Is Cycling’s 2026 Giro a Done Deal for Dane Jonas Vingegaard?

by Roy Brindley, 7 May 2026

Jonas Vingegaard is long odds-on to win the Giro d’Italia on his first attempt and complete the set of Grand Tours.

Jonas Vingegaard appears head and shoulders above his rivals in the Giro d’Italia. © Getty Images

Key Facts:

• Jonas Vingegaard is odds-on favourite to win this month’s Giro d’Italia.
• The 3,466-kilometre race starts in Bulgaria and concludes in Rome after 21 stages.
• Powerful UAE Team Emirates XRG is favourite to win the Team Classification.
• Red Bull’s Guilio Pellizzari is the obvious choice in the Young Rider Classification.

If the bookmakers are correct, two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard will soon complete a full house of Grand Tour victories. The diminutive Dane is quoted on prohibitively short odds to land the race he needs to complete the set, the Giro d’Italia, later this month.

The 2026 Giro d’Italia runs from Friday, May 8 to Sunday, May 31. The 3,468-kilometre race starts in the Bulgarian seaside city of Nessebar and will finish in Rome. In between, there are 21 days of racing, including a time trial and five mountain stages.

Vingegaard, the 2022 and 2023 Tour de France champion, will tackle the three-week ‘Giro’, the first of cycling’s three Grand Tours, for the first time this year. The 29-year-old, who rides for the Visma–Lease a Bike team, is top-priced 1/5. The odds suggest the contest should be a cakewalk for the specialist climber, who reportedly earns €5 million a year.

The winner of the third Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España, in September 2025, Vingegaard has started 2026 well with victories in the eight-stage Paris-Nice and the seven-stage Volta a Catalunya.

Will the Giro Favourite Avoid the Potholes?

In the absence of Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel, Primož Roglič, Juan Ayuso, teenaged sensation, Paul Seixas and other star names, surely only injury or illness will prevent Jonas Vingegaard from winning the 2026 Giro d’Italia.

Given the one-sided betting, punters will be relieved that there are more Giro d’Italia betting opportunities than just the outright win and place markets. Online betting sites also offer odds on the Team Classification, Points Classification, Young Rider Classification (under 25s), and King of the Mountains.

The Team Classification has been awarded every year since 1930. It is determined by combining the times of the top three riders from each team on each stage. At the end of the race, the team with the lowest total time collects this award.

Vingegaard may be a solid outright favourite, but his Visma–Lease a Bike team is quoted as 8/1 underdogs by William Hill and other betting sites in the Team Classification betting. UAE Team Emirates XRG took the distinction in 2025, and it is 11/10 to retain it in 2026.

What Are the Giro d’Italia’s Jerseys?

There are four jerseys in the Giro d’Italia. The race leader wears pink (Rosa). White (Bianco) is worn by the rider heading the Young Rider classification. Purple (Cyclamen) is reserved for the rider topping the Points Classification, and the Blue (Azzurra) jersey is donned by the rider heading the Mountains Classification.

Any one of the 184 riders, representing the 23 eight-rider teams, will be delighted to wear any of the jerseys just once. In their way, over the course of the race distance, stands 48,700 metres of elevation gain, 49 classified climbs, seven hilly and five mountainous stages.

Who Should Win What at the Giro?

Such is the superiority of Jonas Vingegaard that cycling betting sites quote the seven-time Grand Tour podium finisher on 1/2 odds to win three or more stages. He is 4/1 to win five or more stages.

UAE Team Emirates XRG has a powerful line-up, and it will be stage-hunting on the days when the peloton is not facing the mountainous terrain that Vingegaard relishes. Adam Yates, Jay Vine and Jan Christen – who has an outside chance in the Best Young Rider Classification – could all win stages for the squad.

Red Bull’s Guilio Pellizzari, who was sixth here last year and won a stage of the 2025 Vuelta a España, is the obvious choice in the Best Young Rider betting. Unfortunately, online betting sites offer just 1/6 odds about the Italian in this category.

In 2024 and 2025, four riders wore the Pink jersey. Five donned the vest in 2023. This time around, between one and three ‘pink wearing’ riders are priced at 5/2; four is 6/4, five is 11/4, and six is a 6/1 shot.

In a race featuring so many perceived ‘good things’, maybe those looking for an interest bet over the course of the three-week marathon might head to this market. Another bet proposition of interest is ‘total finishers’. The line is set at 154.5 with 10/11 odds about more or fewer crossing the line in Rome.