Here we are: the 2026 Giro d'Italia finally has its full roster. The organizers of the Corsa Rosa have officially announced the 23 teams that will start on May 8th in Nessebar, Bulgaria, and conclude on May 31st beneath the monuments of Rome. And among the most anticipated news is the one cycling fans have been waiting for: the Unibet Rose Rockets will participate in their first Grand Tour.

As per the rules, the 18 WorldTour teams automatically qualify, while the five ProTeams present at the start were still a question mark until a few hours ago. The Giro d'Italia was the last of the three Grand Tours to reveal its full roster for 2026, and it did so in a surprise that was decidedly welcomed by fans.

It's worth noting that the top three ProTeams in 2025 are automatically invited to all WorldTour events, but it appears that Cofidis has declined the invitation to the Corsa Rosa, leaving an extra wildcard spot to be filled. This is a prime opportunity in a year where wildcards have been the subject of heated discussion and controversy in the three Grand Tours.

The name that stands out among the Giro's wildcards is undoubtedly that of the Unibet Rose Rockets . The Dutch team, despite boasting several Grand Tour stage winners, was excluded from the Tour de France last month—a decision that sparked mixed reactions in the cycling world—with the French organizers preferring the Spanish team Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. This time, however, they received a well-deserved revenge.

A Grand Tour debut opens up exciting prospects for fantasy cycling as well: pay particular attention to Dylan Groenewegen , one of the best pure sprinters in the peloton, and Wout Poels , a highly experienced climber ready to make a difference in the mountain stages. Both will have the chance to show off their skills in front of the Italian crowd and could represent highly valuable options on fantasy rosters at still-low prices.

Among the other ProTeams present, it's no surprise that Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber and Polti-VisitMalta have confirmed their participation, two traditionally Italian teams that almost always attend the Corsa Rosa. Swiss teams Tudor Pro Cycling and Pinarello-Q36.5 have also accepted their automatic invitations as they are among the top ProTeams in the UCI rankings. Tudor already made headlines with Julian Alaphilippe's stage victory in 2024, while Polti-VisitMalta made a strong impression in 2023 thanks to Davide Bais on the Gran Sasso.

The 23 teams at the start of the 2026 Giro d'Italia:

Alpecin-Premier Tech (WT) — Bahrain Victorious (WT) — Decathlon CMA CGM (WT) — EF Education-EasyPost (WT) — Groupama-FDJ United (WT) — Ineos Grenadiers (WT) — Lidl-Trek (WT) — Lotto Intermarché (WT) — Movistar (WT) — NSN Cycling (WT) — Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe (WT) — Soudal-QuickStep (WT) — Jayco AlUla (WT) — Picnic PostNL (WT) — Visma-Lease a Bike (WT) — UAE Team Emirates-XRG (WT) — Uno-X Mobility (WT) — XDS Astana (WT) — Caja Rural-Seguros RGA (PRT) – wildcard — Cofidis (PRT) – automatic invitation — Pinarello-Q36.5 (PRT) – automatic invitation — TotalEnergies (PRT) – wildcard — Tudor Pro Cycling (PRT) – automatic invitation .

For fantasy football managers, the arrival of the Unibet Rose Rockets could reshuffle the cards: carefully monitoring the prices of Groenewegen and Poels at auctions could prove to be a winning investment for the 2026 Corsa Rosa.