Date: Saturday, May 16
Distance: 156km
Start location: Chieti
Finish location: Fermo
Start time: 12:15 BST / 13:15 CEST / 07:15 EDT
Finish time (approx.): 16:15 BST / 17:15 CEST / 11:15 EDT
The Giro d’Italia moved across the spine of Italy on stage seven from west to east, but it’s on stage eight where the peloton will get its first glimpse of the Adriatic Sea. The 156km stage from Cheti to Fermo is flat for the first half before a series of lumps starting with 50km to go – one category 3 climb followed by three category 4 and an uncategorised rise to the Red Bull KM. It represents the perfect terrain for a breakaway, but with ramps of up to 22% in the final 5km, only a rider with a punch on the climbs will be able to win. Could we even see some gaps on the general classification in the finale?
Giro d'Italia 2026 stage eight profile
Giro d'Italia 2026 stage eight profile (RCS)
Contenders
Usually the main contender for a stage like this would be a rider like Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), but the Italian finished seventh on the stage seven to Blockhaus and could still be harbouring GC ambitions. It might also mean he won’t get leeway to go in the day’s break.
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) won on the first summit finish of the race and although the Dane will likely just be trying to get through stage eight unscathed, if things did come back together, he would be a favourite in a finale like this. He already showed a willingness to attack on the punchy finish on stage two.
If Vingegaard attacks, expect to see all the GC contenders try and follow. The most punchy of his rivals so far appears to be Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who may have lost time on both Vingegaard and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) on Blockhaus, but is well suited to the Fermo finish.
What is more likely is that the punchy riders who lost time on Blockhaus will start looking to get into breakaways to grab a stage win. This includes the likes of Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) who has already shown he has a strong kick. As does Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché).
Christen’s teammates Jhonatan Narváez and Igor Arrieta have already won stages at the race, Narváez using his sprint on stage four and Arrieta surviving a crash and detour to win stage five. XDS Astana also have two stage wins, through Guillermo Thomas Silva, taking the pink jersey on stage two, and Davide Ballerini, claiming the messy sprint in Naples. Their teammates Christian Scaroni and eight-time Giro stage winner Diego Ulissi are also a threat for the stage.
Another team on two wins is Soudal Quick-Step and although sprint star Paul Magnier won’t be able to add to his wins on such a lumpy finish, they do have the gutsy Gianmarco Garofoli.
Also look out for Koen Bouwman (Jayco AlUla), Gianni Moscon (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Michael Valgren and Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), Alec Segaert (Bahrain-Victorious) Lorenzo Milesi and Javier Romo (Movistar Team), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and Florian Stork (Tudor Pro Cycling Team).
Prediction
We think Jan Christen will use his punch to win stage eight of the Giro.
