Giro d'Italia 2026

 Thoughts on Giro d'Italia 2026

La Corsa Rosa 2026 was entertaining despite the domination of one rider. While you can only beat the guys who show up to race, the competition was rather thin, made worse by some riders plans being ruined through crashes or illness. Zio Lorenzo notes the winner's big rival won this race a couple of years ago (against stiffer opposition) by almost ten minutes, winning 6 stages and wearing the Maglia Rosa almost from start to finish.

But at least this guy seemed far less robotic than in the past, right? Lots of commenters thought so. Could he be maturing or just the thought of joining the 7 others who have won all three Grand Tours made him reveal some genuine emotions? I guess we'll see at the big race in July when he faces some REAL opposition.

We had a great time at the one stage we saw live along with the others we watched on TV from various locations during the three weeks. A few things stood out: Where did Afonso Eulalio come from? His teammate Damiano Caruso warned that he might be a factor but who could have predicted he'd get the leaders jersey at all, let alone hang onto it for as long as he did OR win the best young rider category? It was great to see old-guy Caruso sheparding him through the Sicilian's final Giro before he takes over DS duties for the team next season. There should be a best old rider category too. Why not?

While some of the racing was formulaic, some real tactics and passion were seen in the victories of Alberto Bettiol, Alec Segaert, Davide Ballerini, Igor Arrieta and Paul Magnier and in the pursuit of the best climber's jersey by Giulio Ciccone. Sadly the other Giulio, as in Pellizzari got sick, but he made no excuses and helped his teammate and former winner Jai HIndley to 3rd place.

Some things are better left unmentioned like the money-grab start in Bulgaria, the farce of the Milan stage and that RCS honcho parading around like Napoleon, but one thing sticks in Zio's mind and has him scratching his bald head - when did guys like Victor Campenaerts and Bart Lemmon become mountain goats in the Visma train?

Sepp Kuss and Davide Piganzoli Zio can understand - those guys are climbers employed to shepherd their leader uphill at speeds competitors struggle to match, then peel off to just beat the time limit at the stage finish. And even though both of those guys did much more, Kuss winning a stage and Piganzoli almost grabbing the Maglia Bianca, WTF were these other guys doing up there?

The last time Zio remembers something this odd was back when Frankie Andreu was doing something similar for BigTex and his own wife asked "What the hell are YOU doing up there? You're no climber!" We now know how that happened and watching Visma riders don baseball hats with RABOBANK on them conjures up some bad thoughts...thoughts Zio hopes are just that and not a return to the bad old daze.

Is Zio Lorenzo the only won wondering about this?

W Il Giro!