Giro d'Italia and teams clash over costs of Bulgarian start

Giro d’Italia organiser RCS Sport is in a stand-off with teams regarding the travel costs triggered by the Grande Partenza in Bulgaria in 2026.

The Giro will start abroad for the second year in succession when it gets under way in Nessebar on May 8. The race has received dispensation from the UCI to start a day early for the second straight year in order to facilitate the long transfer to Italy ahead of stage 4. UCI rules state that Grand Tours can only seek an additional day on the calendar once every four years.

In early December, Il Giornale reported that RCS Sport was engaged in “diplomacy” in order to placate teams on the issue of covering the additional expenses incurred by the journey to Bulgaria.

Escape Collective later reported that RCS Sport had offered €115,000 per team as well as €5,000 in airline vouchers, but the offer was rejected by the teams’ organisation, the AIGCP.

Tuttobiciweb has since reported that RCS Sport made a counteroffer of €125,000, but this has also been knocked back by the teams.

According to Escape Collective, the participating teams at the Giro are seeking €160,000 apiece, which would amount to a total of €3.68 million. Reports in Bulgarian media estimate that RCS Sport will receive a total of €12.5 million for holding the Grande Partenza in the country.

Tuttobiciweb has suggested that the matter might ultimately be ruled upon by the Professional Cycling Council.

The Bulgarian Grande Partenza marks the Giro’s third foreign start in five editions after sojourns in Hungary in 2022 and Albania in 2025. 

All three Grand Tours will start on foreign roads in 2026, with the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in Barcelona and the Vuelta a España setting out from Monaco, though neither the Tour nor the Vuelta will require an additional rest day as a result.

The route of the 2026 Giro appears to have been designed in an attempt to persuade leading riders to tackle both the corsa rosa and the Tour, though Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel have already ruled out riding the race. 

Jonas Vingegaard has hinted at making a Giro debut, but the Dane has yet to confirm his 2026 plans. João Almeida has been confirmed as UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s team leader for the Giro, while Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari will lead the line for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.