Time now for the presentation of the year's first Grand Tour: the Giro d'Italia! Northerners may have a word or two to say to the organisers after the South receives its second consecutive Grande Partenza: after Lecce and the Apulia hosted last year's opening, this time we start across the Gulf of Taranto in Cosenza, hosting Stage 1 of the race for the first ever time. It will take a special rider to win this route, which serves up tough ITT kilometres, days in the hills, and some of the race's toughest and most iconic mountains (including one of them twice!). The race promises to be action-packed, and the stage hunters among the peloton will be salivating at the many climbs peppered around the flat stages - the sprinters may decide to take a pass though.
Week 1: Can't be won, can be lost
No mountains in the first week, but plenty of tests already. From Cosenza we head 200km along the southern coast to Matera for what should be a sprint stage, but far from straightforward. The final 20km contain a rudely steep Cat.4 climb and then an extended uncategorised run up to Cosenza, so it will take a tough sprinter or perhaps a sly opportunist to take pink. Keeping it may be easier than gaining it, so long as the wind stays down, with a shorter and more traditional sprint stage to Margherita di Savoia, up the Adriatic coast.
Four categorised climbs and a bunch of non-categorised ones on an undulating Stage 3 will surely catch someone out, and a flat finish offers an opportunity for a tactical breakaway finish or a reduced bunch sprint. Stage 4 is more structured but with bigger climbs as we head into the beautiful Tuscany, another chance for the breakaway or a punchy sprinter, and with a nasty but short climb not far from the end, potential for early GC hostilities?
A day of actual calm before the storm as the race meanders along the beautiful Lake Iseo to an honest-to-goodness flat stage with a sprint finish - astonishing to see, but those sprinters willing to come here for only a few opportunities will be well-rewarded.
However, their suffering begins again on Stage 9, heading into the Apennines and a finish on the stunning Gran Sasso d'Italia (Great Rock of Italy), the highest point in the Apennines. Campo Imperatore is where they finish, a beautiful open grassland on the massif known as "Little Tibet" (below), though the riders may struggle to find beauty in the two-part, 46km ascent - split into two for the mountains classification but with no descent in-between. The climb tops out at 13% in the final kilometres. A daunting opening to the mountains of the race, and the first of three consecutive and brutal tests - all over 200km.
We return to the North to start Stage 10 in Cuneo before heading back into France via some iconic climbs. The Colle dell'Agnello (22km @ 6.5% with a lengthy run-up) is the third highest pass in the Alps and is a lengthy and tough introduction to the day's climbing, before we borrow one of Le Tour's favourite climbs, the Col d'Izoard (15.9km @ 6.9%, max 14%). The less brutal but still hard Col du Lautaret is next, followed by a mountaintop finish at Les Deux Alpes (12km @ 6.2%). The race's first multi-mountain stage is a doozy, but there's still one more to go in this little run.
242km, but most of it is flat - however it kind of has to be when you're about to tackle the Colle delle Finestre (above). Absolutely gorgeous, but nearly 19km long at an average of 9%, it's a killer - there's something about these hairpinned climbs. Oh, and did I mention the final eight kilometres are gravel road?
As it always does, the Finestre leads into the easier climb of Sestriere (9.2km @ 5.4%) for our finish - still a test but certainly following in the mould of the hard climb-easy climb formula the Giro loves (see Mortirolo-Aprica). An iconic duo, and a fitting finale to an epic three-day run that will leave major GC dust in its wake - and many riders looking forward to some respite.
Respite is a relative term though, as the next stage is still 244km. Mostly flat with a couple of small climbs near the finish, it should be a chance for the sprinters. Stage 13's climb is a bit bigger and nearer to the finish and could catch out some of the fastmen, and provide a springboard for late attacks. That stage is the fifth straight over 200km. Stage 14 is a healthy 189km, providing a fair amount of elevation gain and a short hilltop finish, as well as 23km of gravel roads as the race heads back down to central Italy and the famous strade bianche of Tuscany. A stage which promises entertainment and may even tempt the GC favourites out to play - particularly those that might have lost time in the Alps.
Stage 16 is a unique proposition in the fact that it isn't a unique proposition at all - just four stages after the riders faced the Colle delle Finestre and a finish in Sestriere, they have another go at it, this time taking off from Saint-Vincent but featuring a nearly-identical flat profile in the run-up, though the valleys the riders take in will be different. The rider's mental approach to such a repeat stage will certainly be interesting, whether they succeeded or failed the first time around.
The race then travels between Northern Italy's biggest cities, from Turin to Milan in the race's fourth true flat stage. It's then in the fashion capital that the riders take on the second individual time trial, 33km and a chance for the true stage racers to gain some advantage before the race's final two mountain stages.
On Stage 19 the race organisers have unearthed a unique and never before seen combo of the Gavia and Stelvio passes to set the riders up for a tough and potentially very cold day of climbing. Both are taken from the easier southern sides (16.5km @ 8% and 21.7km @ 7.2%, the Cima Coppi) but that will feel like no mercy at all for riders in those conditions with three weeks of tough racing in their legs - especially considering that when the tougher and more technical side is on the way down, it will feature two tough descents which could be decisive in their own right. There is then a valley road before the finish at Val Martello, an idiosyncratic climb, 22km at 6.4% with a couple of short descents, breaking it into sections each harder than the last. The first 6.6km are at 7.5%, followed by a small descent and then 9km at 7%, before another break and two very steep sections with a false flat in between, both including pitches over 10%, up to 14%. A true Queen Stage, and huge gaps are to be expected.
Across to the Dolomites for the final mountain stage and chance for the GC to be changed. A finish at the stunning Tre Cime di Lavaredo (below), which is always a unique proposition. First though (after the appetisers of a pair of Cat.2 climbs), one of the Giro's favourite haunts in the beautiful Passo Giau (above), but this beauty is also a beast, 10km at 9.1% and a perfect springboard for attacks.
Tre Cime is really three climbs: the Passo Tre Croci, the Misurina Col Sant Angelo, and finally the road up to Tre Cime itself. The first half over the Passo Tre Coci is some 8 km long, at 7.1% reaching up to 12%. Around 4km of gentle descent before some false flats and the short yet steep climb of the Misurina Col Sant Angelo, 2km at 10.6%. A similarly short descent leads us to the finale: the climb to the picteuresque Tre Cime di Lavaredo. 4km at an average of 11.3% and with slopes up to 18% in the final 2km, this is a brutal finish to the Giro.
Finally Stage 21 takes us to Brescia for a final chance for the sprinters and for the riders who have survived this far to enjoy their achievements. A brutal Giro d'Italia with seven tough mountain stages, all with summit finishes, all containing HC climbs, and all but one over 195km. Not to mention that there is hardly a completely flat day, and are some notably tough hilly to medium mountain ones - almost day will sap the energy and require complete mental focus with gaps possible. The ITTs may get forgotten in the hype around the mountains, but 74km is nothing to scoff at and it will take a true all-around stage racer to follow in the maglia rosa of Silvio Herklotz and conquer the Giro this year.
7 Flat
2 Hilly
3 Medium Mountain (1 HTF)
7 Mountain (7 MTF)
2 ITT (74km total)
Thank you for a great presentaion, jandal! This must have been quite a lot of work, but I loved how you combined text with real life photos, especially of the beautiful Dolomites.
And wow, what a race this will be! Definitely one for the pure stage racers, if such a thing exists, with such difficult mountain stages combined with two proper TTs.
Beautiful presentation of the race! Thank you for the effort you’ve put in here jandal
Wow, what a race! Plenty of opportunities for the sprinters is always good to see, especially early on.
Then what a combination of 2 TTs with so many Mountain top finishes after tough stages. This’ll be a real joy to report, to participate in and to follow
Very cool presentation! Depending on how our team looks like (and if race days are not reduced once again which would be absolutely ridiculous at this point), this could actually tempt me to go for a GT again.
Indeed a nice route and if the TTs wouldn`t be there, Olivier could have liked that one with the first week`s hills.
That said, he wasn`t really performing on those as hoped last season, so better not expect him to take profit from those really. 74km ITT though says no to him anyway.
@croatia: the info is there already for race days. Think it was like the calendar goes down by a tiny bit, 6-7 % and the individual race days the same. Which might be 1-2 race days or so for most riders only.
Well, that route screams "How-many-riders-will-finish-OTL-bet"
Great writeup, thanks a lot! Will be interesting to see which top GC riders will actually participate, especially after Croatia's comment
However, I honestly don't quite understand why stage 11 was "duplicated". Because Finestre is so nice? No other mountains in Italy? Or just saving a little bit of time for other stages (don't know anything about stage making tbh, so don't know if anything of S11 could really be reused for S16).
But anyway, it's a beautiful route, and as one of few managers actually liking TTs, those two massive TT stages look great to me, too
Maybe lacking a mountain stage with a downhill finish, as the DHL specialists don't really find something to their liking, but MTFs are always cooler anyway
Fabianski wrote:
Well, that route screams "How-many-riders-will-finish-OTL-bet"
Great writeup, thanks a lot! Will be interesting to see which top GC riders will actually participate, especially after Croatia's comment
roturns comment on race days makes it a lot less attractive for me to consider though Only further hurts the startlist in GTs, but this is not the place to discuss it. I prefer appreciating the great work that has been put in to compose this great route.
Lovely route and presentation! The toughness of the mountain stages might lessen the expected severe impact of the TT kilometres, so there's definitely enough suspense in the route to make it an exciting race even when the startlist will be known.
