Balgarianovinite.com The 109th Giro d’Italia cycling race will start just before 2 p.m. in the Old Town of Nessebar on Friday. The 184 riders from 23 teams are expected to finish the day’s race around 5 p.m. in Burgas (on the Black Sea).
Bulgaria is hosting the Grande Partenza event from May 8 to 10, during which the riders will pass through key centres of culture and wonders of nature in three stages, each taking one day. From Burgas, the race will continue to Veliko Tarnovo (North Central Bulgaria) on May 9 and to Sofia via Plovdiv (South Central Bulgaria) on May 10. The end of the cycling race will be in Rome on May 31, covering over 3,450 kilometres in total.
Some of the world’s best cyclists will be racing on Bulgarian and Italian roads. The biggest star among them is Jonas Vingegaard of the Visma – Lease a Bike team. The Dane is a two-time Tour de France champion (2022 and 2023), winner of the Vuelta a Espana (2025), and will aim to become only the eighth rider in the history of cycling – and the first since Chris Froome – to win all three Grand Tours.
Giulio Pellizzari is emerging as Vingegaard’s most serious rival. The 23-year-old Italian from the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe team finished sixth in both the Giro dItalia and the Vuelta a Espana last year. His teammate Jai Hindley, the 2022 Giro champion, however, could also factor into the battle for the overall classification.
The 2021 champion, Egan Bernal, will have similar ambitions. The Colombian has had a string of setbacks in recent years that prevented him from building on the extremely promising start to his career, which included winning the Tour de France in 2019, but those problems now seem to be behind him. The question for Bernal is whether he will be able to get enough support from his teammates on the INEOS team, which announced a few days ago that it is starting a new chapter in its development and will be looking to return to success.
The United Arab Emirates team is expected to be the favourite to take first place in the team standings. The problem for the UAE is the lack of a clear leader in the absence of 2024 champion Tadej Pogacar, last year’s runner-up Isaac del Toro, and Portugal’s Joao Almeida. Without them, the team leader will likely be Adam Yates, who will try to replicate the success of his twin brother Simon, who won last year’s Giro wearing the Visma-Lease a Bike jersey. This year, however, he is not at the start, as he has chosen to retire.
Each of these riders is a potential winner of the climbers’ blue jersey, but it is unlikely that any of them will be able to contend for the cyclamen jersey, which is expected to be won by one of the sprinters.
The favourite is Italian Jonathan Milan of the Lidl-Trek team, who has won the points classification twice in the last three years. His main rivals are likely to be Australian Kaden Groves, Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen, and German Pascal Ackermann.
Given the flat profile of the first stage, which is 147 kilometres from Nessebar to Burgas, Milan appears to have the best chance of victory. The Italian has already won six races this season and also holds an extraordinary record – he has completed a Grand Tour three times and won the points classification three times. 109th Giro d’Italia Cycling Race to Start in Nessebar 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-05-08 05:04:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law