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Stephen Farrand

Why is it a rest day in the Giro d'Italia? Bulgaria stages add 1,000km transfer and late night for peloton

Guillermo Thomas Silva of Uruguay and Team XDS Astana rides past a field of flowers in the pink jersey.

The 2026 Giro d'Italia covers 3,468km of racing, but riders and teams faced a huge extra logistical challenge and an extra 1,000km transfer on Sunday evening to get from the start in Bulgaria to Italy.

Stage 3 finished in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia on Sunday at 5pm local time, after which riders boarded charter flights to Lamezia Terme in southern Italy, about a half hour from where stage 4 starts in Catanzaro at 1:40 p.m. CEST on Tuesday.

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