The Giro d'Italia 2026 is still four months away, but in the meantime, as teams are progressively finalizing their calendars, the picture of who will definitely be there and who might skip the May event is already taking shape.

In this regard, the most relevant news that has emerged in recent hours is the absence of the Corsa Rosa from Cofidis's plans for the next season. According to the information published on their website, in May the team has scheduled Eschborn-Frankfurt, Grand Prix du Morbihan, Tour de Hongrie, Tour du Finistère, Boucles de l'Aulne, Classique Dunkerque, 4 Jours de Dunkerque, Antwerp Port Epic, and Boucles de la Mayenne, but not the Giro, for which, according to the new UCI rules, the French team could have automatically claimed their right to participate (like Pinarello-Q36.5 and Tudor) based on their final ranking in last year's UCI standings.

However, based on their public announcement, Cofidis seems intent on pursuing other paths next May, seeking points and successes in domestic races rather than in the Italian stage race. If their withdrawal is confirmed, this would free up space for another team directly invited by the organizers.

But who could benefit from this wild card? Looking through the list of ProTeam teams (the only ones who can receive such an opportunity) and excluding Bardiani CSF 7 Saber and Polti-VisitMalta (which would likely receive the first two invitations as Italian teams), it quickly becomes clear that only five teams remain in contention: Burgos Burpellet BH, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Equipo Kern Pharma, TotalEnergies, and Unibet Rose Rockets.

Trying to get into the organizers' mindset and identify the reasons that might favor one team over another, the team of Jean-René Bernaudeau would be the best-placed among the five in the 2025 team classification and the only one with previous participation in the Corsa Rosa (last in 2014 when it was still called Europcar).

However, Caja Rural, Burgos, and Unibet, despite lacking experience on the Giro's roads, could offer the presence of an Italian rider in their roster (respectively Davide Oldani, Lorenzo Quartucci, and Sergio Meris). This factor, especially when examining the potential candidacy of the teams led by Juan Manuel Hernandez Esquisabel and Bas Tietema, would be added to two other aspects that could potentially weigh in their favor for the third wild card: in the case of the Iberians, the possibility of fielding a current Olympic track champion (Iúri Leitão) alongside a previous Giro stage winner like Fernando Gaviria, and for the French team, the significant media exposure the race would gain by their participation.

There are thus multiple reasons that, if the additional invitation is confirmed, could guide RCS's decision-making process, from which Solution Tech-Nippo-Rali, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Flanders-Baloise, and Novo Nordisk will certainly be excluded, as they finished outside the top 30 of the UCI ranking in 2025.