Jonathan Milan, Giulio Ciccone and Christian Scaroni confirmed - Italy gets home star boost at Giro d'Italia with Lidl-Trek and Astana's lineup reveal

The 2026 Giro d'Italia will have many of Italy's best riders at the start and several of them have been confirmed to start this morning. Lidl-Trek and XDS Astana Team have revealed their lineups for the Corsa Rosa, with both teams starting out with high ambitions of capturing stage wins.

Lidl-Trek is one of the most hotly anticipated lineup reveals for the race, taking into consideration its importance and focus on the first Grand Tour of the season. This is a lineup that had been mostly deciphered throughout the year; with its three leaders revealed early in the year. Jonathan Milan is headlining the team in pursuit of stage wins in the bunch sprints and the maglia ciclamino. He will have his leadout men Simone Consonni and Max Walscheid with him; whilst Tim Torn Teutenberg is also being inserted on the Italian powerhouse's support crew.

The team will aim for the overall classification with Derek Gee, although the Canadian national champion suffered an illness during the spring which sees his form into the Giro as quite modest. A 12th place at the Tour of the Alps confirms he is on track to participating, but will most likely perform better throughout the final week of the race.

Giulio Ciccone will be part of the lineup, partly to aid Gee's chances at GC success, but also to chase stage wins and potentially the KOM jersey. Amanuel Ghebreigzhabier can also provide support in the mountains but is expected to work long kilometers on the flat stages; whilst Matteo Sobrero brings versatility into the team, a capable stage hunter for the hilly days as well as valuable domestique for the flat and hilly terrain when needed.

XDS Astana Team in the meantime have also revealed their '8' for the Corsa Rosa, one which can be considered in some way its home Grand Tour as the team is based in Italy and many of its riders hail from the major European nation. Last year's KOM jersey winner Lorenzo Fortunato was not selected to race the Corsa Rosa, but five riders on the list are Italian and spread throughout a number of different specialties.

Matteo Malucelli will be leading the team's sprinting ambitions, backed up by Belgian Arjen Livyns and Davide Ballerini. Malucelli won a stage at the AlUla Tour early in the year, beating Jonathan Milan himself, which provides hopes of success in this race. Ballerini recently won at the Tour of Turkey and not only can he be a leadout man; but also a sprinter for the more difficult days and a breakaway chaser - as he is a classics specialist.

The team has two south American riders at the start: Tour of Hainan winner Guillermo Thomas Silva; and Colombian Harold Martín López who 12 months ago was conquering the Tour de Hongrie.

The team is unlikely to have any GC ambitions but instead chase wins and focus intensely on the many hilly days on the route. Christian Scaroni, Alberto Bettiol and Diego Ulissi complete the lineup - a trio that bring in heaps of experience, tactical knowhow and specially in Scaroni's case, also the explosivity and sprinting power. The latter won a high mountain stage last year alongside his teammate Fortunato, and so it can be assumed that the mountains are also a possibility for him to perform in.