After Friday's mountain top finish, where the Blockhaus made its mark on the general classification, the 2026 Giro d'Italia has headed east to Chieti for stage 8. The start town is slightly inland, so the race will first have to drop down to the Adriatic coast before heading north to finish in Fermo after the punchiest of finals.
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The town hasn't hosted the men's Giro since 1972, though Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike won there en route to winning the 2011 Giro Rosa. More recently, Peter Sagan and Warren Barguil have won stages of Tirreno-Adriatico in 2027 and 2022, respectively.
The closing 58 km of the 156km stage contain all four of the day's classified climbs and 1,370m of vertical ascent, most of the day's climbing. This makes for an unpredictable finish, which could well see even more GC action. Despite taking time out of his rivals on Friday, it's possible Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) may see opportunities to take more, though there is little chance of him overhauling the current maglia rosa, Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), who still has well over three minutes on the Dane.
That said, after the peloton's exertions on the cold, windy, brutal slopes of Blockhaus produced major changes to the general classification, Saturday's stage may well be one where the breakaway artists make their mark on the Giro d'Italia.
After a long, flat ride up the coast, the race turns inland for the first climb, tackling the second immediately after the descent. While unclassified, the Muro del Ferro and its maximum gradient of 24%, is the first of three walls in the final 25km, the second coming after another visit to the coast and the third part of the final, 3.5km to the finish.
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The final 4km are more than punchy. Averaging 5.6% after the opening wall, it flattens before the final 1,500m climb to the line. Add in the cobbled surface, and we can expect fireworks.
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(Image credit: RCS Sport)
(Image credit: RCS Sport)
Mountains
Montefiore d’Aso (cat. 3), km. 107
Monterubbiano (cat. 4), km. 118.8
Capodarco (cat. 4, 2.5km at 6.3%, max. 18%), km. 150.1
Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
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