage and maybe even make it onto the podium.
Will Strickson, web editor
Will’s reached for the bon tempi and is backing Giulio Pellizzari.
Maglia rosa: Giulio Pellizzari
Vingegaard is the easy pick, but Don Giulio is what ciclismo needs. While Francophiles pine for Paul Seixas, everyone knows cycling is, in fact, best served Italian, and it’s been a few years now since they had a legit GC contender. Pellizzari came sixth at last year’s Giro despite having spent most of the race working for Uncle Roglič, so with a whole three weeks riding for himself I have every faith he’s one of only two riders who can win this race. It’ll be tough to overcome Jumbo Vingegaard, but an Italian in Italy gains at least 20% in all-round performance levels, and Jonas isn’t immune to Grand Tour misfortune.
Maglia ciclamino: Jonathan Milan
I really didn’t want to pick Jonathan Milan here, mainly because everyone else has/will, but also because his form this year has generally been meh. However on this stage, against this competition, in Italy, Milan will take this one with ease.
Maglia azzurra: Alessandro Pinarello (NSN Cycling Team)
Vincerò, Vinceeeeeeeeròoooooooooo. It could be Vingegaard or Pellizzari if the GC riders decide it; it could be Ciccone but Martin’s taken him; it must be Alessandro Pinarello. Pinarelloooo. Pinareeeeeeeellloooooooooo. NSN’s 2026 signing from Bardiani is in hot form, getting better through the year with 12th in the Algarve, tenth at Tirreno and third (plus a stage, the mountains and points classifications) at O Gran Camiño. Add that onto an inevitable bedwetting in the time-trial to get dumped out of the GC fight and it’ll be Pinarello vs Ciccone for the blue and Alessandro will get the job done for Iniesta and co.
Maglia bianca: Giulio Pellizzari
If he’s in the pink he’s in the white, if he’s not in the pink he’s in the white. He’s in the white.
Il bonus: Fratelli d’Italia, l’Italia s’è desta, dell’elmo di Scipio s’è cinta la testa. Dov’è la Vittoria? Le porga la chioma, ché schiava di Roma Iddio la creò.
As you can tell, this is all about Il Bel Paese. As well as all four maglias we’re going to get great performances from even more Italians. Damiano Caruso will go out on a high, Edoardo Zambanini will win a stage, we’ll get stage wins for Bardiani and Polti, Ganna will win the TT, Gianmarco Garofoli will be on TV more than the Giro train, Andrea Vendrame will win a stage, Davide Piganzoli will prove to be an excellent signing for Visma, and all five of XDS-Astana’s Italians will feature prominently.
Ewan Wilson, staff writer
No more Italian glazing. I’ve backed a Danish sweep of the race’s top two prizes.
GC: Jonas Vingegaard
A boring pick, sure, but the most sensible one. Vingegaard’s overwhelming status as favourite has been reinforced by a strong run of form this year. In fact, he’s gone undefeated this year in stage races, having won Paris-Nice in dominant fashion, then the Volta a Catalunya in a similarly emphatic style. If there’s one thing Vingegaard can guarantee at the moment, it’s a clinical GC win.
Points: Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon-CMA CGM)
Despite Jonathan Milan’s squeaky clean record at Grand Tours, having won the points jersey on every attempt, the Italian’s results this year have left me wanting more. His Classics campaign was lacklustre, and while his win count is high, he struggled to stand out at Tirreno-Adriatico. And that’s before I get onto Lidl-Trek’s disastrous run of form in 2026.
In that case, I’m backing one of the men to beat Milan at Tirreno-Adriatico: Tobias Lund. The Dane has been one of the most consistent sprinters of 2026, and he enters the Corsa Rosa with one of the best leadouts too. He won’t end up with six stage wins by the time we get to Rome, but Lund is versatile and consistent. He’ll Sagan his way to the magia ciclamino.
Mountains: Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
It would be strange for UAE to leave the Giro with nothing to write home about. And while Adam Yates could deliver a top ten overall, or Jan Christen a stage win, I reckon a KOM run is likely for Jay Vine. The Australian has become a mountain point hoover in recent Vueltas, so it should be easy to translate that onto Italian roads. He just needs to stay upright through the first week, which is easier said than done when it comes to Jay Vine.
Youth: Giulio Pellizzari
This 22-year-old looks strong enough for the podium, so a white jersey run seems a comfortable bet. This bullish feeling stems from an absolutely blistering start to 2026, in which young Giulio has finished on the podium of every stage race he’s competed in, including a win at the Tour of the Alps and a runner-up spot at Tirreno-Adriatico back in March. To back him up, Pellizzari features in a star-studded Red Bull roster that includes former Giro winner Jai Hindley and domestique deluxe Sasha Vlasov. In that sense, the white jersey is the least of his worries. It’s the pink he could walk home with.
Bonus: Unibet Rose Rockets win a stage
If there’s one thing Unibet Rose Rockets sprinter Dylan Groenewegen is good at, it’s picking up a Grand Tour win. Usually, that comes at the Tour de France, where he has bagged stages in five recent editions, but he returns to the Giro d’Italia on great form for his new team. His squad will be highly motivated to justify their entry, having stole the final wildcard spot after a scathing rejection from the Tour de France. Groenewegen has a host of sprint finishes to choose from, but the optimist in me thinks Lukáš Kubiš or even Niklas Larsen could be in the fight for a stage win at some point throughout the three weeks.
Martin James, production editor
Martin is relying on Grand Tour know-how.
GC: Jonas Vingegaard
He’s the favourite, has a star-studded support cast including Grand Tour winner Sepp Kuss, a limited list of true rivals, and he’s in great form. Plus victory completes his Grand Tour set before Tadej Pogačar, one of few meaningful achievements he can still claim over his eternal rival.
Points: Jonathan Milan
Pretty much all those points above about Vingegaard can be applied to Milan in the context of the points jersey. He’s won stages at all three stage races he’s ridden in 2026, and after missing the Giro last year to focus on the Tour, he’ll be keen to complete a delayed hat-trick of points jersey success after his wins in 2023 and 2024.
Mountains: Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek)
Ciccone is another Lidl-Trek rider with previous form in a specific Grand Tour discipline. Aside from his maglia azzurra success back in 2019, he won the Tour’s polka dot jersey more recently in 2023, so knows how to get the job done. A rider who can get compete in the high mountains but is equally able to mix it up on smaller ascents, he should be able to keep the points tally moving throughout the three weeks.
White jersey: Giulio Pellizzari
Pellizzari finished second in last year’s white jersey standings behind Isaac del Toro on the way to an impressive sixth place overall, and with Del Toro out of the picture with injury and Pellizzari in fantastic form, this one looks nailed down.
Bonus: Strong start to the AI era at Ineos
With a new kit, a new name and a new AI-driven title sponsor, these are exciting times for Netcompany Ineos. Suddenly we’re hearing about long-term projects and potential Grand Tour wins again, with AI essentially providing the marginal gains Dave Brailsford once looked after. And there could be early signs of an uptick in fortunes at the Giro, with plenty of potential for stage wins and – who knows? – even the chance of a podium for Egan Bernal? The question is, if things do go well, will AI be given the assist even though we’re barely a month into the partnership?
Laurence Kilpatrick, staff writer
While Martin and Pete believe in an algorithm-driven return to form for Bernal, Laurence backs the Colombian for pink. Big call.
GC: Egan Bernal
Not that he’s a dead cert, but it’s too boring to plump for the famous Danish fish botherer, so I’m throwing my backing behind Egan Bernal. He’s had a slow, steady return to competitiveness since his terrible injury and this year things are shaping up quite nicely for the Colombian, coming second in the Tour of the Alps and banking a very respectable fifth in Liège. There’s just the one ITT in the Giro this year, but at 42km it’s a long one that could easily put Bernal out of contention by the halfway point. Everyone loves a comeback so vamos Egan.
Points: Jonathan Milan
It’s big John for me. The nodding dog will be on home roads and probably has slightly better climbing acumen than some of his direct competition, so he should be competitive for the whole three weeks. He also arrives as a man in form, having racked up the wins pretty consistently so far in 2026.
Mountains: Giulio Ciccone
While Vingegaard may well end up with an accidental KOM title, I hope it ends up on the back of a rider who actually targets it. That man is Giulio Ciccone, another Lidl Trek rider, who may well end up ceding his own ambitions to look after GC hunter Derek Gee. If he does get some room to stretch his legs, you wouldn’t bet against him. He took the KOM title at the Tour of Catalunya and is generally in decent fettle.
Youth: Giulio Pellizzari
After winning the Tour of the Alps, and the youth classification too, Giulio Pellizzari may well be in the running for the Giro’s GC too. Backing him to win the young gun title seems almost too obvious but he seems a fair way ahead of the other young riders.
Bonus: Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) wins a stage
Victor Campenaerts spends his winters holed up away from friends and family, sleeping in his black socks and black shoes, plotting individual stage wins from months and months out. So it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge this master planner.
That perfectly executed 2024 Tour de France victory in stage 18 to Barcelonette took in over 3,000m of climbing in 179km – but importantly, it was a flat finish. Clearly, Victor likes to go deep into the tour, when everyone else is shattered. Stage 17 to Andalo looks like one he might’ve been poring over from an oxygen tent in the Sierra Nevada on Christmas morning. 202km and 3,300m of climbing but unfortunately the finish is uphill.
Perhaps stage 12 is a better bet. 175km and 2,250m of climbing with all the hills taken care of in the first two-thirds of the course. There’s also a handy 15km climb from the start which could lend itself to an instant breakaway forming. You heard it here first.