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There are races that pave the way towards a great future. This is the case of the Giro d’Italia Next Gen – Reggio Calabria combination, because it is precisely from here that the race dedicated to the greatest under-23 talents in world cycling will start.
Departure on June 14th, Sunday, at 12.30pm from Piazza Duomo. The Calabrian shore of the Strait will therefore host the start, the first stage of the largest road cycling competition in the world reserved for the under 23 category.
Among the most anticipated riders at the start are the world champion Lorenzo Mark Finn, the Frenchman Aubin Sparfel, the Belgians Matisse Van Kerckhove and Matteo Vanhuffel, and the Brazilian Henrique Bravo. To get to know them, meet on Saturday 13 June at 6.30 pm, again in Piazza Duomo, for the public presentation of the 27 participating teams.
Once again the beauties of our territory will meet the international two-wheel circuit.
STAGE 1: REGGIO CALABRIA-VIBO VALENTIA (168 km), with a suggestive route that will cross the entire Ionian coast of the metropolitan area, passing from the Grecanica area to Locride, and then heading towards the Tyrrhenian Sea through the Serre.
It starts from Reggio Calabria and ends on June 21st in L’Aquila, after eight stages, 1088.2 km and 14,850 meters of altitude difference.
The race dedicated to the greatest talents in world cycling will be broadcast live on the Discovery+ and HBO Max on-demand platforms. RAI will tell the national audience about each day of the race with a 60-minute daily summary broadcast on RaiSport HD. The times will be communicated in detail day by day.
The fight for the pink jersey
Despite the crash at the Tour of the Alps, Lorenzo Mark Finn is announced at the start and will bring the rainbow jersey back to the Giro Next Gen, 20 years after Dmytro Grabovskyy. The Red Bull – Bora Hansgrohe – Rookies rider is one of the big favorites for the final success. Among the main rivals we find Henrique Bravo, recent winner of the Tour of Antalya and Oberosterreich Rundfahrt, the Bahrain Development Team pair formed by Kasper Borremans and Jan Jackowiak, the Dutchman Daan Dijkman, winner of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23, the Frenchman Remi Daumas, in evidence at the Ronde de l’Isard, the Belgian Kamiel Eeman, winner of the Corsa della Pace, and his compatriot Matisse Van Kerckhove, who won the Alpes Isere Tour. In addition to Finn, the entry list includes two other riders capable of entering the top 10 of the 2025 edition: Matteo Vanhuffel (8th) and Matteo Scalco (9th).
Stage hunters
In the 2026 path there are also many opportunities for those who will not directly take care of the general classification, but who will hunt for partial successes. After having conquered the points classification in 2025, Aubin Sparfel returns to the Giro Next Gen. The transalpine from the Decathlon CMA CGM Development Team has already won the Tour de Bretagne twice and will have the many undulating stages on the program as his main objective. Two stage winners of the 2025 edition have also been announced at the start: Adam Rafferty and Seth Dunwoody. The list of the fastest riders at the start is led by the Italian Davide Donati, already successful with the professionals and winner of the Paris-Roubaix category. In addition to the Red Bull Rookies standard bearer, Patrick Frydkjaer, Mirko Bozzola, Aldo Taillieu, Davide Stella and Halvor Dolven are announced. Among the stage hunters, on mixed routes, we should mention Jack Ward, Mattia Negrente, Jesper Stiansen, Tommaso Bambagioni, Jasper Schoofs, Riccardo Lorello, Patryk Goszczurny and Cameron Rogers.