After 109 glorious editions of the Giro d’Italia, is there still room to discover new and unexplored locations both in Italy and beyond? The answer is a resounding yes, and the 2026 edition will feature several new territories that will further enrich the endless story of the Corsa Rosa.
The simplest way to innovate is to look for new horizons, to push beyond borders, as the Giro does with its foreign Grand Departures. And so, the first three days in Bulgaria – in addition to marking the 16th start from a foreign country – will mark a true leap into the unknown from a cycling point of view. Bulgaria has no real tradition in this sport, which means every single road will be something new to discover. From Nessebar to Burgas, along the shores of the Black Sea, then from Burgas to Veliko Tarnovo inland, and finally from Plovdiv to the capital Sofia, the Giro brings into the great map of cycling a country eager to be explored, both as a destination and in sporting terms.
Once back in Italy, the peloton will find start and finish locations that, some more frequently than others, have already hosted the Giro at least once. To find something truly new, we need to look at Stage 11, Porcari (Paper District)–Chiavari, because for the Tuscan town of Porcari, in the province of Lucca, it will be an absolute first. In the past, in 1995 to be precise, it hosted a stage of the Giro d’Italia Women, but this time the stage setting will be one of absolute prestige. Chiavari, on the other hand, hosts a finish for the second time: the first dates back to 1958, while in 1994 and 2015 it hosted a stage start.
Stage 16 is completely new, because it crosses the border into the Swiss Canton of Ticino, absent from the Giro since 2015, when the race finished in Lugano and restarted from Melide. This year the stage will go from Bellinzona to Carì, two locations never visited by the Giro. The fraction is less than 120 km in length but features a very demanding summit finish. The climb to Carì measures 11.6 km with an average gradient of 8.1%, and it has already appeared a couple of times in the Tour de Suisse, with victories taken by two pure climbers: Darwin Atapuma (2016) and Adam Yates (2024).
The Fai della Paganella–Pieve di Soligo fraction, Stage 18, will also be entirely new. Riders have passed through the Trentino town several times, but it has never been a start or finish location. The same goes for the town in Veneto, in the heart of the Prosecco Hills, which sees the Corsa Rosa roll through its streets almost every year (including in 2025), but never stop. Shortly before the finish, the riders will also tackle the Muro di Ca’ del Poggio (Category 4, 1.2 km at 12.2%), which has been featured several times at the Giro, and this year will again play a decisive role in determining the stage result.
The final new feature arrives in the Dolomite Queen Stage the following day, which will take the peloton from Feltre to Piani di Pezzè. The finish location, located above Alleghe – a town that has hosted Giro stages many times – represents a pleasant discovery. After the climbs of Passo Duron, Forcella Staulanza, Passo Giau and Passo Falzarego, the riders will have the chance to test themselves on this short but brutal ascent: 4.9 km at 9.9%, destined to deliver a spectacle after 5,000 metres of elevation gain already in the legs.
Discover the details of all the stages of the Giro d’Italia 2026!
