Cycling
Giro d’Italia jerseys explained – and who’s wearing them in 2026
There's a veritable rainbow of apparel available to the riders of the Giro d'Italia, but what do they mean? We explain what it means to be wearing the pink, blue, purple or white jersey.
The Giro d’Italia is arguably the toughest of the three Grand Tours with an unforgiving course, brutal climbs and unpredictable conditions that can see riders battling a heatwave at the start of a stage and snow by its summit finish.
Wearing one of its four awarded jerseys is therefore a true marker of a rider’s abilities. But what is the difference between the pink, blue, purple and white jerseys? And how does each different competition work?
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What do the Giro d’Italia jerseys mean?
There are four jerseys up for grabs each year at the Giro d’Italia, and all are fiercely contested competitions that run for the Grand Tour’s full three weeks.
The pink (rosa) jersey is the most famous of the quartet and is worn by the leader of the general classification (the fastest cumulative time at the end of the previous day’s stage) – whoever is wearing this into the final stage in Rome on June 1 has claimed this year’s Giro d’Italia.
Roglič (in pink) alongside the other jersey wearers at Giro d’Italia 2025
© RCS Sports & Events/Red Bull Content Pool
The white (bianco)jersey works similarly to the pink in that it’s based on the fastest cumulative time, but it is for the best young rider and limited to riders aged 25 or under at the start of the year.
The blue (azzura)jersey is worn by the rider who has amassed the most king of the mountain points, and is therefore the race’s best climber.
The purple (ciclamino) jersey meanwhile is worn by the rider with the most points, which are awarded in intermediate sprints and stage finishes, making them the best sprinter.
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Pink jersey - General classification
The pink jersey is awarded to the leader of the Giro d’Italia’s general classification. The most important competition during the Italian Grand Tour, the wearer of the maglia rosa at the end of stage 21 is regarded to have won that year’s race.
This year, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe’s Guilio Pellizzari and Jai Hindley will form a two-pronged attack on the general classification. For Pellizzari, it will be the 22-year-old Italian’s third home Grand Tour, and he’ll be looking to build on his sixth-place finishes at 2025’s Giro and La Vuelta.
Hindley, meanwhile, is targeting his second career pink jersey, having won it once already in 2022 – securing Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe’s first Grand Tour victory in the process. The 2026 edition is the Australian’s sixth Giro, and with a second-place finish (2020) also in his palmares, he knows what it takes to finish on the Giro podium.
Roglič wore the pink jersey for two stages at the 2025 Giro d’Italia
© RCS Sports & Events/Red Bull Content Pool
An additional factor this year is the continuation of the Red Bull KM, an intermediate sprint section on every road stage apart from the finalé that awards up to six bonus seconds towards the fight for the pink jersey.
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Blue jersey - Mountains
The blue jersey is one of two points-based competitions run during the Giro d’Italia and favours the climbers. Points are awarded to those who cross the summit of each of the race’s categorised climbs in the leading group (from the first nine riders on Cimma Copi down to the first three riders on category four climbs), and the wearer of the blue jersey is the rider with the most accumulated points at the end of the previous day’s racing.
If either Pellizzari or Hindley’s GC bid falters, the strong climbers could turn their attention to competing for the mountains jersey – a contest that Pellizzari finished second in during his debut Giro in 2024.
Lennard Kämna celebrates his success in the mountains
© Michael Steele/Getty Images
With no King of the Mountains points available on stage 21, like the pink and white jerseys, this competition will be tied up on the Piancavallo summit finish of stage 20.
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Purple jersey - Points
The purple jersey is worn by the rider who has accumulated the most points over the race’s 21 stages. Points are awarded at the end of each road stage and during the intermediate sprints that take place during each day’s racing.
Wout van Aert wearing the purple jersey during the 2025 Giro d'Italia
© Kristof Ramon/Red Bull Content Pool
The number of points on offer changes depending on the parcours of each stage, with more up for grabs on flat and rolling stages than mountainous days with summit finishes. The contest therefore favours the sprinters in the peloton, with previous winners including Mark Cavendish, Pascal Ackermann and Peter Sagan – both Ackermann and Sagan victorious in the contest while riding for BORA - hansgrohe.
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White jersey - Best young rider
First introduced in 2007, the Giro’s white jersey works in the same way as the pink jersey and is awarded to the rider aged 25 or under at the start of the year with the lowest cumulative time.
Antonio Tiberi earned the white jersey in 2024
© Dario Belingheri/Getty Images
Although it’s the least fiercely contested of the race’s four jerseys, it can often be an indicator of riders with promising futures ahead of them, and in some instances can even be won by those in pink – as with Egan Bernal (2021) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (2020).
Guilio Pellizzari came second in the competition in 2025, finishing 5’ 32” behind its winner Isaac Del Toro (who finished second in the overall). As one of the only general classification contenders aged 25 or under, the Italian will be looking to go one better in 2026.
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FAQ – your Giro jersey questions answered
How often do Giro jerseys change?
The Giro jerseys have the chance to change every day with points and King of the Mountain bonus points available on every stage (apart from stages 10 and 21 when there are no KOM points), while the general classification leaderboard can also alter who’s wearing the pink and white jerseys.
Why is the Giro jersey pink?
The maglia rosa was introduced in 1931 and is pink to match the colour of La Gazzetta dello Sport – the Italian sports newspaper that founded the race in 1909.
How many jerseys are there in the Giro d’Italia?
There are four jerseys in the Giro d’Italia – pink (general classification), white (best young rider), purple (points) and blue (king of the mountains).
What's the difference between Giro and Tour de France jerseys?
The main differences between Giro and Tour de France jerseys are the colours. In the Tour de France, the pink jersey is yellow, the purple jersey is green and the blue jersey is red polka dots on a white background. Both races award white jerseys for the best young rider.
Wout van Aert won Stage 9 of the 2025 Giro d’Italia
© Gianfranco Tripodo/Red Bull Content Pool
Who’s wearing the jerseys at the Giro d’Italia 2026?
Each of the four jerseys can change after each day’s racing, so to follow who is in the lead once the Giro d'Italia is underway, check out this essential guide:
You can follow the progress of the Giro d'Italia here.
Last year, the pink jersey wasn’t decided until the penultimate stage – Simon Yates launching an audacious attack aided by team-mate Wout van Aert to leapfrog from third to first place in the overall. In total, the leader’s jersey changed seven times throughout the course of the race, with Primož Roglič wearing it on two occasions before being forced to retire on stage 16.
The points jersey was Mads Pedersen’s from stage 1 until stage 21 – the 2019 UCI Road World Champion dominating the sprint stages, winning four and finishing in the top five another three times. The Lidl-Trek rider won’t be present to defend his purple jersey, as he is instead targeting the Tour de France’s green jersey to complete his set of Grand Tour points jerseys.
The mountains category was another dominated by one rider in 2025 – XDS Astana’s Lorenzo Fortunato propelling himself to the top spot of the contest at the end of stage 3 and holding out until Rome. The jersey can often be won by the leader of the general classification, which has happened on 12 occasions since its introduction in 1933 – Tadej Pogačar the most recent winner to do the double in 2024.
After a tumultuous first week, the youth jersey contest settled down with the then-21-year-old Isaac Del Toro flying high in both the general classification and youth competition last year. While the Mexican would lose the overall to Simon Yates on the penultimate day of racing, he didn’t walk away from his debut Giro empty-handed, joining the likes of João Almeida, Nairo Quintana and Richie Porte to win the Italian Grand Tour’s white jersey.
How are mountain points awarded?
There are five categories of climbs at the Giro – from Cima Coppi (the highest peak of the Giro) to category four – and riders are awarded points depending on where they are positioned when they pass over the line marking its summit.
- Cima Coppi: 50 (1st), 30 (2nd), 20 (3rd), 14 (4th), 10 (5th), 6 (6th), 4 (7th), 2 (8th), 1 (9th)
- Category one summit finishes: 50 (1st), 24 (2nd), 16 (3rd), 9 (4th), 6 (5th), 4 (6th), 2 (7th), 1 (8th)
- Category one: 40 (1st), 18 (2nd), 12 (3rd), 9 (4th), 6 (5th), 4 (6th), 2 (7th), 1 (8th)
- Category two: 18 (1st), 8 (2nd), 6 (3rd), 4 (4th), 2 (5th), 1 (6th)
- Category three: 9 (1st), 4 (2nd), 2 (3rd), 1 (4th)
- Category four: 3 (1st), 2 (2nd), 1 (3rd)
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The Red Bull KM: How does this affect the points?
Red Bull KM is set to give extra wiiings to the Giro d’Italia
© Red Bull
Twenty of the 21 stages of this year’s edition, scheduled from May 8 to 31, will feature a Red Bull branded kilometre, which will serve as the “gateway” to the only intermediate sprint that counts toward the general classification: the first three riders to cross the exit gate of the kilometre will earn time bonuses of six, four, and two seconds, respectively.
Cyclists compete in Red Bull KM during the Giro d’Italia Stage 6 in 2025
© RCS Sports & Events/Red Bull Content Pool
Since the Red Bull KM will be the only intermediate point of the race awarding bonus seconds for the overall standings – alongside the stage finish, where the winner gets a 10-second bonus – it aims to ignite fierce battles within the peloton.