The Giro d'Italia's 'king of the mountains' will skip the 2026 edition - Astana set to debut Lorenzo Fortunato at the Tour de France

Lorenzo Fortunato signed with XDS Astana Team in 2024 and has since been used at the Giro d'Italia. That year he battled for GC and finished 12th; whilst last year he rode to victory in the KOM classification. In 2026 however the Italian will be absent from the Corsa Rosa, and may just race the Tour de France.

This was confirmed at the Tour de Romandie. "Unfortunately, the Giro won't be in my plans this year. In five years, it will be the first year I won't be competing in the Giro d'Italia," Fortunato shared with SpazioCiclismo.

Fortunato's form in the Swiss race was fantastic, and it saw him finish fourth on the final two stages in the race, completing a successful week of racing in which he was ninth in the overall classification. It wasn't the best of springs for the Italian climber, but a Top10 at Milano-Torino and his showings in Switzerland saw him back on the big screen.

12 months ago in Romandie however he won a stage and finished fourth in the overall, before a Giro where he let go his GC ambitions and focused on collecting KOM points. His early success saw many give up on the classification, and he rode into Rome almost uncontested with the blue jersey on his shoulders. It was a working formula, but with these goals achieved, the Kazakh team will now deploy him in different races.

The announcement does not come as a big surprise, as he has ridden already 29 race days this season, starting still in January at the one-day races in the Comunitat Valenciana; taking him to the Middle East at the Tour of Oman; Milano-Torino, Volta a Catalunya, Itzulia Basque Country and Tour de Romandie.

It is not viable for a rider to race Catalunya, Itzulia and Romandie whilst also aiming high at the Giro d'Italia, taking into consideration most climbers will have a lighter schedule and an altitude camp ahead of the Corsa Rosa. Fortunato was given a leading role in Romandie; before taking some rest.

"I raced Catalunya, Basque Country, and after this Tour de Romandie, I'll take a week off, then I'll be at the start of the Dauphiné" (now named Tour Auverge-Rhône Alpes, ed.). At the Giro, the team is expected to feature Davide Ballerini, Alberto Bettiol, Arjen Livyns, Harold Martínez López, Matteo Malucelli, Christian Scaroni, Thomas Silva and Diego Ulissi - a fully stage-hunting oriented lineup.

With the likes of Scaroni and López, the team can still aim for the KOM classification. Meanwhile Fortunato is likely to head for the Tour de France and try to achieve the same - joining riders such as Harold Tejada, Sergio Higuita and Mike Teunissen who are virtually confirmed to be part of it.