Giro d’Italia Women 2026 preview: Route, favourites, how to watch and start list

Cyclist
Giro d’Italia Women 2026 preview: Route, favourites, how to watch and start list

The Giro d’Italia Women, formerly the Giro Donne and Giro Rosa, is the longest-running stage race in women’s cycling. The 2026 edition starts on Saturday 30th May in the Adriatic port town of Cesenatico and finishes nine stages later in Saluzzo on Sunday 7th June, staying in northern Italy for the duration of the race.

For 2026, the race has grown from eight to nine stages and has moved to a new position on the calendar, running in May instead of July to add further separation from the Tour de France Femmes and tag onto the end of the men’s Giro, which finishes on Sunday 31st May. This year’s route has also taken a big step up, adding a massive mountain climb in the Colle delle Finestre, which will likely decide the general classification.

Elisa Longo Borghini successfully defended her title in 2025 despite a challenge from Movistar’s Marlen Reusser, and she will be back to try to make it three in a row, but it’ll be a tough ask with an incredibly strong start list that includes Demi Vollering, Marlen Reusser, Anna van der Breggen and Niamh Fisher-Black.

Giro d’Italia Women 2026 key information

• Dates: 30th May-7th June 2026
• Start: Cesenatico, Emilia-Romagna
• Finish: Saluzzo, Piedmont
• Live television coverage: HBO Max, TNT Sports, SBS, FloBikes, SuperSport, Rai
• 2025 winner: Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ)
• Most wins: Fabiana Luperini (five)

Giro d’Italia Women 2026 route

The 2026 Giro d’Italia Women is nine stages in length. It departs from Cesenatico with a day for the sprinters, building gradually in difficulty before fully kicking into life with Stage 4’s uphill time-trial, going on to pack in some mountainous days that includes scaling the mighty Colle delle Finestre before a finish in Saluzzo.

Giro d’Italia Women 2026 stage-by-stage preview

Stage 1: Saturday 30th May, Cesenatico…