The 109th Giro d’Italia, the annual three-week race across Italy known as the Corsa Rosa (the Pink Race, named for the pink jersey worn by the overall leader), starts on May 8, 2026, in Nessebar, Bulgaria, with Colombia sending three riders across three different squads: Egan Bernal with INEOS Grenadiers, Santiago Buitrago with Bahrain Victorious, and Einer Rubio with Movistar Team, in what amounts to one of the country’s most distributed but competitive presences at the race in recent years.
Colombia’s pink-and-Colombian tradition at the Giro runs deep. Bernal won the 2021 edition, Nairo Quintana finished on the podium twice, and Colombian climbers have consistently shaped the race’s mountain stages since the 1980s, giving the three 2026 starters a historical weight that extends well beyond their individual roster positions.
Movistar builds around Rubio in the mountains
Movistar Team announced its eight-rider roster on May 5, led by Spanish climber Enric Mas, who makes his Giro debut with ambitions for a high overall classification finish, and supported in the high mountain stages by Einer Augusto Rubio, a 27-year-old from Boyacá riding his sixth Giro d’Italia with the squad. Rubio does not carry the captain’s role, but Movistar’s selection of him specifically for a race with multiple summit finishes signals that the team expects the Colombian’s climbing ability to protect Mas on the hardest days, particularly on the Blockhaus stage and the Alpine crossings scheduled for the final week.
Worth noting: Nairo Quintana, the Boyacá climber who gave Movistar two Giro podium finishes in 2013 and 2014, does not appear in the confirmed roster, a gap that marks a clear generational shift in how the Spanish team deploys its pink-and-Colombian assets at the race.
Bernal and Buitrago arrive as leaders
Egan Bernal, the 2021 Giro champion, returns to the race with INEOS Grenadiers as one of the team’s primary general classification options alongside Dutch rider Thymen Arensman, and his presence alone raises Colombia’s profile at the start line in Nessebar, given that he remains one of the few riders in the peloton (the main group of cyclists in a stage race) with a confirmed pink jersey on his résumé. Bernal’s 2021 victory came after a dominant performance in the mountains and a time trial gain that cemented his lead; the question for 2026 is whether, after his severe injury in January 2022, the Zipaquirá-born rider can sustain three weeks of grand tour pace against a field that also includes pre-race favorites Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel.
Santiago Buitrago, 25 years old and from Cúcuta, leads Bahrain Victorious at the Giro for the third time in his career, carrying the squad’s full general classification ambitions after establishing himself in recent seasons as one of the most consistent Colombian stage racers outside the WorldTour’s top three teams.
What three starters mean for Colombia’s cycling season
Colombia’s three-rider spread across INEOS Grenadiers, Bahrain Victorious, and Movistar reflects a broader truth about Colombian cycling in 2026: the country no longer concentrates its Giro representation in a single marquee name but distributes it across riders at different career stages and different team hierarchies, which reduces the all-or-nothing pressure on any one result while keeping the national flag present in every major breakaway and summit finish.
The 21-stage race ends in Rome on May 31, and by the time the peloton crosses the final finish line, Colombia’s performance in the mountains will have told a clear story about whether Bernal’s return to grand tour leadership holds, whether Buitrago can crack the top five overall, and whether Rubio’s mountain work keeps Movistar competitive enough to challenge for a stage win before Italy.