The 2026 season is taking shape and so are the plans of the top teams. Although the Giro d’Italia route has not been officially announced yet, most details are known and at this point in time there are some choices that are rather obvious within a few teams. At Bahrain – Victorious, there is already a report on what the team’s plans are.Gazzetta dello Sport’s Ciro Scognamiglio has written that the Bahraini team is likely going to have Santiago Buitrago heading to the Giro d’Italia whilst Lenny Martínez and Antonio Tiberi will be heading towards the Tour de France. The Colombian had a strong start to the season, winning the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana but ultimately not being able to hold his form into the summer and spring. He crashed out of GC contention at the Tour de France in the fall that took out João Almeida from the race, and then at the Vuelta a España he simply didn’t have the form to perform.
He now races the Giro, switching things up. Martínez on the other hand is set to race the Tour de France, which comes as a logical choice for the Frenchman, specially after his strong 2025 season with multiple wins. But this time around he should be joined by Antonio Tiberi, who would make his debut. The Italian has proven his Grand Tour abilities at the 2024 Giro but hasn’t had luck on his side since, abandoning the 2024 Vuelta with a heat stroke and crashing out of GC contention in the second week of this year’s race.
He’s got six Grand Tours under his belt but no Tour, and at age 24 it is the natural progression. Alongside him, it is expected that Damiano Caruso (who recently signed a new contract with the team) would also make the trip to France to support Tiberi, as has been happening for several years now. In addition to these men, the team has to decide where to have Pello Bilbao and Matej Mohoric in the three-week races next season as priorities.
Antonio Tiberi should make his Tour de France debut in 2026. @Sirotti