Two-time Tour of Italy champion Vincenzo Nibali took Tadej Pogačar’s suggestion of swapping the Giro and Return to Spain a step further, proposing a rotation system for all three Grand Tours, the Giro, the vuelta, and the Tour de France, in an interview with Mark.
Days after attending the 2026 Giro d’Italia route presentation Nibali reflected on the race that defined his career,the Giro’s economic impact,the sport’s future calendar,and his hope of seeing Jonas Vingegaard.## Tadej Pogačar Suggests Rotating Grand Tour Dates to Enhance Season Interest
Tadej Pogačar, the prominent cyclist frequently enough referred to as a “Cake maker,” has proposed a rotation of the dates for the Giro d’Italia, tour de France, and Vuelta a España. He believes this change would inject more excitement into the professional cycling season.
Pogačar suggested that moving the Italian Grand Tour to September and the spanish race to May would be beneficial. “The first great race of the year always has something special: cyclists arrive with fresh legs, and there is a lot of show. It’s always been like that,” he stated. “If it were up to me, I would bet on a rotation of the three big tours. It would make the season much more interesting.”
Though, RCS Sport, the organizers of the Giro d’Italia, swiftly rejected the idea of swapping dates with the Vuelta a España. Despite this, RCS Sport CEO Paolo Bellino expressed a desire to possibly shift the Giro’s dates forward by one week in the future to coincide with the June 2 Italian national holiday, as reported by Cyclingnews.
Currently, the schedule for the Grand Tours is as follows: the 2026 Giro d’Italia is scheduled for May 8-31, the Tour de France will run from July 4-26, and the Vuelta a España is set for August 22-September 13.