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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Thursday, November 1, 2018

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2018 Tour de France | 2018 Giro d'Italia

There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare. - Sun Tzu

TDF volume 1

Latest completed racing:


2019 Giro d'Italia route announced

2019 Giro d'Italia

BikeRaceInfo's 2019 Giro d'Italia page

Here's the organizer's summary of the 2019 Giro:

The next edition of the Corsa Rosa will be raced almost entirely in Italy, crossing the border only for one stage finish in the Republic of San Marino.

The 102nd edition of the Giro d’Italia will start from Bologna on 11 May and finish in Verona on 2 June. With 3,518.5 km of racing packing in 46,500 meters of total elevation, this edition is one of the hardest courses in recent years.

Three Individual Time Trials, six low difficulty stages suitable for sprinters, seven of medium difficulty and five high difficulty stages form next year’s course. There will be a total of seven summit finishes, including the Bologna and San Marino Individual Time Trials.

The Big Start from the Emilia-Romagna capital city and the finish in Verona with its ‘traditional’ arrival in the Arena, are both ITTs. The Cima Coppi (highest mountain of the Giro) will be the Gavia Pass at 2,618 metres above sea level; the Mortirolo will be this edition’s Montagna Pantani; and the Bartali stage will be the Bologna-Fucecchio. Homage will be paid to Fausto Coppi in the centenary of his birth with the finish in Novi Ligure and the Cuneo-Pinerolo stage.

A number of important social and cultural references will be made over the 3,518.5km course. With the finish in L’Aquila, the Giro will commemorate 10 years since the earthquake that hit the area at 3:32am on 6 April 2009. The Corsa Rosa will remember people and places that have impacted the peninsula’s history including the genius of Leonardo da Vinci – 500 years after his death – and, in Fucecchio, the journalist, writer and historian Indro Montanelli, 110 years from his birth. The finish in Pesaro will celebrate the great composer Gioacchino Rossini.

We have results for every stage of every edition of the Giro d'Italia, as well as hundreds of photos. You can access them all here.

Here are some quotes about the 2019 Giro from La Gazzetta dello Sport:

The winner of the last edition of the Giro d’Italia, Chris Froome, said: “The Giro victory will always be in my heart for the rest of my life because I’ve never won a race in such an iconic way – and I’ve felt an incredible amount of love from the Tifosi all over the country. I like this edition of the Giro very much, it can be won only by a complete rider. It’s a balanced course in between mountains and time trials. A very organised team will be needed too. The stage with Gavia and Mortirolo is a beast! It comes after a rest day and that day the true champions will stand out from the bunch.”

The Italian Road Cycling Champion and winner of the last edition’s Maglia Ciclamino of best sprinter, Elia Viviani, said: “I’ve got good feelings about this Giro: I’m the Italian Road Cycling Champion, the Corsa Rosa ends in Verona… it looks like my dream Giro! Looks like there will be six stages that could end up in a bunch sprint. I’ll do the recce but it looks like the right number for me, this year for instance, I won four and came second twice. The last week of racing will be incredibly tough for the sprinters but I’m looking at this Giro with the goal of arriving in the wonderful Verona, my home town. I haven’t decided with the team if targeting the Maglia Ciclamino again next year will be a goal. It will be very difficult to improve on this year’s Giro for me but I’ll try to do my best.”

Giro d’Italia Director, Mauro Vegni, said: “It will be one of the hardest Giros of recent years with over 46,500 meters of overall vertical elevation and three challenging Individual Time Trials. It’s a race that will be technically very challenging and full of pitfalls right from the first stages and with two tests against the clock in Bologna and San Luca and the longer one in San Marino that will probably result in bigger time gaps. Then, with the Alps and the Dolomites we will have the kind of mountain stages with climbs and finishes that have made the history of this sport. It will be a Giro open to many solutions and therefore to many riders with different characteristics. The last Individual Time Trial in Verona could change the GC and may be the decisive moment. After the experience of 2018 – with the historic departure from Israel – this year we will tell a story that’s virtually ‘all Italian’, except for crossing the border only for one stage finish in the Republic of San Marino. In this journey through our wonderful country we want to show not only the sporting challenge, but also the cultural and tourist heritage of Italy: Leonardo Da Vinci, Gioacchino Rossini, the Arena of Verona, the unique images of our mountains from the Alps to Dolomites, the arrival in L’Aquila ten years after the earthquake… they will be all integral parts of this Giro d’Italia.”

The stages:

Stage Date Start & Finish Distance
1 Sat, May 11 Bologna – San Luca ITT 8.2 km
2 Sun, May 12 Bologna – Fucecchio 200.0 km
3 Mon, May 13 Vinci – Orbetello 219.0 km
4 Tue, May 14 Orbetello – Frascati 228.0 km
5 Wed, May 15 Frascati – Terracini 140.0 km
6 Thurs, May 16 Cassino – San Giovanni Rotondo 233.0 km
7 Fri, May 17 Vasto – L’Aquila 180.0 km
8 Sat, May 18 Tortoreto Lido – Pesaro 235.0 km
9 Sun, May 19 Riccione – San Marino, ITT 34.7 km
Mon, May 20 Rest Day
10 Tue, May 21 Ravenna – Modena 147.0 km
11 Wed, May 22 Carpi – Novi Ligure 206.0 km
12 Thurs, May 23 Cuneo – Pinerolo 146.0 km
13 Fri, May 24 Pinerolo – Ceresole Reale 188.0 km
14 Sat, May 25 Saint-Vincent – Courmayeur 131.0 km
15 Sun, May 26 Ivrea – Como 237.0 km
Mon, May 27 Rest Day
16 Tue, May 28 Lovere – Ponte di Legno 226.0 km
17 Wed, May 29 Commezzadura – Anterselva/Antholz 180.0 km
18 Thurs, May 30 Valdora/Olang – Santa Maria di Sala 220.0 km
19 Fri, May 31 Treviso – San Martino di Castrozza 151.0 km
20 Sat, June 1 Feltre – Croce d’Aune/Monte Avena 193.0 km
21 Sun, June 2 Verona – Verona, ITT 15.6 km
    Total: 3,518.5 km

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary