Five days before the start, the official start list for the upcoming Giro Next Gen has been released. The race will begin on June 14 in Reggio Calabria—with the team presentation scheduled for June 13 at 18.30 in Piazza Duomo—and conclude on June 21 in L’Aquila with an individual time trial. It will be eight demanding days of racing, featuring two summit finishes and more than 14,000 metres of elevation gain.
Despite his crash at the Tour of the Alps, Lorenzo Mark Finn is expected to start and will bring the rainbow jersey back to the Giro Next Gen 20 years after Dmytro Grabovskyy. The Red Bull–Bora Hansgrohe Rookies rider is one of the main favourites for overall victory.
Among his principal rivals are Henrique Bravo, recent winner of the Tour of Antalya and the Oberösterreich Rundfahrt; the Bahrain Development Team duo Kasper Borremans and Jan Jackowiak; Dutch rider Daan Dijkman, winner of the U23 Liège–Bastogne–Liège; Frenchman Remi Daumas, who impressed at the Ronde de l’Isard; Belgian Kamiel Eeman, winner of the Course de la Paix; and his compatriot Matisse Van Kerckhove, who claimed victory at the Alpes Isère Tour.
The entry list also includes, besides Finn, two other riders who finished in the top ten of the 2025 edition: Matteo Vanhuffel (8th) and Matteo Scalco (9th).
The 2026 route also offers numerous opportunities for riders who are not focusing on the general classification but are targeting stage victories. After winning the points classification in 2025, Aubin Sparfel returns to the Giro Next Gen. The Decathlon CMA CGM Development Team rider has already won two stages at the Tour de Bretagne and will target the many rolling stages on the programme. Also confirmed at the start are 2025 stage winners Adam Rafferty and Seth Dunwoody.
The list of the fastest riders is led by Italian Davide Donati, already a winner at professional level and victorious in the U23 Paris–Roubaix. Alongside the Red Bull Rookies rider, Patrick Frydkjaer, Mirko Bozzola, Aldo Taillieu, Davide Stella and Halvor Dolven are also expected to contend in the sprint finishes. Among the stage hunters suited to mixed terrain, watch out for Jack Ward, Mattia Negrente, Jesper Stiansen, Tommaso Bambagioni, Jasper Schoofs, Riccardo Lorello, Patryk Goszczurny and Cameron Rogers.
In Europe, distribution will mainly be handled by Warner Bros. Discovery, with full coverage on the streaming platforms HBO Max and Discovery+. The Giro Next Gen will be broadcast in Italy, on Rai, and in Belgium on Proximus. In Russia, every stage will be covered by the OKKO platform.
Worldwide
International distribution also includes North and South America. In North America, live coverage in Canada and the United States will be provided by FloSports, with digital distribution through the Flobikes channel, as well as HBO Max. In South America, live coverage will air on DirecTV and ESPN, along with major local broadcasters in Bolivia (Sport Tv). In Asia and Oceania, the race will be broadcast live in China on Zhibo TV, in Japan on JSports, and in Australia on SBS.
