When former Giro d’Italia winner Jai Hindley was asked to give his thoughts on La Corsa Rosa starting in Bulgaria in 2026 back in December, all he could come up with in the way of a description was “pretty random,” and for the next five months until the actual start, that felt appropriate.
2,000km from the race’s home nation, and yes, with some established cycling culture in the way of bike touring, but its lack of involvement in the professional ranks and uncertainties over road quality and the painfully long transfers – some 550km to cover in the three days – made it questionable as a choice. That is not to disrespect the 2.2 Tour of Bulgaria stage race, but without a Continental team or any male pros in the current peloton, the link between Bulgaria and the Giro was hard to see.
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Lidl car parks and fan-lined roads
Before these past seven days, all I knew about Bulgaria was Hristo Stoichkov and the party destination Sunny Beach, but there’s much more to be seen.
James Moultrie
James is on the ground covering the first two weeks of the Giro d’Italia for Cyclingnews, and his second foreign Grande Partenza in as many years after a trip to Albania last May.
Arriving in Burgas airport five days prior on a fairly empty evening WizzAir flight didn’t exactly fill me with the feeling that the buzz for Giro was coming to Eastern Europe, but a small pink banner for the race in arrivals was a small sign of the madness to come.
As was the taxi driver,…
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