On October 31, just some days after the the Tour de France route presentation, the organizers of the Italian Giro presented it's route. The start of the race will be in the capital of the Emillia-Romagna - Bologna.

The first stage is an individual time trial race with distance a little more than 8 kilometers long with the climb to San Luca on the last 2 kilometers with an average gradient 9.7% and a maximum - 16%. The second stage also starts in Bologna and finishes after 200 kilometers in Fucecchio. The stage is mostly flat, but there are two hills in the last 50 kilometers that can become a problem for sprinters. The sixth and ninth stages will be the most difficult in first week. In the sixth stage, the racers will move from Cassino to San Giovanni Rotonda and are expected to climb 15 kilometers with a gradient near 4% to Coppa Casarinelle.

The ninth stage is the second 34.7 km long ITT with a finish in San Marino in a 12-kilometer hill with an average gradient 4.5% and a maximum - 11%.

The second week starts with two almost absolutely flat stages, followed by a batch of three mountain stages. The first of them, the twelfth, will be the easiest - there is only 9-kilometer Montoso miuntain with an average gradient 8.9%, and it is located 32 kilometers before finish line, that will enable racers to catch the leaders. At the end of the 13th stage riders will firstly climb to a height over 2000 meters during the passage on the 20-kilometer climb of Lago Serru with an average gradient 5.9% and a maximum 14%.

At the fourteenth stage, riders should go through 4 climbs, the most serious of them is Colle San Carlo - a 10-kilometer climb with an average gradient about 10%. It is remarkable with the fact that almost all its length the gradient is stable. It means that on the one hand there are no very difficult sections, but on the other hand, there is no flat sections and the racers will have no place for "lite" work.

The second week will end with a long stage (237 kilometers) from Ivrea to picturesque Como, and part of the stage will take place through the route of the monument - the Race of Fallen Leaves (Giro IL Lombardia), including Madonna del Ghizallo, Colma di Sormano and Civiglio.

The third week of the Giro will be the most difficult and decisive in the battle for victoory in whole race.

The sixteenth stage has 220 kilometers length with the passage of Passo Gavia (16.5 kilometers; 8%) and the legendary Passo del Mortirolo (12.8 km, 10.1%).

The seventeenth stage will be a little bit easier than the previous one and will lead the riders to the biathlon Mecca, that is known to all winter sports enthusiasts - Antholz / Anterselva, where riders climb to the final almost 10-kilometer hill.

The eighteenth stage will be the only transit in the third week, and most likely it will be stage for sprinters. The 19th stage is from Treviso to the San Martin Martino di Castrozza finish, a 13-kilometer mountain with an average gradient of 5.6% and a maximum of 10%.

The 193-kilometer twentieth stage includes four difficult climbs and the finish line at Monte Avena (13.5 km; 6.3%).

The final stage of the upcoming Giro is not destined to become a friendship stage, as it is a 15-kilometer ITT race, a third part of which riders will have to go into a small hill. By the way, the final stage will take place just 120 kilometers from the start place of the Giro - in the city of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - Verona.

Presented route shows us that Giro organizers are in solidarity with the Tour de France organizers, making the race as difficult as possible, and a excelent climber with good performance in ITT race will be able to win. So, next year the first two grand tour of the season will be very difficult, and this fact reduces chances that the cyclists will decide to go both races during the season.

Cycling / route

Giro d'Italia - 2019 Route Presentation

Giro d'Italia - 2019 Route Presentation

Giro d'Italia - 2019 Route Presentation