On Wednesday 14 October 2026 the 89th Giro del Veneto and the 2nd Veneto Women are run. Both races start from piazza Bra in Verona and finish in Vicenza, on viale X Giugno, on Monte Berico. The women arrive in late morning, the men around 17. The difference lies in the passages: the women tackle the final circuit once, the men five times.
The two races on Wednesday 14 October
The Giro del Veneto leaves Verona at 12:30. The first 60 km are all flat: San Martino Buon Albergo, Belfiore, Cologna Veneta, Orgiano. The first climb comes at Barbarano Vicentino, with the summit at km 66. Then the peloton enters the Vicenza circuit.
The circuit is a 15 km loop and the men ride it five times, 75 km in all. Every lap includes the ramp up to the Santuario di Monte Berico, and five passages mean five chances to attack. The race awards points for the 2026 Coppa Italia delle Regioni and Rai 2 shows it live from 15:30.
The Veneto Women is a UCI 1.1 WE race. The women ride the circuit just once and the finish line is halfway up the Monte Berico climb. That changes how the race is ridden. For the women Monte Berico is the finale, and anyone who wants to win has to reach it at the front. For the men it is a repeated test.
The organiser is PP Sport Events, as part of the Ride the Dreamland project led by Filippo Pozzato. On the streets of Vicenza the parking ban runs from 8:30 to 21. From 10:30 viale Riviera Berica, viale Sant’Agostino and viale X Giugno close to traffic, one after another. Giorgio Ronchi, of the general management of PP Sport Events, speaks of “a truly special day”.
For Leone Zilio, sports councillor of the Comune di Vicenza, the finish on Monte Berico is “an iconic moment of cycle races in the city”.
Monte Berico in numbers
It is not a long climb. Monte Berico is a 0.83 km ramp with 75 m of elevation gain: average gradient 9.3%, maximum 11%. The road starts at an altitude of about 44 m.
These numbers allow us to estimate the climbing time. The calculation is ours, using a physics model: a 70 kg rider, around 77 kg with the bike, dry asphalt, no wind. At 20-22 km/h the climb takes about 2’15”-2’30”. Holding those speeds takes about 6.3-7 W/kg.
Monte Berico is not the climb that makes the difference on the first passage. It lasts a few minutes, and a rider with energy gets up it without paying for it. The repetition is what hurts. On the fifth passage the men already have the previous four in their legs and a long distance from Verona. To drop everyone there, a figure close to the top end of that range is probably needed, about 7 W/kg for more than two minutes, after hours of racing. Whoever does not have that number must try earlier, on one of the intermediate passages, and reach the top with a margin.
The rest of the circuit matters as much as the ramp. The loop is 15 km and the ramp takes up less than one of them: the remaining 14 km or so serve to recover, regroup and prepare for the next lap. A rider who attacks at the top has little time to build a gap before the peloton comes back together.
For the women the sums are simpler: a single ramp and a finish line halfway up the climb. What counts here is who gets there with fresh legs and in the right position.
The men to beat at the Giro del Veneto
Seven WorldTour teams are on the start line. Brandon McNulty, of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, wears number 1 because he is the world champion, fresh from the title won in Montréal. In the team he has two other men for the finale: Benoît Cosnefroy with number 3 and Tim Wellens with number 6. With three cards to play, UAE can attack with one and wait with the others.
Tudor respond with Mathys Rondel and Marc Hirschi. Pinarello Q36.5 count on Quinten Hermans. Jonas Abrahamsen, of Uno-X Mobility, finished third in 2025 and knows the race.
Last year’s roll of honour is the fact that weighs most. In 2025 Isaac Del Toro won, ahead of Pavel Sivakov and Abrahamsen. Del Toro is not on the start list. If he does not start, the race loses its defending winner and the balance between the teams shifts.
Five passages over the same ramp favour whoever has a team. A lone rider, however strong, has to spend energy to close down every attempt. A team with three men can put one to work and keep the others fresh for the last lap.
The favourites for the Veneto Women
The organiser’s start list says 105 starters in 18 teams, out of 117 entered. UAE Team L’Imad are the strongest team on paper. They have Persico, Longo Borghini, Garcia, Gasparrini, Swinkels, Amialiusik and Silo. It is a line-up that can play several cards and does not depend on a single pair of legs.
Among their rivals are Reusser, of Movistar, and Realini, of Lidl-Trek. Then Vigilia, of Uno-X Mobility, and Rüegg, of EF Education-Oatly. The Italian teams are Top Girls Fassa Bortolo, Vini Fantini-BePink, Biesse-Carrera-Premac and Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria.
The precedent is the first edition, in 2025, of 115.9 km from Vicenza to Verona. Silvia Persico won it alone, ahead of Reusser and Gasparrini. Longo Borghini was fifth. This year the route runs in the opposite direction and finishes on Monte Berico, but last year’s first three are on the start line again.
Persico and Gasparrini ride for the same team, UAE Team L’Imad, and that changes the game: if one of them goes in a breakaway, the other can stay in the bunch and mark. Reusser, second in 2025, has Movistar instead and must find her own way to the finish line alone.
The Italians on the start line and the rest of the week
Among the men the attention is on Christian Scaroni, number 61 of XDS Astana. With him in the team are Diego Ulissi and Simone Velasco. Matteo Trentin rides for Tudor, Alessandro Fancellu for MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort. XDS Astana have three Italians on the start line and can play their home race with more than one card.
At Tudor, Trentin rides alongside Rondel and Hirschi.
Among the women, the Italians are the four home teams and the UAE Team L’Imad riders: Persico, Longo Borghini and Gasparrini. With so many WorldTour teams ahead of them, a perfect day is needed to stay with the best.
14 October opens the Ride the Dreamland week, which runs until 18 October. On 16 October there is the Serenissima Gravel, on the 17th the VENEtoGO ride. The 18th closes with the Veneto Classic.
Sources
- Comune di Vicenza, “Giro del Veneto and Veneto Woman on 14 October: grand finales in Vicenza with the circuits at Monte Berico”.
- Giro del Veneto, “Route”.
- Veneto Women, “Route”.
- UAE Team ADQ, “Silvia Persico ends her season in style with victory at Veneto Women”.
- Photo: Hugo LUC, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; adapted by la fagIAnata.
Written with the help of Mnemosyne.