Giro d'Italia 2026 stage 1 preview, profiles, favourites & predictions - Milan, Magnier, Groenewegen and Lund Andresen fight for the first pink jersey in Bulgaria

The 2026 Giro d'Italia will take place from the 8th to the 31st of May. It is the first Grand Tour of the season, and there are 21 stages that will take the riders through many of Italy's iconic cities, the mythical Alps, and many treacherous stages - each one can end the climber's chances of winning. We preview stage 1, which is expected to start and finish at 12:30 and 16:00CET.

The first edition of the Corsa Rosa took place in 1909, won by Luigi Ganna that year. Italy has always been one of the most influential countries in professional cycling and the Giro provided, every year, the opportunity for the biggest riders to show off their abilities in all terrains. It is one of the races with the most history. Eddy Merckx, Alfredo Binda and Fausto Coppi have each won it five times and hold the record together.

These are riders that have marked different generations, but other generations have too been marked by the victories of Gino Bartali, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Marco Pantani, as examples. In recent decades less Italians have won it; with Vincenzo Nibali being its latest home winner back in 2016. The likes of Alberto Contador, Nairo Quintana, Tom Dumoulin and Chris Froome all marked their name in the Trofeo Senza Fine (the Giro's 'endless trophy'.

Tao Geoghegan Hart won the 'Covid edition' in 2020; Egan Bernal won it back in 2021; Jai Hindley took the win in 2022; In 2023 it was Primoz Roglic who beat Geraint Thomas in a dramatic final mountain time trial to win his first Giro; In 2024 Tadej Pogacar dominated the edition from start to finish whilst in 2025 it was Great Britain's Simon Yates who won the pink jersey after a brilliant attack on the final mountain stage which dethroned Isaac del Toro.

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.

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:

Jonathan Milan - The 'home favourite', with the clear goal of a stage 1 win and pink jersey, backed up by his strong leadout train at Lidl-Trek. I don't know where Tim Torn Teutenberg will fit honestly, and his spring campaign wasn't as impressive as he's had before. Hence, the confidence is not sky-high, but he may still be the best bet.

Tobias Lund Andresen - Superb spring in terms of form all around. He likes the climbs and harder stages, but in the pure sprints he will likely get along quite well too. Decathlon's leadout has been really good form him and I believe that they are specialists at coming out of the wheel at the right time, which would give him the chance of taking the lead.

Paul Magnier - Magnier's wins at the Volta ao Algarve at the start of the season were highly impressive, and in the pure sprinting sense, he has improved over the past 12 months. But his last months were not as bright in terms of results, whilst his leadout isn't the best either in comparison to his rivals. It's reasonable to have doubts, whilst aknowledging that if he gets all details right, he can still win.

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.

*** 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.