Giro d'Italia Women 2026 route: two summit finishes including Sestriere and an uphill time trial over nine days
37th edition to take place from 30 May to 7 June
The Giro d'Italia Women 2026 will include two summit finishes including a finish up Sestriere after the Colle delle Finestre.
The nine-stage route, one more than 2025, will stretch out across a total of 1,153.7km, all in the north of Italy. The peloton will tackle 12,5000m of elevation over the uphill time trial, three flat stages, three hilly stages and two tougher mountains days.
The Giro has now moved so as not to clash with the men's Tour de France, which should benefit it enormously. Formerly known as the Giro Donne and the Giro Rosa, the race will begin in Cesenatico on 30 May with a sprint finish in Ravenna.
Stage two will also likely be a sprint, on a stage from Roncade H-Farm to Caorle, before stage three is a hillier affair, from Bibione to Buja.
The general classification will be rocked by an uphill time trial from Belluno up to Nevegal; at just 12.7km it might not sound too dangerous, but there are ramps up to 14% and a 4km section at over 10%.
It's more climbing on stage five, with four categorised climbs in the Dolomites from Langarone to Santo Stefano di Cadore, before stage six brings respite with a very flat day, 155km from Ala to Brescello.
Stage seven – Sorbolo Mezzani to Salice Terme – is the longest stage of the race at 165km, with hills awaiting, but it is stage eight that is the big one. It is only 101km long, but the stage from Rivoli to Sestriere apes the famous finish from this year's men's race. The Colle delle Finestre and its gravel lies in wait before the finish to Sestriere itself.
A final day from Saluzzo to Saluzzo could spring a surprise, with three climbs in quick succession.
Stage
Date
Start
Finish
Type
Distance
1
30 May
Cesenatico
Ravenna
Flat
139km
2
31 May
Roncade H-Farm
Caorle
Flat
146km
3
1 June
Bibione
Buja
Hilly
154km
4
2 June
Belluno
Nevegal
Uphill ITT
12.7km
5
3 June
Longarone
Santo Stefano di Cadore
Mountains
138km
6
4 June
Ala
Brescello
Flat
155km
7
5 June
Sorbolo Mezzani
Salice Terme
Hilly
165km
8
6 June
Rivoli
Sestriere
Mountains
101km
9
7 June
Saluzzo
Saluzzo
Mountains
143km
Giro women stage one map
Saturday May 30 | 139km | Flat
The seaside town of Cesenatico that hosts the 2026 Grande Partenza is immortalised in the cycling world as the birthplace of Marco Pantani, but the organisers have hardly paid homage to ‘Il Pirata’ with this route design, which is the polar opposite of the kind he would have relished. The parcours is as flat as the Piadina Romagnola flatbread found everywhere in this region, and a bunch sprint seems inevitable.
Today also makes history as the first ever May stage of the Giro d’Italia Donne following this year’s calendar change, and temperatures tend to be a little cooler at this time of year. Rainfall is still unlikely though, which is just as well as Ravenna is a historic town (famous for its mosaic art), and as such there are some narrow, technical roads to be negotiated through in the 22.9km finishing circuit.
Giro women stage one profile
Giro women stage two map
Sunday May 31 | 146km | Flat
A transfer north brings the race to the Veneto region, where much of this Giro takes place, for a start in the small town of Roncade. From there the riders head inland before reaching the small category-four Ca’ del Poggio, but that climb will serve only to determine the first Queen of the Mountains maglia azzurra wearer, as it’s the sole obstacle of the day before they head back towards the Adriatic coast for a finish in the fishing town of Caorle, which will surely host another sprint.
Positioning will be key on the run-in to the finish, as there are four 90-degree turns in the final two kilometres; particularly the last one, a narrow pinch-point the peloton must squeeze through before the road widens into a tree-lined 600m boulevard finishing straight.
Giro women stage two profile
Giro Women stage three map
Monday June 1 | 154km | Hilly
Though it starts in much the same vein as opening weekend stages, with a flat procession though the Friulian plain upon departing from the Bibione seaside resort, stage three gets complicated in its second half as the terrain starts to undulate. Hardest of all is the 1km wall of Monteras, which, with its 12% slopes, is steep enough for puncheurs to launch attacks in search of both the stage win and a shot at taking the maglia rosa.
Even if the sprinters’ teams do manage to control the race and bring back any attackers in the final 21km run-in to the finish, it won’t be a stage for a purist in the mould of Jonathan Milan (whose father, Flavio, founded the local amateur Jam’s Bike Team Buja), but rather a versatile type like Lorena Wiebes or Marianne Vos, as the final 300 metres averages more than 5%.
Giro Women stage three profile
Giro women stage four map
Tuesday June 2 | 12.7km | Mountain Time Trial
It’s the time trial stage, but far from the pan-flat offerings the organisers have designed for each of the previous four editions, this time the riders get sent up the climb to Nevegal after just 5km. And it's a proper mountain, too, the first category-one test of the race with a tough average gradient of 8.2% for its 7.2km duration, and known as the Terrace of the Dolomites for the panoramic views it provides of the mountain range.
Worse still, its gradients fluctuate uncomfortably from a maximum of 14% towards the bottom to a plateau near the top, making it devilishly difficult for the riders to pace themselves efficiently. The first proper GC sort-out of the race, it should be as much a test of astuteness as it is climbing power.
Giro women stage four profile
Giro women stage five map
Wednesday June 3 | 138km | Mountains
We’re in the Dolomites, the sublime mountain range that is arguably the emblematic image of the Giro d’Italia, for a spectacle of climbing. The action starts with the relentless 8km slog up the Passo Tre Croci, that barely wavers from its average gradient of 7.2%, continues on the 8.3km Passo di Sant Antonio, which averages 7.5% and features a horrible 4km stretch of 10%, and climaxes with a double ascent of the shorter but even steeper (9%) Costa.
Sure to be greatly impactful on the GC, its intriguing design makes it difficult to strategise for. Should the superior climbers go hard on one of the first two climbs, or wait until Costa? Either way, this stage is tough enough that even the 16km from the top of the last to the finish in Sante Stefano di Cadore won’t blunt its impact.
Giro Women stage five profile
Giro Women stage six map
Thursday June 4 | 155km | Flat
Known as the ‘City of Velvet’ after the industry in which it flourished during the 17th and 18th century, the town of Ala lies under the ominous shadow of the Alps. But rather than venture back into the mountains, the riders will instead head south through the planes of the Po Valley for a mercifully flat stage. While breakaways can be harder to control this deep into a stage race, with depleted and tiring rosters not able to chase quite as powerfully as the opening stages, a bunch sprint finish is odds on.
Brescello is such a quintessential small Italian town that it was chosen as the filming location for the satirical rural films Don Camillo and Pennone, about a bickering parish priest and communist mayor, and its small, narrow streets will make for a twisty, technical finish with several tight corners in the final kilometre.
Giro Women stage seven map
Friday June 5 | 159km | Hilly
The calm before the storm. The riders head westwards through the Po Valley and towards the Alps on the Italian/French border, but stop short of reaching them just yet with a finish at the Lombard town Salice Terme. They will graze the foothills of the Apennine mountains, however, with a single climb up the Pietragavina 27km from the finish that prevents this from being another flat procession.
Will the Pietragavina be enough to deny the sprinters? Its vital statistics don’t look too hard, averaging a modest 3.2% for 7km, but what that doesn’t account for is how the road rises steadily for about 30km even before they reach its official start. The fact the run-in to the finish is all downhill will also play in the favour of any stage-hunters who try an attack on this climb.
Giro Women stage seven profile
Giro Women stage eight map
Saturday June 6 | 139km | Mountains
Following l’Angliru at the recent Vuelta Femenina, and Ventoux at the upcoming Tour de France Femmes, Colle delle Finestre today becomes the latest iconic mountain taken on by the women’s peloton, and it’s worthy of being mentioned in the same bracket as those legendary summits. Its horrible gradient of 9.2% is steeper than Ventoux, and continues that way seemingly endlessly, at 18.5km considerably longer than the Angliru, and half of it up a rough, unpaved gravel track.
With the descent of the mountain followed by a final, easier climb to Sestriere, this is a repeat of the sensational penultimate stage of last year’s men’s Giro, when Simon Yates capitalised on a stand-off between Isaac del Toro and Richard Carapaz to fly away and take the maglia rosa. On a mountain as monstrous as this, the race could be turned on its head in a similarly dramatic fashion.
Giro Women stage eight profile
Giro Women stage nine map
Sunday June 7 | 143km | Mountains
The final climbing test of the Giro is a much subtler, nuanced affair than yesterday’s uncomplicated slog up Colle delle Finestre. The punishing 9.4% average gradient of Monttoso is comparable to the Finestre, albeit lasting a shorter 8.9km, but it’s over and done with early on, with 88km still to ride until returning to Saluzzo for the finish. The two climbs that follow, Colletta di Paesana and Colletta di Brondello are better described as hills.
An attack on the Monttoso would therefore be very bold, so perhaps the smart ploy is to wait for Colletta di Brondello, which, averaging 8% for its final 5km, is still potentially hard enough for an attacker making a move for the pink jersey to gain enough of an advantage, even if there are 35km of mostly downhill roads between its summit and the finish line.
Giro Women stage nine profile