Giro D'Italia stage 1 preview

Stage one of the 2026 Giro d'Italia takes the riders 147km from Nessebar to Burgas along Bulgaria's black sea coast in a mostly flat route, which means the sprinters are in line for the first Maglia rosa of the race. This start in Bulgaria will be the first time ever that a world tour-level race has been held there, despite the Tour of Bulgaria being the third-oldest national stage race in the world, with only the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia being older.


This is the route for stage 1, and it is almost certain to be a sprint finish, but the battle for the break will be very tough as the 2 categorised climbs mean the first Maglia Azzurra will also be awarded. The first bonus seconds of the race will also be given out at the Red Bull KM. These will almost certainly be taken in the breakaway, but if a break never forms or is caught by this point, the first drama of the Giro will happen there as GC riders may contend for an early advantage.
The finale of stage 1 isnt very technical, it is wide open and very fast, making positioning not as important as a more technical finale, but the final kilometre isnt perfectly flat, it is about a 2% gradient uphill, which favours great timing rather than pure brute force power, so expect the sprint to be later than if the stage was finished was perfectly flat.
This should be a straight shootout between Johnathan Milan and Dylan Groenewegen for the first Maglia Rosa of the race, but as it's a sprint, it's never that easy, and every team will send someone to sprint for this, as it's the first stage, so expect it to be crowded and chaotic, where anything could happen.

Prediction

I think Dylan Groenewegen is going to take the first stage and with it the first Maglia Rosa and a first grand tour win for his team Unibet Rose Rockets. He has rediscovered his best form this season at his new team and is as fast as he has ever been, so I'm expecting him to win the biggest race of his career

Daniel Mott

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