r/peloton

2026 Giro d'Italia Stage 5: Praia a Mare > Potenza

Stage info

Date	Stage	Route	Length	Type	Altitude	Finish	Time
Wed. 13/05	5	Praia a Mare > Potenza	203 km	Medium	4033m	Uphill	12:25-17:15 CET

Climbs

Location	Cat	Km	Length	Avg
Prestieri	3	km 27.0	13.0 kms	5.0 %
Monte Grande di Viggiano	2	6.6 kms	9.1 %

Sprints

Location	Km
Francavilla in Sinni	km 68.4
Red Bull km	km 174. 2

Weather

Around 15°C. Rainy in the first half, should be drier inland.

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Stage breakdown

The vast majority of stage 5, barring a few kms at the beginning, takes place in Basilicata, the small region occupying the arch of the Italian boot. Despite being very sparsely populated and not very touristy (barring, of course, Matera and its famous sassi), its central position means that the Giro has visited somewhat regularly in recent years; regional capital Potenza hosted a stage departure last year as well as a stage finish five years ago.

Tomorrow’s stage is quite similar to the aforementioned ‘22 stage: the start is still in Calabria, on the Thyrrenian coastline, but the course immediately soon inland, through the beautiful and wild Pollino mountain range. Not long after the start, the regional border into Basilicata is crossed; soon after, the cat 3 Prestieri - a rather long climb but not a hard one- looks like a good place for a break to form.

After the summit, the riders will find a rolling section with some uncategorized climbs, up until the brief one leading to the intermediate sprint in Francavilla in Sinni. A flatter section along the Agri river follows, but that won’t last long: with around 80 kms left in the day, the road will start a long, gradual rise to the bottom of the Monte Grande di Viggiano, a cat 2 climb also making its comeback from the 2022 stage. It’s 6.5 kms at an average 9.2 % gradients, with the middle section constantly above 10%- in other words, no joke! The summit is followed by a rolling section at altitude, which includes the Red Bull km around 25 kms to go.

The last 20 kms are mostly downhill towards Potenza, a city so hilly that it boasts the largest public escalators network in Europe. With 4 kms to go, there is a short punchy climb towards the hilltop city centre; after that, the stage descends towards the flat outskirts of the city, where the finish line is located on a major avenue, with a slightly rising gradient.

With all this in mind, here are our predictions for tomorrow's stage:

★★★ Breakaway (Barguil, Bouwman, Hatherly, López, Valgren)

★★ Ciccone, Narváez

★ Christen, Van Eetvelt

Rider discussion

Tomorrow seems like a good opportunity for a long-range move to stick, it's the kind of rolling terrain that doesn't really suit any particular type of rider and that makes controlling the breakaway pretty hard.

It's a bit hard to guess who could go on the move as we haven't really had any big break so far, and while many riders lost time today the GC is still pretty short. Some names that came to mind: Warren Barguil knows how to win a GT stage and he was on the move today already; Alan Hatherly has netted some good performance on mid-mountain stages this year, and his teammate Koen Bouwman was the winner in Potenza four years ago; Juanpe López was in pink that day, and while his career hasn't really taken off since, he's been very active in breakaways at the Basque Country. Michael Valgren scored a nice win in a hilly Tirreno-Adriatico stage. Some of these names aren't that far down in GC, so Lidl might prevent them from joining the breakaway.

If the attack is kept on a tight leash, we might see the stage decided by another reduced bunch sprint or a late flyer instead. Today's stage suggests that both Jhonatan Narváez and Giulio Ciccone are in top shape, and Jan Christen could also try the oddball move as he did today. On the other hand, Lennert Van Eetvelt has been pretty active these early days, he's not the fastest but he might try to sneak in a late move to surprise the group?

We believe that the stage might be a wee bit too difficult for the likes of Orluis Aular, Ben Turner or Florian Stork, but they've all been great today so they could very well prove us wrong.

That's it from us, what are your opinions and predictions?

2026 Giro d'Italia Stage 4: Catanzaro > Cosenza

Stage info

Date	Stage	Route	Length	Type	Altitude	Finish	Time
Tue. 12/05	4	Catanzaro > Cosenza	138 km	Easy	1672 m	Uphill	14:00-17:15 CET

Climbs

Location	Cat	Km	Length	Avg
Cozzo Tunno	2	km 95.0	14.5 kms	5.9 %

Sprints

Location	Km
San Lucido	km 80.5
Red Bull km	km 126.4

Weather

Around 20° C. Mostly sunny. Weak sidewind in the coastal section.

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Stage breakdown

The race is back on Italian soil, and as it often happens after a foreign Grand Depart, we’re resuming from the southern part of the country, from where we will slowly make our way up the peninsula in the upcoming days. The Giro’s Italian journey will begin from Calabria, the region occupying the tip to Italy’s boot making its first appearance in the race since 2022. It’s a rugged area with barely any flatland, but it’s rarely used for exciting stages (you might remember a solo win by Ganna in 2020 through thick fog). Tomorrow’s stage is at least somewhat interesting, however, and not an easy one to predict.

Stage 4 is a replica of stage 3- a mostly flat stage with a long climb in the middle- but shorter and harder. The peloton will begin from Catanzaro, the regional capital, and head west through the Piana di S. Eufemia, one of the few flat areas in the region. Once they get to the Thyrrenian coastline, they will follow the sea northwards for quite a long while- it’s the only way to have a flat stage in Calabria. This stretch of highway parallels the trunk railway connecting Rome to Reggio Calabria, although we're not sure whether we’ll get the pink, trophy-carrying regional train, as Trenitalia is seemingly not a race sponsor this year.

The intermediate sprint in San Lucido marks the beginning of the only KOM of the day, the cat 2 Cozzo Tunno. Its gradients are moderate at best but it drags on for nearly 15 kms. The summit comes with 45 kms to go; a short plateau follows, and the subsequent descent ends with 20 kms left. The last part of the stage- which includes a Red Bull km at 12 to go- is mostly flat, gently rising towards the finish line in Cosenza, the main town in the northern part of Calabria. It’s a rather technical finale with several 90° bends within the last km, let’s hope it doesn’t get too hectic.

With all this in mind, here are our predictions for tomorrow's stage:

★★★ Breakaway

★★ Scaroni, Silva, Stork

★ Aular, Lund Andresen, Strong, Turner

Rider discussion

Tomorrow's stage could go many ways, for us it was almost a tossup. A lot will depend on how teams will race tomorrow.

We believe, ultimately, that the finale is just a bit too hard for most sprinters. The Cozzo Tunno is obviously not the Zoncolan, but anyone interesting in winning the stage will either attack or keep a high pace on the climb to distance the sprinters. Unlike stage 3, there isn't a lot of space to regroup after the summit, so if a sprinter gets dropped on the climb he will have to spend a lot of energy to get back in the peloton.

So, if the sprinters' teams won't keep control of the race, the breakaway will have a good chance tomorrow- the only team we can see pulling is Astana if Silva's pink jersey comes under threat. In that case, we could have a reduced sprint, and some names that come to mind are Orluis Aular, Christian Scaroni, Ben Turner, Corbin Strong... as well as Guillermo Thomas Silva himself and *Florian Stork, especially given their performance on Saturday. Out of the "pure" sprinters, Tobias Lund Andresen seems to be a better climber compared to his rivals, so he might have more of a chance compared to Milan, Magnier or Groenewegen.

That's it from us, what are your opinions and predictions?

2026 Giro d'Italia Stage 1: Nessebar > Burgas

Stage info

Date	Stage	Route	Length	Type	Altitude	Finish	Time
Sat. 09/05	2	Burgas > Veliko Tarnovo	221 km	Medium	2567m	Uphill	12:05-17:15 CET

Weather

Around 20°C at the start, 15°C at the finish. Rain in the second half of the stage.

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Stage breakdown

The second act of the Bulgarian grande partenza is perhaps the most interesting of the three: a long stage with the first proper climbs of the race and a tricky finale. It might be too early for a GC battle, but the last part of the stage will certainly spark fireworks.

The stage begins in Burgas, set of today’s finish. No more glamour shots of the Black Sea riviera, however, as the course immediately heads inland towards Sofia. The first 100 kms of the stage take place in the upper Thracian plain, the flat area in the southeastern part of the country; from the first intermediate sprint in Sliven, however, things will get funkier. The riders will enter the Balkans, the mountain range splitting Bulgaria into two halves, and will tackle two cat 3 climbs in quick succession: the Byala Pass and the Vratnik Pass. Both are located along a major highway and thus have major highways kind of gradients, although Vratnik gets harder as it goes up. After that, there is a long section of mostly downhill rugged terrain, slowly leading the race towards the southern ends of the large Danubian plains that make up the northernmost part of Bulgaria.

At 16 kms to go, the small town of Lyaskovets will host the day’s Red Bull km but most importantly the start of the last categorized climb of the day, a narrow road leading to a monastery uninspiringly named Lyaskovets pass. It’s only a cat 4 but it’s a tough obstacle to have this close to the stage finish: it’s 4 kms long at an average 6.9 % gradient, with the steeper bits at the beginning: most sprinters will not survive this especially considering the puncheurs will see this as a perfect launchpad! The summit comes at 10 kms to go and is followed by a long descent into the outskirts of Veliko Tarnovo. The last kms of the race will follow the meanders of the local Yantra with a short cobbled section at 2.5 kms to go, below the Tsarevets medieval fortress, followed by a partially cobbled km-long uncategorized climb that ends at the Flamme Rouge. The last km takes place on large, slightly ondulating city roads.

With all this in mind, here are our predictions for tomorrow's stage:

★★★ Christen

★★ Buitrago

★ Andresen, Morgado, Yates

Rider discussion

The cat 4 climb towards the end seems to be too hard for sprinters, and a perfect launchpad for puncheurs and finisseurs.

It's very hard to pick a favorite, however. We're going out on a limb and picking UAE's Jan Christen but it was almost luck of the draw, we really struggled to decide. His team also has Adam Yates and Antonio Morgado but the profile seems best suited to the Swiss.

Santiago Buitrago is another name that came to mind, especially in the wake of his Laigueglia win earlier this year. Christian Scaroni has also amassed a remarkable amount of results in these hilly punchy stages. Giulio Ciccone could also do well on such a finale. If the last climb isn't ridden too hard, perhaps Filippo Ganna could do well in the run-in to the finish line.

Out of the sprinting field, Tobias Andresen - who was brilliant today- seems to be the best suited to survive a punchy climb like tomorrow, but again we fear it might be too hard for him.

That's it from us, What are your opinions and predictions?

2026 Giro d'Italia Stage 3: Plovdiv > Sofia

Stage info

Date	Stage	Route	Length	Type	Altitude	Finish	Time
Sun. 10/05	3	Plovdiv > Sofia	175 km	Easy	1657m	Flattish	13:15-17:15 CET

Climbs

Location	Cat	Km	Length	Avg
Borovets Pass	2	km 103.2	9.2 km	5.4 %

Sprints

Location	Km
Dolna Banja	km 85.8
Red Bull Km	km 162.0

Weather

Between 15°C and 20°C. Sunny, slightly overcast.

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Stage breakdown

Tomorrow’s stage, the last part of our Bulgarian adventure, will link the two largest cities in the country. We will see the first cat 2 climb of the race, which will bring the peloton above 1,000 m of altitude for the first time. Don’t get too excited, however, as this all happens far away from the finish line, where we are likely to witness a sprint finish instead.

Plovdiv seems like a perfect fit for the Giro: it’s a city with important Roman heritage, home to some of the best preserved archaeological sites in the Balkans- the Roman theatre is especially famous. It is located in the inner part of the Thracian plain, so once again the first part of the stage will be almost entirely flat- or rather rising with the gentlest of gradients towards the hills. The intermediate sprint in Dolna Banja coming at 90 kms to go marks the beginning of the lone KOM of the day, the Borovec (or Borovets) Pass, a 10-kms long climb towards a small ski station with regular gradients between 5% and 6% for most of the climb. To keep up with the Roman theme, on the other side of the mountain lies Razlog, a town that used to host a minor UCI stage race named “In the footsteps of the Romans”, last held in 2024.

From the summit, the riders will turn northwest and start a long, gradual descent towards Sofia. The suburb of Pancharevo, just outside the capital’s outer belt, will host the Red Bull km with 13 kms to go. The last 8 kms take place along the Tsarigradsko Shose (“Constantinople Boulevard”), an entirely straight, wide boulevard, leading from the commercial districts in the outskirts of Sofia to the inner city. In the last km, after crossing the Orlov Most (“Eagles Bridge”, a famous landmark), the road turns very gently to the left towards the finish line, located one block from the Nevskiy Cathedral, another one of Sofia’s most iconic buildings.

With all this in mind, here are our predictions for tomorrow's stage:

★★★ Magnier

★★ Andresen

★ De Lie, Groenewegen, Groves, Milan, Vernon

Rider discussion

Tomorrow's stage will probably end in a sprint again- we don't think there will be a strong breakaway with a relatively meager amount of KOM points on offer and with a stage finale that seems quite stacked in favour of the big sprinting trains.

Following the events of Stage 1, we've placed Paul Magnier as the top pick and Tobias Lund Andresen as our second-best guess. They both impressed, Magnier seems to have a bit of an edge on speed on a pure flat sprint but Andresen was very close, plus he has a solid train to back him. On the other hand, Jonathan Milan performed below expectations, tomorrow we will undoubtedly see if Friday was just one bad day. Ethan Vernon was a solid 3rd, he's definitely in podium contention but does he have what it takes to win?

Stage 1 might have given us some answers, but the late crash in Burgas meant prevented some favourites from showing up, so there are a few riders whose form we do not know. Both Dylan Groenewegen and Kaden Groves could do well on a finish like tomorrow's, but they suffered injuries following the crash, so perhaps they won't be at 100% tomorrow. Arnaud De Lie was spared, but the crash prevented him to sprint so we're not sure about his form, especially after Famenne-gate.

That's it from us, What are your opinions and predictions?

Link to post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DYP46JWipe-/?img_index=1

Caption:

"Sometimes shit happens, and the last few days have been pretty rough…

I had a nasty training crash on Friday. I don’t remember much – one minute I was descending at 80kmh and the next thing I remember was lying on the ground – alone, half conscious, trying to use the small window of adrenaline to call the emergency services while blood was dripping down my face.

I think this is the first time I’ve ever truly been scared after a crash. Fortunately, I was found quickly, and a group of people did an amazing job handling the situation until the ambulance arrived.

A special thank you to @groendahljansen, @henry__coote, and everyone else who was there — you all made a huge difference ❤️
And a big thanks as well to @xabierzabalo for being there at the hospital, and to everyone at  @lidltrek for all the support 🙏

I feel extremely lucky to be back home with no internal injuries, apart from a heavy hit to the head, and no broken bones – even though I’m still pretty banged up right now.
You know it was a proper crash when the clinic runs out of bandages after two days 😅

Recovery will take some time, but I’ll come back stronger 👊"

2026 Giro d'Italia Stage 1: Nessebar > Burgas

Stage info

Date	Stage	Route	Length	Type	Altitude	Finish	Time
Fri. 08/05	1	Nessebar > Burgas	147 km	Easy	912m	Sloping Up	13:50-17:15 CET

Climbs

Location	Cat	Summit	Length	Avg
Cape Agalina	4	km 83.1	1.2 kms	2.2 %
Cape Agalina	4	km 105.2	1.2 kms	2.2 %

Sprints

Sprint	km
Sozopol	km 90.0
Red Bull km	km 114.7

Weather

Mostly sunny, around 20°C. Weak sidewind coming from the sea, mostly a tailwind in the finale.

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Stage breakdown

The Giro will be kicking off from abroad for the second year in a row. It’s not an all-time first- it already happened in 1965-1966 and 1973-1974- but three out of those grand departs had the race reach Italy after a few kms (if not meters)! It is, in other words, the first time ever that the opening stage does not visit Italy at all for two years in a row. After visiting the Republic of Ireland in 2014 and Hungary in 2022, RCS picked yet another country with a flag similar to Italy: Bulgaria. Surely we can expect a Mexican grand depart soon?

As it often happens, this prelude is made up of three stages showcasing the host country. The Giro usually adopts a "2 mass starts, 1 time trial" ratio, but that won't be the case this time- it's actually the first TT-less foreign grand depart since Greece back in 1996!

The race begins with a relatively short stage, taking place entirely along the Black Sea, mostly along wide, major highways. The start is set in Nesebar (or Nessebar), a small town renowned for its Medieval city centre, which occupies the entirety of a tiny peninsula near Sunny Beach, one of the country’s most popular (and undoubtedly the most literal) seaside resorts.

The peloton will follow the coastline southwards, passing through Burgas to reach a circuit along the coast, to be tackled twice. It includes a short climb towards Cape Agalina, a cat 4 which will give away KOM points on both laps; with just 1 kms at a 2.2 % average gradient, it’s possibly the easiest categorized climb in recent Giro history, and it’s clearly only there so that the first blue jersey can be awarded. Additionally, the first lap includes a “regular” intermediate sprint (i.e. just points) in Sozopol, whereas the second lap has the day’s Red Bull km (i.e. points and time bonuses) instead.

After the two laps, the peloton will go back the way they came from towards Burgas, Bulgaria’s fourth-largest city, where the stage is set to end on wide city roads, with no major turns in the last kms.

With all this in mind, here are our predictions for tomorrow's stage:

★★★ Milan

★★ Andresen

★ Groenewegen, Magnier, Vernon

Rider discussion

With such a course, and with Lukas Pöstlberger not on the startlist, it's hard to picture anything other than a mass sprint.

The sprinting field is rather wide and varied, but we feel like Jonathan Milan has to get top billing: while still pretty young, he's already bagged many Grand Tour wins, and on a good day there are no riders on the startlist that can compete with him. Will it be a good day, though? He was very strong in the early season but he has barely raced since Tirreno-Adriatico.

A close second is Tobias Lund Andresen, who is having a breakthrough season. He's yet to win a GT stage but this year he seems to have stepped up his game to the next level. Paul Magnier is on the opposite trajectory- he seemed set to become one of the top fast men this season, but I'd reckon the year has been a bit below expectations so far- but if he can find his 2025 form back, he'll also be a serious contender for all the sprints.

Ethan Vernon is another sprinter who's upped his game this year, he hasn't been as impressiv as Andresen perhaps but he's been quietly consistent all season long with wins at the TDU and Catalunya as well as several other WT top 10s. Dylan Groenewegen has also performed better than expected since joining Unibet.

Kaden Groves and Arnaud De Lie would normally be among the top picks but there are legitimate doubts about their form, Groves is coming back from injury while De Lie is reportedly sick following a literally crappy race in Belgium, we'll see where they stand tomorrow. Other outsiders worth mentioning are Orluis Aular for Movistar and Casper van Uden for Picnic, a winner in Turkey last week and a surprise winner of a Giro stage last year.

Of course, there is a small chance that the stage does not end in a sprint- whoever wins gets the pink jersey, I'm sure many riders would want that! But the finale is on wide, mostly straight roads, it looks like difficult terrain for an attack to stick; finisseurs are probably looking forward to stage 2 instead. Still, perhaps some big engine rouleur a là Filippo Ganna could try something.

That's it from us, What are your opinions and predictions?

It’s almost time for the Giro d’Italia 🇮🇹

If you’re planning to follow the Italian Grand Tour, this brief overview might be useful 🩷

Better pics will be posted on my website on the next day or so as soon as they dry.

https://procyclinguk.com/tour-de-romandie-feminin-postponed-until-2027-due-to-financial-logistical-pressures/