A Gruesome Gravel Mountain Will Decide the Giro d’Italia Women

A stoney super-climb will split the differences between a stack of GC talent at this year’s Giro d’Italia Women.

Starting in a newly optimized location on the calendar on Saturday, May 30, the 9-day race has attracted the best of the Women’s WorldTour.

Double defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini is back racing after sickness and chasing a 3-peat.

Demi Vollering comes to the corsa rosa for the first time since 2021 as part of her ambitious new-look race calendar.

Reigning Tour de France champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is the only classification titan missing from a crew of climbers that includes Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Marlen Reusser, and four-time pink jersey Anna van der Breggen.

At 1,180km long and with more than 12,000 meters of ascent, the 2026 Giro d’Italia Women is touted to be the hardest in the race’s long history.

Two huge mountain stages, three dangerous hilly stages, and a cruel climbing TT will shape the narrative of the fight for pink.

But it’s just one summit that will determine the overall winner on June 7 – the Colle delle Finestre.

Colle delle Finestre will play queenmaker of the Giro Women

The women’s peloton will race the Colle dell Finestre for the first time on stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia Women.

At 19km long and topping out at close to 2,200m, the menacing Italian Alp towers over the race’s parcours. And the 7km stretch of ashen grey gravel on its desolate upper slopes will crown the race’s queen.

Its relentlessly consistent 9 percent grade and unpredictably loose surface staged historic scenes both the last times it appeared in the men’s Giro.

It’s impossible to see the Colle doing anything different when it debuts next week in the Women’s WorldTour.

“The Finestre will decide the 2026 Giro Women. It did in 2025 for the men and probably will for the women in 2026,” Longo Borghini said from the route presentation in December.

“The dirt roads make it a special climb. It’s also long and hard from the very start.”

Notorious summits like the Col du Tourmalet and Madeleine have taken their turns to blow apart the Tour de France Femmes. The Vuelta Femenina was decided on the Angliru only a few weeks ago.

On Saturday, June 6, the Finestre will become the latest mythical mountain to wreak stage-racing havoc.

Also be sure not to miss Wednesday’s 5th stage through the Dolomites.

It’s an old-school bruiser that stacks climbs back-to-back through the final 100km and will set the tone for what’s to come 72 hours later on the Finestre.

Key stages:

Stage 5: Wednesday, June 3 – 146km, 3,400m+

 

Stage 8: Saturday, June 6 – 105km, 2,800m+

Wiebes tops sprint field, Faulkner leads US hopes

But the Giro d’Italia Women won’t only be about the mountains.

Three flat stages offer a deep field of fast-finishers the chance to take a swing at GOAT-status sprinter, Lorena Wiebes.

Charlotte Kool, home hopefuls Chiara Consonni and Elisa Balsamo, and rising stars Cat Ferguson and Lara Gillespie will be out to disrupt the Dutchwoman’s ridiculous 50 percent win rate for the 2026 season.

Kristen Faulkner headlines the U.S. contingent for the Italian tour. Alexis Magnier, Lily Williams, and Caroline Wreszin join the Olympic superstar in flying the stars and stripes.

Reigning world champion Magdeleine Vallieres and fan favorite Alison Jackson are among eight Canadians on the provisional start-list.

How to watch the action?

Racing will be broadcast on HBO Max in the U.S. and FloBikes in Canada. Warner Bros Discovery via Eurosport and HBO Max are the  key broadcasters for the UK and Europe. SBS Sport will cover you in Australia.

Giro d’Italia Women start list