Preview Trofeo Laigueglia 2026 - Can Carapaz win on season debut? Tiberi, Cosnefroy, Gregoire & Scaroni among leading contenders to deny former Giro champion

On the 4th of March the peloton in Italy will take on the Trofeo Laigueglia. After France and Spain have had incredibly extensive domestic racing; the competition in their historical neighbour begins in the Ligurian one-day race. The expected start and finish time is at 11:00 and 16:05CET.

The Italian one-day race was first held in 1964 with Guido Neri taking the win. Eddy Merckx has cemented his name twice in this race back in the 1970's, making it a 'must' even for the international riders who made their way to Italy in the early spring for this race. Other Belgian legends such as Freddy Maertens and Roger de Vlaeminck followed with wins in the following years; whilst the likes of Johan Museeuw and Frank Vandenbroeck have also won it in the 90's.

The likes of Lance Armstrong and Rolf Sorensen have also won here; whilst on the Italian side major names such as Giuseppe Saronni, Michele Bartoli and Paolo Salvodelli won it in the previous century. Danilo di Luca and Filippo Pozzato were amongst the last winners of the Italian race during its golden era, before a slow down simultaneous to the formation of the World Tour and the creation of many new early-season races.

However, in recent years, the race has had a resurgence with the likes of Giulio Ciccone, Bauke Mollema, Lenny Martínez; and most recently, Juan Ayuso, taking wins, with the Spaniard outsprinting Christian Scaroni 12 months ago to take the win.

The race in Laigueglia has into account just under 200 kilometers and will not only be a test of endurance but climbing prowess. The riders will take on the Cipressa early in the day and its descent, proving to be important preparation towards Milano-Sanremo.

The riders will take on a circuit towards the end which they will ride four times. Each of them will include the Colla Micheri (1.9Km at 8.6%) which is less than 9 kilometers away from the finish line and should be enough for the race to explode completely.

The riders will also climb the famous Capo Mele (1.5Km; 5%), part of the Milano-Sanremo route, in this final circuit and it will be the final ascent before the very fast downhill finish into the town of Laigueglia.

*** Romain Gregoire
** Antonio Tiberi, Benoît Cosnefroy, Richard Carapaz
* Christian Scaroni, Michael Storer, Marc Hirschi, Santiago Buitrago, Antonio Morgado

Pick: Romain Gregoire