The 2026 Giro d'Italia Women will be the 37th edition of the Giro d'Italia Women, a women's road cycling stage race in Italy. The race will take place from 30 May â 7 June and will be the 19th event of the 2026 UCI Women's World Tour calendar. The race will be organised by RCS Sport, which also organise the men's Giro d'Italia.
The race has moved to June from its traditional July date â and will start on the same weekend as the finish of the men's race. The race previously had to compete for attention with the more famous men's , and organisers had previously stated that they wished to move the calendar position of the race, so that the race is not overshadowed. Compared to other races in the UCI Women's World Tour, more ranking points will be awarded at the Giro d'Italia Women, Tour de France Femmes and the Vuelta Femenina â elevating these races in status.
In December 2025, the route was announced by organisers RCS Sport. It will comprise nine days of racing with nine stages, covering a total of with of elevation gain. The race will start in Cesenatico, Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, before heading north through the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions, before heading west through the Trentino, Lombardy and Piedmont regions. The race will finish in Saluzzo, Piedmont.
The race will have two summit finishes, with a uphill time trial between Belluno and in the Veneto region on stage 4, and a summit finish in Sestriere following the classic climb of Colle delle Finestre on stage 8. The Colle delle Finestre climb is in length with an average gradient of 9.2%, with the final of the climb on gravel roads. As the highest climb of the race, the first rider to pass Colle delle Finestre () will be awarded the "Cima Alfonsina Strada" â a prize named after Italian cyclist Alfonsina Strada, who took part in the men's Giro dâÂÂItalia in 1924.
The race returned to 9 stages in length, and will be the longest edition of the Giro d'Italia Women since the of the race. As with the previous editions, the route required a waiver from the Union Cycliste Internationale, as Women's WorldTour races have a maximum race length of six days.
Reacting to the route, Rouleur stated that the "iconic climb" of Colle delle Finestre "makes clear just how demanding this route is" and that "pink jersey may not be decided until the very last minute" owing to the "mountainous back-loaded route". Cycling News called the route "really tough", summarising that a "lowkey start builds to a big crescendo with the Colle delle Finestre, a tough stage in the Dolomites, and a challenging uphill [time trial]". 2024 and 2025 winner Elisa Longo Borghini stated that she "really [likes] the route" and that "we needed an iconic climb like the Colle delle Finestre", and it "will decide the 2026 Giro Women".