Updated May 11, 2026 10:42AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Giro d\u2019Italia<\/a> is not racing Monday, but no one in the peloton is resting.<\/p>\n After three opening routine but ultimately costly stages<\/a> in Bulgaria, the 2026 Giro hits its first of three rest days, but it comes after a massive transfer back to Italy that leaves most riders a bit peeved off.<\/p>\n \u201cI would rather have avoided the travel,\u201d Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> told Feltet.dk<\/em><\/a>. \u201cI have brought my mask and hand sanitizer.\u201d<\/p>\n The Giro\u2019s three-stage grande partenza<\/em> \u2014 or the \u201cbig start\u201d \u2014 in Bulgaria is already wrapped in controversy, with a nasty, high-speed crash Saturday<\/a> drawing criticism from teams and riders about unsafe racing conditions.<\/p>\n Several top riders were forced to abandon<\/a>, including three top names from UAE Emirates-XRG, with pre-race podium favorite Adam Yates<\/a> out of the race even before it hits Italian roads.<\/p>\n And if that\u2019s not enough, the entire Giro entourage packed up Sunday and trundled off to Italy.<\/p>\n At least the riders flew from Sofia to southern Italy on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n Team staffers and equipment faced a far more draining trek.<\/p>\n Bikes and race infrastructure were packed into trucks and buses, and crossed borders and traveled more than 1,500km by road and ferry.<\/p>\n The transfer stretched to nearly 24 hours before everything is rebuilt ahead of Tuesday\u2019s restart.<\/p>\n Or at least that\u2019s the plan.<\/p>\n Why do organizers push grand tours so far beyond \u201chome roads?\u201d<\/p>\n There is hype of expanding the global reach of the sport and growing cycling\u2019s audience, but everyone knows the real reason: money.<\/p>\n The Giro reportedly received around 10 million euros to kick things off in Bulgaria, the latest in a string of foreign starts that are reshaping grand tour racing and pushing the boundaries of how far a race can go.<\/p>\n Recent editions rolled out from Budapest in 2022 and Albania in 2025, and there\u2019s talk of bringing the Giro to such far-flung sites as the United Arab Emirates or even North America.<\/p>\n Foreign starts are a bonanza for grand tour operators, and everyone\u2019s jumped on the bandwagon.<\/p>\n The Tour de France<\/a> kicks off in Barcelona this July, and the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a will launch from Monaco, and both races have copied the Giro\u2019s push into new lucrative markets.<\/p>\n These \u201cbig starts\u201d might be headaches for teams and riders, but they deliver big profits for race organizers.<\/p>\n Hosting fees can reach into the tens of millions, with the ASO deal for the 2027 Tour start in the UK reportedly topping 20 million euros.<\/p>\n Over the past 30 years, foreign starts have become a key part of the funding puzzle for grand tours, something that\u2019s accelerated in the past decade in both scope and distance.<\/p>\n Transfers, of course, are part of any grand tour, and there are often internal flights and long bus trips within the borders of France, Spain, or Italy as well.<\/p>\n After stage 20 in the northern mountains, the Giro will transfer again to Rome for the final sprint stage.<\/p>\n To accommodate the longer distances, the UCI allows a third rest day for these foreign adventures.<\/p>\n And race organizers usually book-end the foreign transfers with relatively short and uncomplicated stages.<\/p>\n But teams and riders are not happy to see race organizers stuff their pockets while they pay the logistical and physical price without sharing a piece of the larger financial pie.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, these long-distance \u201crest days\u201d are closer to a test of nerves and stamina for team staffers than anything relaxing.<\/p>\nBig money behind the \u2018Big Start\u2019<\/h2>\n
A logistical puzzle<\/h2>\n
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