The Giro criticizes that the Tour has set dates without UCI approval

ASO and RCS Sport have opened a new front regarding the 2028 cycling calendar. The decision of the Tour de France to move its start date to June 24 to avoid coinciding with the Los Angeles Olympic Games has not been well received by the Giro d'Italia, which accuses the French organization of acting unilaterally and without consensus with the UCI.

The Giro criticizes the Tour for announcing its date “without international agreement”

The conflict arose this week when ASO confirmed that the 2028 Tour de France will start on June 24 from Reims. The goal is to minimize overlap with the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, whose opening ceremony is scheduled for July 14.

However, the Giro believes that this move was made without respecting the usual process for approving the international calendar. Paolo Bellino, CEO of RCS Sport, stated in comments to Domestique that the Italian organization considers it “inappropriate” for the Tour to announce dates before an official calendar approved by the UCI exists.

Bellino also reminded that the Giro has no intention of moving its position in the calendar any further and completely ruled out an April start.

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“We are in the position we have always been in, and we certainly cannot move to April,” explained the Italian leader.

The Giro wants to delay by a week starting in 2027

The situation is even more delicate because RCS has been trying for years to do precisely the opposite: to delay the Giro by a week within the international calendar.

The Italian organization believes that a later Giro would help reduce the risk of route modifications due to snow or bad weather in the high mountains, as well as allowing the Festa della Repubblica italiana on June 2 to always coincide with the race, just as the Tour usually coincides with the French Bastille Day.

According to Bellino, the request is already on the UCI's table for 2027, and they hope to finally get the green light: “We have been hearing for years that there would be no problem, so we hope that it can finally become a reality,” he stated.

If the Giro were to be delayed by a week and the Tour maintained its new earlier date, the gap between the two grand tours would be reduced to just two weeks.

The Olympic precedent already altered the calendar in 2021

This would not be the first time that the Olympic Games alter the calendar of the grand tours. In 2021, for example, the Tour also moved its start date forward by a week due to the Tokyo Games, leaving only four weeks between the Tour and the Giro.

On other occasions, the opposite has happened. In 2018, the Tour was held later to avoid coinciding with the World Cup, and that year there was a six-week difference between the two races.