8 May 2026 · News
The Giro rolls out today
The 2026 Giro d'Italia rolls out tonight from Nessebar, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
The 2026 Giro d'Italia rolls out tonight from Nessebar, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. It's the first Grande Partenza outside Italy in a while, and the race spends three days in the Balkans before crossing to the mainland and grinding its way north over three weeks to a Rome finale.
By the numbers it's a proper one: 21 stages, 3,468km, nearly 49,000 metres of climbing, two time trials and six mountaintop finishes. Plenty for the GC riders to chew on, and a handful of stages with breakaway written all over them.
The headline name is Jonas Vingegaard, riding his first Giro and chasing the one Grand Tour missing from his palmares. He starts as the clear favourite, but the supporting cast is strong: home hope Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), former winners Egan Bernal, and Aussie Jai Hindley, UAE's Adam Yates and Aussie Jay Vine, and our own Ben O'Connor, still one of the peloton's most dangerous attackers from distance. Thymen Arensman, Felix Gall and Enric Mas round out a deep field.
How to watch
Every stage is live and free on SBS On Demand and SBS VICELAND, with English commentary. If you can't stay up for the finishes, SBS runs extended highlights twice a day on the main channel: 7am and 5pm weekdays, 7am and 4:30pm on weekends (AEST).
Settle in. It's going to be a good three weeks.
