Political turmoil in Bulgaria and a growing fight over participation fees have cast a cloud over the Giro d’Italia’s planned 2026 Grande Partenza.
Kristof Ramon
The 2026 Giro d’Italia’s proposed start in Bulgaria is facing a number of serious problems, with the Grande Partenza thrown into some doubt due to the collapse of the Bulgarian government, while competing teams are currently in a major dispute with the race organisers over participation fees.
For the second time in as many years, the Giro is set to begin in the Balkans. After three days in Albania in 2025, the 2026 season’s first Grand Tour is going even further east.
According to the Giro’s promotional leaflets and press releases, the 2026 start in Bulgaria will “cross borders, explore new horizons and build lasting connections.” The 23 teams participating have taken a notably different view.
Stage one, on May 8, will begin on the Black Sea shoreline in Nessebar. As the crow flies, that’s some 850km from mainland Italy’s easternmost point. Only the start in Israel in 2018 was further away from the race’s homeland.
According to local journalists, the organiser of the Giro, RCS, is set to receive €12.5mm from the Bulgarian government for the rights to stage the start of the race. But last week, just 20 days before the country joins the eurozone, nationwide protests centred on a controversial budget and government corruption toppled the sitting government and its prime minister. It’s unclear if the subsequent government will support the Giro’s impending arrival.
To make matters worse for RCS, it is involved in an ongoing row with teams over how much they should be remunerated for the significant extra travel. According to one team official, the latest offer from RCS is “showing us no respect at all.”
What’s the problem?
Starting a Grand Tour on foreign soil has become increasingly common in recent years, despite the International Cycling Union’s (UCI) environmental pledges, and in spite of the governing body’s president, David Lappartient, promising to limit such events to one a year among all three Grand Tours. That, evidently, has not happened: in 2026, the Giro will start in Bulgaria; the Tour de France in Spain; and the Vuelta a España in Monaco.
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