Four of the comers are set to make it to the top, the first on Etna upon their arrival in Sicily after the three-day boot in Hungary. The first weekend’s Blockhaus, Cogne in the Aosta Valley, then passo Fedaia in the dolomite block at La Marmolada, will be other highlights in the mountains, with a massive stage reaching Aprica after Mortirolo climbed up by him a little-used southern slope, then the little-known Santa Catarina (13.5 km by 8%).
Seven stages were designed for runners according to the organizers, who aimed at six high mountain stages. On the other hand, the chronometers will have only two short tests in their favor: the first in Hungary (stage two, in the streets of Budapest) and the second at the conclusion of the event on May 29 in the Verona Arenas where the Giro returns three years after the success of Ecuadorean Richard Carapaz.
It’s unusual to see the Giro finish up somewhere other than Milan, but it’s not entirely new either. Hence, Verona will welcome its fifth arrival after 1981, 1984, 2010 and 2019.
The trail is 3410.3 kilometers long (the number is subject to slight changes between now and May), and its total vertical drop is 51,000 metres, a total historically high, which marks this 105th trail as a great tour for climbers.
Organizers announced last week that the Giro will start in Hungary, as was already planned in 2020 before the Giro d’Italia was postponed to the fall in a modified version due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the 14th time the Giro d’Italia has left from abroad, and the most recent is in 2018 with the departure from Jerusalem.
The defending champion is Colombian Egan Bernal (Ineos), winner in May of his first Giro.
