(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) 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”.

Having been convalescing for a few weeks following an operation, Clara Émond was returning to training in the French Pyrenees in August, when Simone Boilard came to join her with important information to pass on to her: Premier Tech was ready to invest in women’s cycling.

The project came to fruition and was made official on Tuesday: the Rivière-du-Loup multinational will be a “partner” for two years of the French team St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93. Premier Tech will not be integrated into the name, but its logo will be displayed on the uniform of the team which holds a ProTeam license (second division).

“This opportunity fully aligns with the reasons why Premier Tech has been involved in cycling for more than 30 years, namely to create bridges at all levels of the sport and to contribute to the development of Quebec and Canadian cyclists,” said President and CEO, Jean Bélanger, in a press release.

Thus, the billionaire company, which recently announced its withdrawal from the Israel-Premier Tech men’s team, “facilitated” the arrival of Boilard and Émond, both from the Quebec region, and of Albertan Alison Jackson, Canadian champion who made herself known by winning Paris-Roubaix in 2023.

The three cyclists signed two-year contracts.

St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93, a structure founded in 1994, has been a mixed team since 2012. Its women’s section, in which Premier Tech will be the most involved, took on a professional dimension in 2021.

Both for Émond, winner of a stage at the Giro, and for Boilard, bronze medalist at the 2018 Junior World Championships, this commitment from Premier Tech is an opportunity to relaunch their careers.

“It will be a lot of changes, but after a difficult year like this, I think it will just be positive,” commented Clara Émond, reached in Spain a few hours after the announcement.

Émond, 28, has raced very little since her historic victory in Italy in July 2024. After suffering a knee injury, the representative of the EF Education-Oatly team (WorldTour) fractured her collarbone, shoulder blade and ribs during an accident in training in June. Upon her return to competition in September, she competed in only three races before suffering a concussion in a crash at the Wallonie Grand Prix.

His arrival at St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93 is “a new beginning”. “We’re going to get back into it in an environment with a little less pressure,” judged Émond. I will have many more opportunities to race for myself, to have more interesting roles and to do more races. »

The last season with EF, where she ran with Jackson, was sometimes difficult for the law school graduate. “It was a frustrating year, both for me, because it was out of my control, and for the team, because I couldn’t race. In the medium term, this sometimes makes relationships more difficult with the team. I didn’t always feel supported either. My first contact with [St Michel] was really very good. They trust me. It’s a new beginning. »

The athlete from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges expects to compete in the Ardennes classics, the Vuelta and the Tour de France under his new colors. The Giro, which changes dates, represents a question mark for St Michel. Émond will also have the opportunity to compete in smaller events where victory will be more within reach.

For her part, Simone Boilard returns to the fold after a more difficult final season in the Norwegian WorldTour team Uno-X Mobility, among other things due to health concerns. The 25-year-old cyclist experienced her greatest professional successes with St Michel in 2022 and 2023, including a victory at the GP Oetingen.

“This return to basics seems essential to me,” she stressed on her social networks last month. “Being able to find a familiar environment, and above all sharing it with other Canadian women, represents an important step in rediscovering the joy of cycling. »

A bridge to Europe

Clara Émond applauds the arrival of Premier Tech in the booming women’s sport: “It has grown. We see this for example with women’s soccer. It deserves the attention of big companies. A developing team like that is a very good opportunity for Premier Tech to get a foothold in women’s cycling and hope to grow with this team. »

The presence of Premier Tech should also serve as a springboard for Canadian women’s cycling, added Émond. She herself made the jump to Europe in 2022 thanks to the Franco-Canadian training Emotional.fr-Tornatech-GSC Blagnac VS31, largely supported by Quebec sports director Gérard Penarroya. This first experience allowed him to compete in a first Tour de France (23^e) with Arkéa and then found himself at EF.

The same Penarroya is also relaunching a new project with Quebecers Laury Millette, Jazmine Lavergne and Mathilde Huot. These will be able to continue to evolve in Europe next season with the help of local companies such as Macogep, Magnan Design, the microbrewery Siboire and the chocolatier Jeff de Bruges.

“It’s still very difficult to bridge the gap,” emphasized Émond. In the long term, a Canadian team could bring a lot of talent from here to Europe. Despite our small number [dans le peloton professionnel]we have very, very good cyclists in Canada. It can only get bigger. »

The spectacular victory of her now ex-teammate Magdeleine Vallières Mill at the World Championships in Kigali and the holding of the competition in Montreal in September 2026 will be two other accelerators. “The timing couldn’t be better,” concluded Émond.