Outgoing Giro d’Italia director Mauro Vegni described the 2026 race route as “modern, balanced but tough”, admitting it was designed to tempt the likes of Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and perhaps even Tadej Pogačar to attempt a Giro-Tour double.
Back in 2024 the Giro d’Italia was marked by a 20% cut in altitude gain to ‘help’ Pogačar take on both Grand Tours and now the 2026 Giro route includes seven mountain finishes and 49,150 metres of altitude gain, less than last year’s 52,325 metres. It also lacks a triple whammy of mountain stages in the last week and, as a whole, the 2026 route does not seem harder than in 2024. Vegni has offered several carrots, rather than try to use a stick, to convince the big riders to race in Italy next May.
“We’ve heard both Vingegaard and Evenepoel want to ride the Giro. They’d be two big-name riders. Even Pogačar will be back sooner or later…”
RCS Sport CEO Paolo Bellino will soon take over the public and media spotlight from Vegni and confirmed that the Italian organiser has a strategy to attract some big-name Giro contenders. In the past organiser RCS Sport has splashed the cash to secure the presence of Lance Armstrong, Chris Froome, Tom Dumoulin, Alberto Contador, Pogačar and others. It’s perhaps as risky a game as investing in Bitcoin but one RCS Sport seems ready to play.
Pogačar dominated in 2024, winning six stages and beating Daniel Martínez by almost ten minutes. The Italian tifosi loved to see him in the Giro but the wider public soon got bored of his dominance.
RCS Sport know they need a balanced GC battle, hence their desire to lure Vingegaard and Evenepoel plus a host of other big name riders that could perhaps include Pogačar UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Isaac del Toro, Primož Roglič and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) or even French super talent Paul Seixas (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale). A number of sprinters are likely to ride at least the first two weeks of the Giro, even Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) may be tempted to return in 2026.