The 109th edition of the Giro d'Italia 2026 is set to deliver three weeks of world-class racing, starting on Friday, May 8 in Nessebar, Bulgaria. After an opening trio of stages and a rest day, the peloton heads to Italy for a thrilling battle for the iconic pink jersey.
This year’s route offers something for everyone: explosive punchy finishes, brutal mountain-top stages such as Blockhaus, Pila and Carì, and a decisive long individual time trial. Whether you favour climbers, sprinters or all-rounders — this Giro has it all.
Create your Fantasy Giro d’Italia team at Zweeler.com – and may the best fantasy manager win!
Create your Fantasy Giro d’Italia team at Zweeler.com – and may the best fantasy manager win!
All Eyes on Vingegaard
The overwhelming favourite is Jonas Vingegaard, who could complete a historic Grand Tour trilogy. But the competition is fierce, with challengers like João Almeida, Giulio Pellizzari and Richard Carapaz ready to strike.
Keep an eye on stars such as Filippo Ganna, Jonathan Milan, Paul Magnier, Thymen Arensman and Tobias Lund Andresen — they could make the difference for your fantasy team.
Turn the Giro Into a Winning Experience
With Zweeler, you don’t just follow the race — you compete.
The Fantasy Giro d’Italia (15+5) starts on Friday, May 8, 2026 at 13:30.
- Select 15 riders + 5 substitutes
- Automatic substitutions if a rider doesn’t start
- Points from substitutes count from the next stage onward
- Strategy is everything
Now it is also possible for the USA to play at Zweeler in the following states:
Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming.
The Prizes:
- Entry fee: $ 14,74 / €12.50 / 10,89 per team
- Total prize pool: $8,255 / €7,000 / £6,100+ guaranteed
- 1st prize: $885 / €750 / £655
- 61 prizes in total
Are You Ready to Compete?
Think you know cycling? This is your chance to prove it.
Build your team, outsmart your rivals, and compete for real cash prizes during one of the biggest races of the year.
👉 Join now and make the Giro d’Italia 2026 even more exciting!
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- As much as I admire and even revere Wout, the less I know about his backside the better.MidnightRider06-11-2026
- Ok, Walt 🤣... Vingegaard would be lucky to get on the poduim. He would not beat Seixas or Del Toro, let alone TP. Then there are the Americans...BD06-11-2026
- So, for starters. Cycling is a saturated, static/dying sport in traditional lands, it will not have resurgences like eg running occasionally does because of several obstacular (yes, I know that’s not a word but don’t make me point out the obvious at your expense) factors. Obviously, like almost everything involving money, there is a desire/need/advantage to growth and that can only come from (developing or just testing) new markets. For me, the WC is the obvious and best choice for several reasons, it comes at the end of the season so is less critical season risk wise, it is not a “pro” team race but nation based which makes integration of uncommon participation more natural. It is a vehicle for redistribution (one of a very limited number of available mechanisms to develop new markers fairly) that the fixed calendar doesn’t allow and it helps make budgets fairer over the long run (moving the whole circus to everywhere evens out everyone’s budget as opposed to having everyone always come to the same location.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- Sad that a more refreshing article like this, which could generate discussion in a number of directions, gets completely ignored for the importance of debating the level of superiority of one rider into every single last detail, including a majority of totally hypothetical ones. People complain there is no news in the off season and it’s boring but don’t realise how boring it is to review the same old discussion over and over again, several times a day. In fact, you’d almost think this was a rider fan website. Instead of complaining about the FREE (as long as you pay attention to data use if not unlimited coz this site consumes almost as much for loading Youtube) content, the presence of cv of authors (for the missed obvious reason that it makes it easier to insert extra advertising without changing formats), the lack of quality/checking and depth of articles, why not also think about the content, quality and variety of posts that everyone can contribute to? The platform becomes irrelevant when discussion is interesting.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- UAE Team Emirates and Pogačar will officially unveil their objectives at the team’s media day, which will take place on December 18 in Benidorm, Spain. New information from the UAE Team: Exceptional recovery remains the cornerstone of success for the Slovenian cannibal-Pogi, whose sporting manager, Matxin, believes he will be even better in 2027 than he has been over the past three seasons.PogiSloFans06-11-2026
- Yeh, but he didn't and RE beat Pog & Del T 👍
leedorney06-11-2026 - Just my opinionleedorney06-11-2026
- Great win.However will the world champions jersey be simply a domestic for the season which will some what tarnish the jersey. I hope he is given free rein to try and win some races.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Gretsky wow how old are you lol. Classy sportman though.🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hope it is a good as the one they made on Mark Cavendish.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Literally the perfect RedBull athlete.anonymouscyclist06-11-2026
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