Giro d'Italia Women 2026: Vollering completes the set

A flying (and false) start

The 37th Giro d'Italia Women set off from the seaside town of Cesenatico, home of the late Marco Pantani, on 30 May, covering 1,130.1 kilometres over nine stages to Saluzzo in Piedmont. The race opened with a shock: star sprinter Lorena Wiebes was disqualified after stage 1 because her bike was twenty grams under the minimum weight limit.

Niedermaier versus Vollering

In the mountains, German climber Antonia Niedermaier emerged as Demi Vollering's biggest rival. The young Canyon//SRAM leader defended superbly for days, while Elisa Balsamo racked up points for the purple jersey on home roads and Isabella Holmgren dominated the young rider classification.

The Saluzzo comeback

The race wasn't decided until the very last day. In a scintillating finale Vollering snatched back the maglia rosa to win the Giro by 30 seconds from Niedermaier, with Anna van der Breggen completing the podium at 1'37". Vollering also took the mountains classification and became only the second woman after Annemiek van Vleuten to win all three Grand Tours — Giro, Tour and Vuelta.

Two months later she completed the double at the Tour de France Femmes. Earlier that spring, La Vuelta Femenina had already been won in surprise fashion by Paula Blasi.