Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) edged Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) on the uphill, cobbled finish in Naples for the stage 6 victory at the Giro d'Italia. Both riders avoided going down with 300 metres to go in a corner made treacherous by rain. Swerving to avoid the chaos and also staying upright, points classification leader Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) finished third.
All riders finished the stage, with no changes in the general classification, led by Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious).
In a Giro d'Italia finale unlike any other in the race's history, two breakaway riders overcame separate crashes and a wrong turn to battle for the stage victory.
Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) crashed with 13.5km to go while racing at the front with Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) and it seemed his hopes were gone. But Eulálio then also crashed on the wet roads into Potenza and Arrieta caught up. Then, the Spaniard went the wrong way at a Y junction and had to turn around, but he again managed to catch Eulálio in the home stretch and sprint past for the win. The Portuguese rider had the consolation prize of taking the maglia rosa of race leader.
After a rest/travel day, it was straight back into the action on the first day in Italy as a breakaway-friendly stage actually turned out fairly explosive, with Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) grabbing the win in Cosenza from a heavily reduced group. On the only climb of the day, Movistar set a rapid pace which blew the race up, dropping all the main sprinters and pink jersey Silva. They would only be awarded with second on the stage, though, with Orluis Aular, as Giulio Ciccone's (Lidl-Trek) bonus second efforts saw him grab a memorable pink jersey, the first of his career.
In a welcome, uneventful stage, Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quickstep) sprinted to his second stage win in three days, in a three-way photo finish. The Frenchman overtook Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), who launched his sprint early, and Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) took third. Thomas Silva (XDS Astana) retained the maglia rosa on the eve of a rest-travel day where the peloton will travel back to Italy.
Stage 2 route, along with rain and a massive crash, delivered a shakeup to the GC, and a surprise winner in Thomas Silva (XDS Astana) who sprinted to stage victory after a three-rider break with Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) was caught inside the final kilometre. Coming off his teammate's wheel, Silva took the close win ahead of Florian Stork (Tudor) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), a first for a Uruguayan rider, and also took over the pink leader's jersey.
The 2026 Giro d'Italia kicked off in Bulgaria on Friday with a flat stage up and down the Black Sea Coast. Although it was quiet for the most part, it descended into chaos inside the final kilometre, where a huge crash took several riders down and held up almost the entire peloton. Only a dozen riders remained to sprint it out, with Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) getting the better of Tobias Lund Andersen (Decathlon CMA CGM) to take the first Grand Tour stage win of his career, plus the pink jersey as the first overall leader of the race.
First or second in every Grand Tour that he has started since 2020, it's not hard to see why Jonas Vingegaard lines up at the 109th edition of the Giro d’Italia as the overwhelming favourite.
Compared to the other team leaders and riders who have overall ambitions, he climbs better than all of them, his time trial performance is strongest outside of the dedicated specialists and finally, his level of concentration and race craft is second to none. Racing incidents aside, the surprise won’t be if he wins, it’ll be by how much and how many days he spends in the maglia rosa as race leader. Read more...
The 2026 Giro d'Italia is the 109th edition of the Italian Grand Tour. The three-week race will be held from May 8 to May 31 with the Grande Partenza in Bulgaria in Eastern Europe. The Giro will travel to Italy after three stages in Bulgaria
Race organiser RCS Sport presented the race route in Rome on December 1, alongside the route of the 2026 Giro d'Italia Women's race.
The 2026 Giro d'Italia route covers a total 3,466 kilometres and includes 49,150 metres of elevation gain across the 21 stages.
There is just one 40.2 km time trial in Tuscany, with a balance of sprint, hilly and mountain stages. The final week is packed with mountain stages in the north of Italy before a transfer to the capital Rome for the final circuit stage.
The Giro d'Italia is one of professional cycling's three Grand Tours, alongside the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.
First run in 1909 by sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, the race has been organised since 1989 by RCS Sport under the same umbrella as the newspaper.
The race experimented with different formats in the early years starting with a points system, then holding only a teams classification in 2012, and finally moving to the time-based classification used today in 1914.
The race was suspended from 1915 to 1918 due to World War I. Once it resumed, Alfredo Binda emerged as the first star of the race, winning in 1925, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1933.
Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi made their names in the Giro before World War II led to the race's cancellation from 1941 to 1945, then resumed their rivalry.
Coppi won five editions in 1940, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953, while Bartali won in 1936, 1937 and 1946.
The next superstar to make a name in the Giro d'Italia was Eddy Merckx, winner of five editions from 1968 to 1974.
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Giro d'Italia Records
Most overall wins: Fausto Coppi, Alfredo Binda, Eddy Merckx (five); Giovanni Brunero, Gino Bartali, Fiorenzo Magni, Felice Gimondi, Bernard Hinault (three).
Most stage wins: Mario Cipollini (42), Alfredo Binda (41), Learco Guerra (31), Constance Girardengo (30), Eddy Merckx (25), Mark Cavendish (16)
Most mountain classification wins: Gino Bartali (seven); José Manuel Fuentes (four); Fausto Coppi, Franco Bitossi, Claudio Bortolotto, Claudio Chiappucci (three)
Most points classification wins: Francesco Moser, Giuseppe Saronni (four); Roger De Vlaeminck, Johan van der Velde, Mario Cipollini (three)
Most starts: Wladimir Panizza (18); Pierino Gavazzi, Domenico Pozzovivo (17)
Youngest winner: Fausto Coppi, 1940 (20 years and 268 days)
Oldest winner: Fiorenzo Magni, 1955 (34 years and 180 days)
Smallest margin of victory: 11 seconds (Fiorenzo Magni, 1948)
Largest margin of victory: 1:57:26 (Alfonso Calzolari, 1914)
Fastest edition: 2024 (41.866 kph)
To test your own knowledge on the winners of the Giro d'Italia throughout its history, take our quiz here.