The 2015 Giro d'Italia will include six mountain finishes, three other testing days of climbing, six stages for the sprinters and a 59.2km individual time trial from Treviso to Valdobbiadene.
The balanced route will please Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and any other Grand Tour contenders who decide to take up the Giro d'Italia - Tour de France challenge in 2015.
The full route of what is the 98th edition of the Corsa Rosa was unveiled in the Milan Palazzo del Ghiaccio on Monday afternoon, in the presence of UCI President Brian Cookson. Cadel Evans was also given a special award to celebrate his career that included a stage victory and several spells in the maglia rosa, including one at the very start of his road race career back in 2002.
Contador, Fabio Aru (Astana), Rigoberto Uran and new world champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) were also present as the route was revealed. 2014 Giro winner Nairo Quintana (Movistar) was absent as he recovers from at home in Colombia after his Vuelta crash, while Vincenzo Nibali, who organiser RCS Sport say will ride the Giro, was unable to make it to Milan after his Astana team insisted he ride the Tour of Almaty in Kazakhstan instead.
From San Remo to Milan, via central Italy, the Dolomites and the Alps
The mountain finishes are at Abetone in the central Apennines between Florence and Bologna, Campitello Matese near Naples, Madonna di Campiglio, Aprica - after climbing the Mortirolo. Cervinia in the Alps and finally at Sestriere, after climbing the dirt track to the summit of the Colle delle Finestre.
The finish in Cervinia is preceded by the Saint-Bathelemy and the Cole de Saint-Pantaleon climbs packed into the finale, while 18.4km climb of Colle delle Finestre near the French border is the highest of the 2015 Giro d'Italia at 2178m and so will award the Cima Coppi prize to the first rider to the top.
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RCS Sport seems to have avoided climbs approaching 3,000m in a move to avoid the bad weather and consequent polemics that occurred this year on the Passo Stelvio.
The six mountain finishes stand out like shark teeth on the route profile but the early stages to Sestri Levante and La Spezia, stage nine to San Giorgio del Sannio and stage 18 to Verbania also have lots of bite and should not be ignored. Monte Ologno rises from the shores of Lago Maggiore for 10km at an average of nine per cent and is followed by a hair-raising descent back to Verbania. It would be perfect for a late attack from Vincenzo Nibali if he can convince the Astana team to let him ride.
There are only 76.8km of time trialing but with the opening team time trial only 17.6km long. That means the Treviso-Valdobbiadene individual time trial is a whopping 59.2km, one of the longest seen in the Giro d’Italia for several years. The mixed profile of flat roads and then rolling roads in the Prosecco vineyards will make it even harder for the Grand Tour contenders and no doubt open some significant time gaps.
Six stages for the sprinters
Nacer Bouhanni, Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel may be tempted to return to the Giro d'Italia in 2015 after seeing the six sprint opportunities in the route. The stages to Genoa, Castiglione della Pescaia, Forli, Jesolo, Lugano and Milan are flat, while even the stages to Fiuggi and Imola could end in a sprint of some kind. Stage 11 to Imola includes three 16.9km circuits with the finish in the motor racing circuit named after Enzo and Dino Ferrari.
Race director Mauro Vegni promised to limit transfer to less than 1,000 kilometres in 2015. Riders face a 350km haul to the Adriatic coast after stage nine to San Giorgio del Sannio before they enjoy the first rest day. However the remaining stages are closely connected meaning riders should be in their hotels within an hour of most stage finishes.
RCS Sport is hoping it is just one factor that will convince many of the big-name Grand Tour contenders to take on Contador in both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in 2015. The Giro route makes it physically possible, it is perhaps up to the riders and their teams to accept the challenge.
Route of the 2015 Giro d'Italia:
May 09, Stage 1: San Lorenzo Al Mare - Sanremo (Team time trial), 17.6km May 10, Stage 2: Albenga - Genoa, 173km May 11, Stage 3: Rapallo - Sestri Levante, 136km May 12, Stage 4: Chiavari - La Spezia, 150km May 13, Stage 5: La Spezia - Abetone, 152km May 14, Stage 6: Montecatini Terme - Castiglione Della Pescaia, 181km May 15, Stage 7: Grosseto - Fiuggi, 263km May 16, Stage 8: Fiuggi - Campitello Matese, 188km May 17, Stage 9: Benevento - San Giorgio Del Sannio, 212km May 18, Rest day May 19, Stage 10: Civitanova Marche - Forlì, 195km May 20, Stage 11: Forlì - Imola (Autodromo Ferrari), 147km May 21, Stage 12: Imola - Vicenza (Monte Berico), 190km May 22, Stage 13: Montecchio Maggiore - Jesolo, 153km May 23, Stage 14: Treviso - Valdobbiadene (Individual time trial), 59.2km May 24, Stage 15: Marostica - Madonna Di Campiglio, 165km May 25, Rest day May 26, Stage 16: Pinzolo - Aprica, 175km May 27, Stage 17: Tirano - Lugano, 136km May 28, Stage 18: Melide - Verbania, 172km May 29, Stage 19: Gravellona Toce - Cervinia, 236km May 30, Stage 20: Saint-Vincent - Sestriere, 196km May 31, Stage 21: Turin - Milan, 185km
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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
