(Rome) After Albania, Bulgaria and still a last week at altitude: as has become accustomed to it, the Tour of Italy, the route of which was revealed on Monday, will leave in 2026 from abroad and will undoubtedly be decided just before its arrival in Rome.

Five months after the Isaac Del Toro show, eleven rosy days before breaking down during the penultimate stage against Briton Simon Yates, the Giro 2026 (May 8 to 31) is already dizzying.

This 109^e edition will take place over 21 stages for a total of 3,459 kilometers and a cumulative elevation gain of 49,150 m with twelve stages including the ascent of at least one pass, five high mountain stages, seven altitude arrivals and a “roof”, the Passo Giau, culminating at 2,233 m.

“It’s a more modern Giro with shorter stages, but more demanding,” summarized the emblematic Giro director Mauro Vegni who will bow out at the age of 66 in February after having designed the route for 31 editions of “his” event.

For the first time in its history, the most prestigious Italian stage race will start from Bulgaria where the peloton will spend three days.

This will be the sixteenth Grand Departure from abroad, a movement that has been accelerating since 2010, with the Netherlands (2010, 2016), Denmark (2012), the United Kingdom (2014), Israel (2018), Hungary (2022) and Albania (2025).

From Sofia, the Giro will reach Calabria after a first day of rest where it will begin its long climb towards the north of the country with a passage through Naples, the day before the first mountain stage (7^e), in Abruzzo, 246 km long on May 15.

Without Pogacar

After a single stage on the Adriatic coast, the Giro will turn towards the Mediterranean with in particular the only time trial on the program for these three weeks, on May 19 (10^e stage): 40.2 km as flat as a hand between Viareggio and Massa.

The event will then take up residence in the Alps with a formidable 14^e stage, between Aosta and Pila, including six passes and a new arrival in the high mountains (1803 m).

After a respite with a passage through Milan for an arrival promised to a sprinter on May 24, the day before the third and last day of rest, the sequence of difficulties promises to be formidable.

A short, but grueling foray into Switzerland for the 16^e stage, before the 19^e and 20^e steps which will undoubtedly determine the name of Simon Yates’ successor. It won’t be Tadej Pogacar, the superstar of the peloton, winner of the 2024 Giro, having made the Tour de France and the Monuments his 2026 goals.

During the 19^e stage, the big names will explain over 151 km in the Dolomites with six passes, including the Passo Giau, for a total of 5000 m of altitude difference.

The next day, they will have to climb the Piancavallo twice and its 14.4 km ramp with an average slope of 8.9% and passages at 15%.

Finally, after a long transfer to Rome, the winner will show off his pink jersey for 131 km in the streets of the Italian capital before arriving at the foot of the Colosseum.

“I would of course like to have bib No. 1 attached to my jersey, but I don’t know yet if I will be there. There are ongoing discussions,” warned Simon Yates, whose Visma Lease a bike team could favor the Dane Jonas Vingegaard in his quest for the last Grand Tour which is missing from his list of achievements.

(Paris) Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome is back in the saddle.

Less than three months after undergoing surgery following a serious accident, the 40-year-old British cyclist posted a selfie on Instagram showing himself on a road on the French Riviera. Dressed in his workout gear and smiling, he posed with the sunrise in the background.

Froome suffered fractures to a vertebra, five ribs and a collapsed lung in a training accident in France.

“It’s been a tough road after my last accident, but it feels so good to finally be back here, pedaling and riding on the road,” Froome wrote. Every setback teaches you something…this one reminded me to slow down, heal, and enjoy the simple things in life. »

Froome’s contract with Israel-Premier Tech – which will change its name to NSN Cycling Team in 2026 – will expire this year. He has not yet announced his plans for next season.

Froome won the Tour de France in 2013, then three times in a row between 2015 and 2017.

His career was cut short in 2019 when he fell in training during the Critérium du Dauphiné, a preparatory event ahead of his quest for a fifth Grande Boucle title, which would have tied the record. He fractured his right femur, elbow and several ribs, preventing him from participating in the Tour de France.

After returning to competition, Froome never returned to the level that allowed him to win the Spanish Vuelta (in 2011 and 2017) and the Giro d’Italia (2018), in addition to his four victories at the Tour de France.

(Paris) The Israel Premier Tech cycling team, whose presence was denounced during several races this season by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, is changing its name and structure and becoming “NSN Cycling Team”, the latter said on Thursday.

“International sports and entertainment company NSN (Never Say Never) and Stoneweg, a global investment platform based in Geneva, Switzerland, have entered into a joint venture in professional road cycling to take over the structure of the WorldTour and Development teams (from Israel Premier Tech, Editor’s note) for the 2026 season,” it is indicated in a press release.

“As a result, the name of the new World Tour team is “NSN Cycling Team”. »

The text further emphasizes that the new team is of “Swiss” nationality and that its structure will be “Spanish”, based in Barcelona and Girona, in Catalonia. Among the co-founders of the NSN company is one of the legends of FC Barcelona, ​​and former Spanish international, Andres Iniesta.

This formation replaces Israel PT, whose presence in the peloton has been contested on several occasions this season by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, in particular during the Tour of Spain, against a backdrop of conflict in the Gaza Strip.

At the beginning of the month, the Canadian group Premier Tech announced that it was withdrawing from the team with immediate effect, deeming it “unsustainable” to continue to sponsor it.

“Although we have noted the team’s decision to continue under a new name for the 2026 season, the very reason for our commitment to it has been eclipsed to such an extent that it is now unsustainable for Premier Tech to continue in its role as sponsor,” Premier Tech argued.

A month earlier, the Israel PT team had actually announced that it would change its name and move away from “its current Israeli identity”. She added that its owner, Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams, would step back and would “no longer speak on behalf of the team”.

“We are proud to welcome NSN and Stoneweg to the team and to announce our new name and our new identity,” reacted Thursday the general director of NSN Cycling Team, Kjell Carlström, quoted in the press release.

According to the text, a training camp is planned for next week, while the team’s new colors and program will be revealed “in the coming weeks”.