Stages 2026 Giro d’Italia
Profile Stage 1: Nessebar – Burgas
Stage 1: Nessebar – Burgas, 146 kilometers
The race starts off in Bulgaria and the Grande Partenza takes place in the city of Nessebar. The opening stage of the race and the first pink jersey should be attributed to a sprinter after a flat day and a finale in Burgas right by the Black Sea.
This is a fairly simple stage and one where surprises are hard to come by. The whole day will be spent by the Black Sea coast and the riders will head south towards Sozopol where they will then ride a small circuit. This will include the day’s only KOM, which isn’t actually a climb, but will crown the first leader of the race.
The riders then return back north through the same road they previously rode by and return to Burgas, but this time around to finish the stage. It is not a technical finale, with only a small left-hand corner inside the final kilometer providing the need for early positioning. We can expect a very fast finale, with a fresh peloton having no orographic challenges during the day.
Stage 1 Finale
The Favourites
A slight tailwind sprint in a stage where the temperatures by the Black Sea will be warm and pleasant. It should be a calm day on the bike and there shouldn’t be anything preventing a bunch sprint from happening.
The sprinter field is strong, but in a pan-flat stage and non-technical finish, there’s no ‘man to beat’. Everyone has a shot, positioning and timing will be the key aspects, and I would say there’s five riders who can take the pink jersey already this Friday:
Dylan Groenewegen – The man with the most momentum I would say, and for sure a prime candidate for the win. You can’t make a stage better suited to the Dutchman and winning here would be such an incredible comeback story. Unibet does not have the pure firepower of other teams I will say, so it can be more complicated; but this spring Groenewegen has been as fast as any other sprinter in the peloton.
Kaden Groves – Perhaps the less good sprinter out of the five but he is consistent and can time his form perfectly. Groves is not a rider who flies all season long but when he is in form he is so much more than just a sprinter – as shown at last year’s Tour de France where he took a solo win. That ability to ride hard for a long time may see him arrive to the sprint, one in which the final minutes will be hectic, fresher. With Alpecin-Premiet Tech fully backing him up, there are reasons to believe he can do a great job.
We have Ethan Vernon leading the NSN leadout who is a strong card; Ben Turner at the head of the INEOS leadout who should have Filippo Ganna as a key support rider; and Pinarello’s Matteo Moschetti whom I would call a second line of favourites.
Although more riders can be in the mix, this will be a matter of positioning at the end of the day, you can also expect some of these riders to be in the fight for a top result: Matteo Malucelli, Ethan Vernon, Arnaud de Lie, Erlend Blikra, Pacal Ackermann, Orluis Aular, Paul Penhoët, Luca Mozzato and Giovanni Lonardi.
Prediction Giro d’Italia 2026 stage 1:
*** Jonathan Milan, Tobias Lund Andresen, Dylan Groenewegen
** Paul Magnier, Kaden Groves, Ethan Vernon
* Arnaud de Lie, Matteo Malucelli, Erlend Blikra, Matteo Moschetti, Ben Turner, Pascal Ackermann, Orluis Aular, Giovanni Lonardi
Pick: Jonathan Milan
How: Regular bunch sprint.
Original: Rúben Silva