The first big tour of the year for men will be held between May 8 and 31: the Giro d’Italia. Who will keep Jonas Vingegaard out of the pink on his debut? Afonso Eulálio still wears the pink jersey. View all rankings and more about the 109th edition of the Tour of Italy here.
The Giro d’Italia started this year in Bulgaria. After three stages, the cycling circus moved by plane to the south of Italy. In the second week there was a long time trial of no less than 40 kilometers on the program and in the final week there were three uphill finishes.
Giro d’Italia 2026 rankings
Dutch participants
Seventeen compatriots started the Giro. That is the same as last year. Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) hopes to continue his stage victories of last year in the Tour de France in the first big tour of this year. The climber is aiming for a good ranking. He already finished sixth in the Giro rankings in both 2023 and 2024.
There are sprint opportunities. Casper van Uden and Dylan Groenewegen are the Dutch sprint trumps. Van Uden surprisingly won a stage last year, Groenewegen failed to do so in 2021 in his only previous participation.
In the sprint stages they will face competition from Jonathan Milan, Paul Magnier and Tobias Lund Andresen, among others.
The Dutchman Sjoerd Bax (30) is riding his first big lap for Pinarello Q36.5. This also applies to Timo de Jong (Picnic PostNL) and Hartthijs de Vries (Unibet Rose Rockets). At Visma-Lease a Bike, Bart Lemmen rides for top favorite Jonas Vingegaard. Wilco Kelderman had to step down early in the lap.
The stage schedule
The first three stages will be ridden in Bulgaria, stage 16 will take place in Switzerland. The other 17 stages are in Italy.
