Italy 08 May – 31 May 2026 Class 2.UWT – Stages – UCI WorldTour
Website www.giroditalia.it
The 2026 Giro d’Italia features a strong field of Climbers
🥇 The Top Contenders and Their Support Systems
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
- The Leader: Jonas Vingegaard * The Climbing Lieutenants: Sepp Kuss and Davide Piganzoli
- Behind the Wheel: Lead DS Jesper Mørkøv and Arthur van Dongen
The Dynamic: Vingegaard enters the race as a heavy favorite due to his elite climbing capability balanced with a long 42km time trial. In the high peaks, he has the ultimate insurance policy in Sepp Kuss—the premier mountain domestique in modern cycling—alongside the rising Italian talent Davide Piganzoli. Mørkøv and van Dongen bring meticulous pacing strategies to counter aggressive rival attacks.
Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe
- The Leaders: Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari
- The Climbing Lieutenants: Aleksandr Vlasov and Giovanni Aleotti
- Behind the Wheel: DS Christian Pömer and Shane Archbold
The Dynamic: This squad boasts an incredibly deep, dual-pronged approach. Hindley is a former Giro winner who understands how to manage the cumulative fatigue of the third week, while the young Italian sensation Pellizzari provides localized flair and explosive climbing acceleration. Supported by Vlasov in the high mountains, Pömer has multiple tactical cards to play to isolate rival leaders.
INEOS Grenadiers
- The Leader: Egan Bernal
- The Climbing Lieutenants: Thymen Arensman and Jack Haig
- Behind the Wheel: DS Kurt-Asle Arvesen and Leonardo Basso
The Dynamic: Bernal, another past winner of the Corsa Rosa, captains an aggressive, tactically versatile squad. Arensman and Haig provide a deep safety net in the high mountains, capable of either maintaining a blistering tempo or acting as tactical foils in early breakaways.
UAE Team Emirates – XRG
- The Leaders: Jan Christen and Jhonatan Narváez
- The Climbing Lieutenants: António Morgado and Igor Arrieta
- Behind the Wheel: DS Matteo Tosatto and Boris Zimine
The Dynamic: With original GC hope João Almeida ruled out before the race and Adam Yates forced into an early non-start, UAE’s focus shifted to an aggressive, opportunistic approach. Christen and Narváez are superb puncheur-climbers capable of devastating acceleration on medium-to-high mountain stages. Tosatto, a master tactician of Italian roads, relies on relentless mountain pacing to pressure pure GC riders.
The Major Outside Challengers
- Ben O’Connor (Team Jayco AlUla): Supported in the mountains by Koen Bouwman, with veteran DS Steve Cummings call the shots from the team car.
- Enric Mas (Movistar Team): Riding with the mountain support of Einer Rubio and Juan Pedro López, under the tactical guidance of DS Matthew White and Maximilian Sciandri.
- Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM Team): The Austrian pure climber is guided by Gregor Mühlberger in the high peaks, with DS Luke Roberts managing their strategy.
Key Support Roles in Grand Tour Mountains
While the riders and directors grab the headlines, a climber’s success on stages with 5,000 meters of elevation relies heavily on the broader “moving ecosystem” of the team staff:
- The Directeurs Sportifs (DS): They spend months driving the mountain passes beforehand, mapping out every technical descent, wind pocket, and road surface variation. During the stage, they manage the “survival economics”—calculating exactly when a domestique should pull or drop back.
- The Soigneurs: Stationed at critical feed zones on steep gradients, these staff members hand off lightweight “musette” bags packed with high-carbohydrate gels, hydration mixes, and miniature rice cakes. In the high peaks, fueling errors translate directly into minutes lost.
- The Mechanics: On stages like the Mortirolo or Passo Giau, mechanics customize gear ratios (often utilizing 1x or specialized compact chainring setups with wide cassettes) and manage tire pressures for wider 28–30mm tubeless configurations to ensure maximum grip and minimal rolling resistance on rough mountain descents.
