"A bit unusual" - Giro d'Italia boss not happy with early 2028 Tour de France date announcement over Olympics clash

The 2028 Tour de France is set to be a truly unique edition as it was announced that it will start on June 24th, a significantly earlier date than its usual July slot and its earliest in decades. The move was made so the as the race doesn't clash with the 2028 LA Olympic Games, but the calendar shift is set to have a negative impact on the Giro d'Italia.

With the 2028 games kicking off on July 14th, riders doing the Tour are likely to have preparation majorly impacted even after the announcement of the earlier start date. The move has not been welcomed by the Corsa Rosa boss.

Usually beginning in early May and concluding at the end of the month, Giro organisers RCS Sport have long campaigned to the UCI for the race to be brought forward by roughly a week to allow for several reasons, most notably more favourable weather conditions that have hampered high-mountain stages throughout the decades.

However RCS Sport CEO Paolo Bellino has slammed ASO, the organisers of the Tour de France for making the announcement unilaterally - before the 2028 UCI international calendar has been confirmed.

“I find it inappropriate for the Tour to announce its start date without inserting it into an international calendar approved by the UCI,” Bellino told Domestique.

Bellino stressed that the Giro 'certainly can't' move their start date back to account for the change: “Right now, we’re not moving because we’re in the slot that we’ve always been in, and we certainly can’t move to an April start.

“With the Olympics that year, we need to find an agreement on a comprehensive international calendar and not one that’s only about the Tour de France. Making an announcement like that without having agreed it at international level first is a bit unusual."

However, Bellino is confident that the Giro start date can be moved, with hopes also centered around running the race during the Festa della Repubblica national holiday on June 2.

“We’ve known for some time that the Olympics are when they are, but we also want to move the Giro back by a week, so in that case, there would be only two weeks between the Giro and the Tour.”

“We’ve again asked the UCI to have the Giro start a week later, and we want to do that from 2027,” Bellino added. “We haven’t spoken about 2028 yet, we’re only talking about 2027, but we’ve made the request. I’m very confident, because they’ve been saying for years that it’s ok, so now let’s hope that next year we can do it.”