The Giro d’Italia Women is the longest-running stage race in women’s professional cycling, and returns in all its magenta-hued glory this weekend for what promises to be a scintillating 37th edition. First held in 1988, the women’s Giro – in all its various forms – is a race steeped in cycling history: while it has had to endure periods of instability over the years, its prestige as a true test of the best on the demanding roads of Italy remains a constant.
There are a number of factors that makes this year’s race a particularly momentous occasion: a shiny new date lifts it from the shadows of the men’s Tour de France; an additional ninth stage puts it back on par with the Tour de Femmes avec Zwift; and the iconic Colle delle Finestre is making its debut as a decisive route feature.
Nine days of epic battle across the Italian alps, as the cream of the crop vie for the maglia rosa. What more could you want? Andiamo!
(Image credit: SWpix.com)
What happened last year at the Giro d’Italia Women?
It was only natural that reigning time trial World Champion Marlen Reusser would dominate against the clock on stage one to put 12 seconds ahead of her rivals. Lidl-Trek's Anna Henderson landed the result of her career on day two to take pink until the Movistar rider came back into the overall lead on stage 4. But the mountains changed everything: Australian climber Sarah Gigante emerged as one of the revelations of the race with two major summit-stage victories, and Elisa Longo Borghini gradually clawed back time before poaching the pink jersey on the decisive Monte Nerone stage. Longo Borghini defended her lead to win a second consecutive Giro title by 18 seconds.
2026 Giro d’Italia Women route
This year’s route covers a total of 1,180 kilometres through the north of the country, from Cesenatico on the Adriatic coast to Saluzzo, a medieval hilltop town at the foot of the Cottian Alps in the west. At first glance, an offering of just over 12,100 metres of elevation gain makes this year’s excursion seem less demanding than the last edition, which stacked up an additional 2500 metres of climbing over a shorter distance. That said, the organisers have concentrated the hardest ascents into a few decisive stages, including the famed Giro climb, the Colle delle Finestre (18.5 kilometres at 9.2%) on the queen stage.
Another stage of note which should have a sizeable impact on the GC is the uphill individual time trial in Belluno. A ramp of almost four kilometres with an average gradient of 10.3% – reaching a fierce 14% at its steepest – is preceded by a downhill section. It’s a two-part course that could call for a tactical bike change given the gradient.
The opening two stages are flat, so we should see a sprinter in the maglia rosa first.
Read more: Giro d’Italia women 2026 route: Colle delle Finestre makes its debut
Stage 1: Cesenatico – Ravenna | 139 km | flat
Stage 2: Roncade – Caorle | 156 km | flat
Stage 3: Bibione – Buja | 156 km | rolling
Stage 4: Belluno – Nevegal Tudor | 12.7 km | ITT
Stage 5: Longarone – Santo Stefano di Cadore | 146 km | mountains
Stage 6: Ala – Brescello | 159 km | flat
Stage 7: Sorbolo Mezzani – Salice Terme | 159 km | rolling
Stage 8: Rivoli – Sestriere | 105 km | mountains
Stage 9: Saluzzo – Saluzzo | 145 km | mountains
GC Contenders
Demi Vollering
Having ticked off the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift and the Vuelta a España Femenina, Demi Vollering (FDJ-United Suez) is looking to add the Giro d’Italia to her roster of Grand Tour wins. The last time Vollering competed at the Corsa Rosa was in 2021, the year that her then team, SD Worx, swept up the GC podium spots. Vollering has of course been busy since then, and arrives at the Giro this year in imperious form: the Dutch rider already has five wins under her belt this season, including a phenomenal Tour of Flanders victory where she showed herself to be well and truly above the rest.
Vollering should be helped by the profile of this year’s course as one of the best climbers on the startlist, and has been training at altitude specifically for this block of racing. The season’s front-loaded WorldTour calendar, too, means that she has been able to make the Giro a focus this year, seeing as she’ll have enough time to recover before the start of the Tour. An absent Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma Lease-A-Bike), her principal GC rival, also bolsters Vollering’s chances, and adding a maglia rosa to her palmarès will certainly boost her confidence ahead of August.
FDJ-United Suez have serious depth in their Giro line-up, and Vollering’s campaign will be supported by Elise Chabbey and Lauren Dickson. Both are ones to watch for stage wins, with Dickson having recently achieved her first WorldTour podium at Itzulia Women. Chabbey was the surprise victor of Strade Bianche, and is another option for the punchier stages.
Demi Vollering won the Tour de France in 2023, and took the red jersey at the Vuelta Femenina in 2024 and 2025 (Image credit: SWpix.com)
Elisa Longo Borghini
Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), la regina del Giro, returns to defend the coveted title of her home Grand Tour for the third year in a row, after she finished with an 18 second lead over Marlen Reusser in last year’s edition.
However, while Longo Borghini’s palmarès at this race (two wins, four podiums, ten top-10s and three stage victories) bears all the signs of success, there are a few factors which might make victory in Saluzzo slightly more difficult this year. For one, her race attendance to date this season has looked a little sparse, after illness forced her to skip Milan-San Remo, and later the Ardennes and the Spanish block. The presence of Demi Vollering, arguably the superior of the two over lumpier terrain, will also be on Longo Borghini’s mind, especially given the nature of this year’s route – and the profile of the crucial time trial in particular. However, her zeal for this race knows no bounds, and with the passion of the tifosi behind her, Borghini is set for the maglia rosa fight.
UAE have already made their mark as a team this summer with Paula Blasi’s historic Vuelta win, and Borghini’s Giro campaign is backed by a squad of equal strength, including Eleonora Gasparrini and Marvi Garcia.
Elisa Longo Borghini has captured the hearts of her nation for the last two years (Image credit: SWpix.com)
Marlen Reusser
Marlen Reusser (Movistar) proved to be Longo Borghini’s fiercest competitor at last year’s edition, where donned pink from stage 4 until she lost the leaders jersey on the queen stage to the Italian, ultimately finishing second.
Reusser arrives this year ready for revenge, and her strength in the GC resides in the way she can win time through pushing the pace over rolling terrain, rather than on one decisive summit. However, the Swiss rider’s road to the Giro hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing – she sustained a fractured lumbar vertebra at the Tour of Flanders having only just returned after crashing at the UAE Tour in February, which forced her to miss her main early-season goal at La Vuelta Femenina. Her inactivity over the last couple of months means there’s a bit of a question mark as to what form she’ll be in on the startline in Cesenatico. On paper Reusser is a clear favourite, but an overall win might be a big ask. Ultimately, her performance at this Giro depends on how well she’s recovered, and, if she’s not at 100%, how well she’ll fare against her rivals who are mostly in top form.
Marlen Reusser took the first race lead last year after the individual time trial (Image credit: Getty)
Anna van der Breggen
If there’s anyone who knows how to ride a Giro, it’s Anna van der Breggen, and the SD Worx veteran has four pink jerseys in her wardrobe to show it. While her wins of 2015, 2017, 2020, 2021 were very much in Van der Breggen’s heyday, the Dutch rider has silenced the cynics with impressive results since she came out of retirement at the start of 2025, including sixth overall at last year’s Giro and two Vuelta podiums. Earlier this month, she out-climbed her competitors on the brutal ascent of Les Praeres to take the GC lead after the penultimate stage of the Vuelta – while she would eventually fall to Blasi, it was a sure sign of her form coming into the Giro, where she’ll be looking to do damage in the high mountains and on the slopes of the Finestre. Experience at this race should never be discounted, and, with luck on her side, the former world champion will prove fierce competition over her less-versed competitors.
Anna van der Breggen came second at the 2026 Vuelta Femenina (Image credit: Getty)
Other contenders
Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) has consistently impressed at the Giro, claiming the mountain-top finish in Toano in 2024, while Marion Bunel (Visma Lease a Bike) comes into the race off the back of a third place spot at the Vuelta. The young frenchwoman took the overall win at the 2024 Tour de l’Avenir, which finished atop the Colle delle Finestre, so the climb clearly suits her. Antonia Niedermaier finished sixth overall in 2024 and fifth last year, and looked strong for Canyon-SRAM at Itzulia Women recently, where she took a solid fifth. AG Insurance Soudal will be looking for Urška Žigart to deliver in the high mountains in the absence of Sarah Gigante.
Sprinters to watch
Lorena Wiebes has set the benchmark as the best sprinter in the women’s peloton, and took two sprint stages last year to secure the points jersey. It’s likely we’ll see the SD Worx rider in pink after stage one. Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) is perhaps Wiebes’s closest competitor on the flat, but when the route gets harder after the opening stages, it opens the door for others too: former world champion and two-time Giro stage winner Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) thrives on a more varied sprint profile, and is able to survive on lumpier transition days when the final group might be more fatigued. Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM) has three Giro stages to her name, while debutant Cat Ferguson will lead Movistar on the flatter stages. Also watch out for Ally Woolaston (FDJ Suez), Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ), Georgia Baker (Team Jayco Alula) and Rachele Barbieri (Team Picnic PostNL).
Lorena Weibes bested Marianne Vos on stage 5 last year (Image credit: Getty)
How will the Giro d’Italia fare against the Tour de France Femmes?
Since its relaunch by ASO in 2022, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has been the pinnacle of the women’s racing calendar. The Giro, granted, is not as new and shiny – although RCS has given it a revamp since they took over. Without Kasia Newiadoma or Ferrand-Prévot there, some might argue it doesn’t carry the same clout. But if the spectacle put on by the Vuelta is anything to go by, that shouldn’t matter. Adding impossibly hard climbs to stage races like the l’Angliru in the Vuelta or, in this case, the Colle delle Finestre, has proven a good idea so far, and with Vollering here this year, the storylines from this race should only get more enticing…
