Giro d’Italia organizers will not accept a suggestion from cycling superstar Tadej Pogacar to have the race take place at a different time of year.
The Giro d’Italia will continue to traditionally take place in May. “We won’t even think about the idea,” Paolo Bellino told “Cyclingnews.com” when he rejected a suggestion from exceptional rider Tadej Pogacar to move the traditional race to the fall. Bellino is managing director of RCS Sport, the organizer of the Giro d’Italia.
In a media round at the end of November, Pogacar floated the idea of swapping the Giro d’Italia and the Spanish Vuelta on the cycling calendar. Because then the climatic conditions for both Grand Tours would be significantly better.
The Vuelta takes place in August and September when it is still very hot in Spain. This year the Giro will be raced in Italy from May 8th to 31st, when temperatures in the mountains can still be low. The route was officially announced on Monday. In July, the Tour de France is the highlight of the cycling year.
“Every Grand Tour has its own story”
“The Giro d’Italia traditionally takes place in May and we won’t change that,” emphasized Bellino: “Each Grand Tour has its own history and meaning, also thanks to the date in the calendar.” He could only imagine that in the future the Giro would last until the first week of June and then run on June 2nd, the Italian national holiday.
According to “Cyclingnews.com”, the idea of swapping the races was at least discussed in a working group of the UCI cycling association.
Pogacar had justified his proposal as follows: “It is always difficult to combine the Tour and the Vuelta. I always say: If they (the Vuelta, editor’s note) swap with the Giro, the Vuelta and the Giro would be much better in terms of the weather and the riders taking part in the individual races.” The Slovenian had only competed at the Vuelta once in his career. In 2019 he finished third on the podium.
In the 2025 cycling season, which has now ended, there were rumors that Pogacar would make his comeback in the Tour of Spain. But the 26-year-old decided instead to compete in two races in Canada and then defend his world championship title.