Visma chief highlights brutal Giro 2026 route and insists team yet to confirm Jonas Vingegaard as leader: “We will decide who rides the Giro”

Team boss Grischa Niermann says the newly unveiled 2026 Giro d’Italia route is “a nice parcours” filled with brutal late-race mountain stages — but made clear that Team Visma | Lease a Bike have not yet decided whether two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard will ride the race.

Speaking after the presentation in Rome, Niermann emphasised that the route announcement now triggers the internal selection process, with no guarantees for any rider.

“Now that we know the route, we will decide what to do as a team, and who will ride the Giro,” Niermann explained in an official press release from the Team Visma | Lease a Bike website.

The comment comes at a moment when speculation continues around whether Vingegaard will attempt a Giro debut — and whether that could affect the position of reigning champion Simon Yates, who said that he “would love to defend” but that the call “is not fully” his decision.

Niermann’s first impression of the race was dominated by the standout time trial, a rare throwback to longer solo efforts: “The first thing that springs to mind is the completely flat 40-kilometre time trial, but there are also a lot of tough uphill finishes.”

He welcomed the challenge but stressed that the back-loaded structure — typical of the Giro — means the race will be shaped deep into the third week: “As is usually the case in the Giro, it’s heavily backloaded with some very hard stages in the Dolomites and Alps near the end. It should be a good course for a climber, but we also have to keep the long time trial in mind. Overall, it looks good.”

Niermann’s remarks confirm that Visma are not yet ready to reveal whether the Dane will take on the Giro for the first time — nor whether the squad will build around their current champion.

The route’s combination of a long TT and a savage final week invites multiple tactical interpretations, and Niermann was clear that internal discussions will now shape the team’s approach: “Now that we know the route, we will decide what to do as a team, and who will ride the Giro.”

With Yates expressing his desire to defend but acknowledging that the choice “is not fully” his, and with Vingegaard openly discussing his ambition to complete the Grand Tour set, Visma enter the winter with one of the most scrutinised leadership decisions of the 2026 season.