It's Giro time! Brought forward by a month, the second women's Grand Tour of the year will kick off next Saturday! Let's discover about the route.
🗣 PREVIEW:
Race starts from Cesenatico, home town of Marco Pantani with a flat stage. Sprinters protagonist also on stage 2, while the third one presents a 2.5km climb at 7.2% at 20km from the finish which might mix up the cards.
The first important GC stage will be stage 4: a 12.7km ITT featuring the climb of Nevegal (7.3km, 8.2%). Very though fifth stage with 4 QOMs: Passo Tre Croci, Passo Sant'Antonio (7.6km, 8.3%) and two passages over Costalissoio (2.7km, 9.1%) in the last 30km.
Stage 6 will be suited for sprinters, while stage 7 presents a 9km climb at 3.6% at 27km from the finish. Stage 8 will be the queen stage, featuring Colle delle Finestre (18.5km at 9.2% with the last 8km on gravel roads), one of the toughest climbs in Europe, and finishing on Sestriere (11km at 4.8%). The final stage will also be quite tricky with 3 classified climbs, including Montoso, far from the finish and Colletta di Brondello (6.8km, 6.6%), topping at 35km from the finish in Saluzzo.
🏁 STAGES (Profiles in photos)
💨 S1: Cesenatico - Ravenna (139km)
💨 S2: Roncade - Caorle (146km)
⛰️ S3: Bibione - Buja (154km)
🏔🧭 S4: Belluno - Nevegal (12,7km ITT)
🏔 S5: Longarone - S. Stefano di Cadore (138km)
💨 S6: Ala - Brescello (155km)
⛰️ S7: Sorbolo Mezzani - Salice Terme (165km)
🏔 S8: Rivoli - Sestriere (101km)
⛰️ S9: Saluzzo - Saluzzo (143km)
👀 OVERVIEW:
- ↔️ Tot Distance: 1169.7km (142.5km/stage (ITT excluded)
- ⬆️ Tot elevation: 12.100m (~1500m/stage)
- 🏔 QOMs: 14 (4×1st, 2×2nd, 6×3rd, 2×4th)
- 👑 Queen stage: Stage 8 (2850m d+)
- 🗻 Hardest climbs:
* Colle delle Finestre (18.5km, 9.2%), stage 8, 28km to go
* Montoso (8.9km, 9.4%); stage 9, 90km to go
* Passo di Sant'Antonio (7.6km, 8.3%); Stage 5, 52km to go
* Nevegal (7.3km, 8.2%); mountain ITT