Stage 1 Giro d'Italia 2026: Jonathan Milan, Dylan Groenewegen and the sprinters heading for Burgas

Grande Partenza! The Giro d'Italia gets underway on Friday 8 May in Nessebar, of all places. The opening 147 kilometres finish in Burgas, one of the larger cities on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast. IDL Pro Cycling is on the ground and brings you everything you need to know about the first stage of the race.

The Giro d'Italia gets rolling on Friday afternoon in Nessebar, a historic coastal town on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast. The country's tourism boards have invested heavily to put the area — including the neighbouring Sunny Beach resort — in front of European and global audiences, so expect plenty of scenic Black Sea footage in the opening television hours.

From Nessebar, the riders head north, passing through Sunny Beach, before turning south towards the eventual finish town of Burgas, which they pass through for the first time at the 38-kilometre mark. They do not stop there. Instead, the route continues south to a circuit around Cape Agalina, a 22-kilometre loop ridden twice.

It includes the Red Bull Kilometre, where bonus seconds are available, and the first categorised climb of the race, which the riders tackle twice.

With 33 kilometres to go, the route swings back towards Burgas along largely wide roads — the kind of terrain that will not trouble the sprint teams. One point that will be highlighted is where the riders leave the main road with 3.5 kilometres remaining.

From there, a series of sweeping bends leads into the final kilometre. The peloton will swing repeatedly from left to right, and the concertina effect will be significant — one moment of inattention and you can drop from the front to nowhere in an instant.

Timing will be everything for the fast men and their teams, especially as the final kilometre rises at an average of around 1.8 per cent, with a long left-hand bend running all the way to 300 metres from the line. Crucially: the left side of the road is where everyone will want to be, as it offers the shortest path to the maglia rosa.

Times
Start: 2 p.m. (1 p.m. CET)
Finish: 5:12 p.m. (4:12 p.m. CET)

When any race starts in a country not traditionally associated with professional cycling, the hope is simply that it stays dry. In Bulgaria on Friday, that appears likely — temperatures of around 19°C and a light westerly breeze make for near-ideal racing conditions.

There is a pink jersey on offer, and that means the sprinters will all arrive in Bulgaria on Friday ready to go to war. Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek spoke about this very day back in December. The Bear of Buja — a two-time Giro points classification winner who has never worn the maglia rosa as an Italian riding the Giro — wants to put that right as quickly as possible.

From the Netherlands, the focus falls on Dylan Groenewegen and Unibet Rose Rockets. From the moment Bas Tietema's team knew they were heading to the Giro, turning the Unibet Rose Rockets temporarily into the Unibet Roze Rockets — by putting the Lion of Amsterdam in pink in Burgas — became a dream and a target. Fellow Dutchman Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL) is also worth tracking: he was a stage winner at last year's Giro.

Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) already has 26 professional victories at just 22 years old, but his first Grand Tour win has yet to arrive — and this Giro is where he wants to change that. The rapid Frenchman is one of the fastest sprinters on the planet right now, and has a powerful lead-out in Jasper Stuyven and Dries Van Gestel.

Tobias Lund Andresen has emerged like a comet this year at Decathlon CMA CGM, and will be eyeing the slightly uphill finish in Burgas with interest. The same applies to powerful finishers such as Ethan Vernon (NSN) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché), both of whom have shown strong recent form.

Kaden Groves is Alpecin-Premier Tech's designated sprinter, but he returns to racing here after more than two months away through injury. On outright top speed, he may take a few days to find his feet against the names already mentioned. A similar case could be made for Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ), Ben Turner (INEOS Grenadiers), Orluis Aular (Movistar), Pascal Ackermann (Jayco AlUla), and Luca Mozzato of Tudor.

Erlend Blikra of Uno-X makes his Grand Tour debut in Bulgaria and is also regarded as very fast. The same goes for a cluster of Italian speedsters: Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello-Q36.5), Giovanni Lonardi (Polti VisitMalta), Enrico Zanoncello (Bardiani), Davide Ballerini and Matteo Malucelli from XDS Astana.

Is a sprint even guaranteed? A pink jersey is on the line — and recent Giro history tells us the script does not always follow. Lukas Pöstlberger won stage 1 in 2017 with a late attack. If that sort of scenario unfolds this year, look to Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) and Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) as the men most likely to profit.

Top favorites: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step)
Outsiders: Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets), Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM), Ethan Vernon (NSN) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché)
Long shots: Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ), Ben Turner (Netcompany INEOS), Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello-Q36.5), Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL), Erlend Blikra (Uno-X), Luca Mozzato (Tudor), Pascal Ackermann (Jayco AlUla), Giovanni Lonardi (Polti VisitMalta), Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) and Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers)