The most important information about the 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2026
- Tuesday, 26 May: Bellinzona - Carì
- 113 kilometres, 3000 vertical metres (mountain finish)
- 5 mountain classifications: KM 32.2 (3rd Cat), KM 43.5 (2nd Cat), KM 54.2 (3rd Cat), KM 65.5 (2nd Cat), KM 113 (1st Cat)
- Intermediate sprint KM 74.7
- Red Bull Kilometres: KM 100.6
- Start: 13:45, finish: approx. 17:14
- Live ticker and results
The route of the 16th stage of the Tour of Italy
After the third and final rest day of the Giro, the tour makes another leap across the border into Switzerland. The entire 16th stage will be held in Switzerland.
The stage begins in Bellinzona, not far from the border with Italy and Lake Maggiore, and heads straight north on slightly uphill terrain into the Blenio Valley. A 22-kilometre circuit awaits the peloton there, which has to be completed twice. The route includes two mountain prizes in Torre (3rd category) and after an eight-kilometre descent in Leontica (2nd category).
Once the laps have been completed, the route first heads south before turning off into the Gotthard Valley. Up to Faido, the number of metres in altitude only increases slowly but steadily. Then, however, almost twelve kilometres with an average gradient of eight per cent await until the mountain arrival in the holiday resort of Carì. In the lower section, one hairpin bend follows the next; in the upper section, the bends become slightly less. However, it also gets steeper, with a maximum gradient of up to 13 per cent.
In total, there are only 113 kilometres to complete. This makes the 16th stage the second shortest of the entire tour after the time trial.
Sporting assessment of the 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2026
Carì is completely new to the Giro programme. However, the Tour de Suisse has already been here twice. Most recently in 2024 with Adam Yates as the winner. If the UAE captain were still in the race, the steady final climb would be one for him.
Once again, however, everything favours Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) as the stage winner, who has won all three mountain finishes of the Tour of Italy so far. After the rest day, the favourites for the classification are well rested and the breakaway riders will be looking ahead to the following day, which is more interesting for a breakaway group.
Because the battle for the mountain jersey has also been fought out and the jersey will presumably also go to Vingegaard, mass attacks are not to be expected, although the points would be comparatively easy to collect on this lap. And so the decision will once again be made in the last five or six kilometres.
