2010 Giro unveiled

by VeloNews.com

October 24, 2009
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The 2010 Giro d’Italia.

Photo:

The 93rd edition of the Giro d’Italia in 2010 will start in the Netherlands on May 8 before embarking on a 3,416.5km journey around the Italian peninsula and ending in Verona on May 30.

That was the course unveiled in Milan on Saturday with 21 stages and plenty of tough climbs.

Reigning champion Denis Menchov, the Russian Rabobank rider, was among the guests at the official presentation alongside former winner Damiano Cunego and Italian stars of the past such as Mario Cipollini.

The opening stage will be a short 8.4km time trial (TT) around Amsterdam which will also host the start of the next two stages, ending in Utrecht and then Middleburg before the riders take an early break with the first rest day and a flight to Italy before recommencing in Savigliano with a 32.5km team time trial.

The Giro has been to the Plan de Corones before. It ain’t easy.

Photo: Agence France Presse – file photo

There will be two more individual time trials with a tough 12.9km uphill TT to Plan de Corones on the 16th stage, following the second rest day. Giro organizers felt the final stage time trial in 2009 proved to be a success, so they are repeating the formula, closing out the the three-week race with a 15.3km TT around Verona.

It will be the ninth time the Giro has begun outside of Italy and second time it does so in the Netherlands. The first foreign start was in 1965 in San Marino.

The highest point of the Tour will be the Passo Gavia on the 20th and penultimate stage at 2,618m above sea level with some parts reaching a grueling 15 percent gradient.

There will also be an emotional finish in L’Aquila, the capital of the Abruzzo region hit by a tragic earthquake in April, at the end of the 11th and longest stage counting 256km from Lucera.

There are also stages that pay homage to Italy’s two greatest cycling stars Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali.

Menchov looks pleased with next year’s route.

Photo: Graham Watson

The fifth stage will end at Novi Ligure, where Coppi found his first job as a helper in a delicatessen while the seventh stage from Carrara to Montalcino is dedicated to his great rival Bartali.

The Mortirolo pass makes its return to the Tour of Italy and has once again been nominated the ‘Pantani Mountain’ – every year one climb in the Giro is dedicated to the now deceased Marco ‘The Pirate’ Pantani, winner of the Giro in 1998 and much loved by the Italian public despite doping allegations throughout his career.

Key stages

Dutch actress Yolanthe Cabau van Kasbergen is “the new face of Giro d’Italia 2010.”

Photo: Agence France Presse

Stage 4 – A team time trial over 32.5km from Savigliano to Cuneo will be the first chance for the GC contenders to put some time into each other. Although not long for a team time trial there is always the potential for weaker teams to lose substantial time if they have already lost riders in the earlier stages.

Stage Stage 8 – The first of five stages that finish with a climb this 189km trek from Chianciano Terme to Terminillo will give the specialist climbers their first chance to stretch their legs and will also show who is in the best early form.

Stage 15 – This is the longest of the stages with mountain top finishes and takes in 218km from Mestre to Monte Zoncolan in the Carnic Alps. It finishes with one of the toughest climbs known to the Giro and has only twice before been scaled with Gilberto Simoni winning on both occasions in 2003 and 2007. A bad day on this stage could ruin anyone’s pink jersey pretentions.

Stage 20 – Two of the previous three days will have been fought out with mountain finishes and then in the penultimate stage over 178km from Bormio to Ponte di Legno-Tonale the Giro will scale the highest point of the 2010 edition, the Passa Gavia at 2,618m. A real leg-breaker.

Stage 21 – The final stage time trial is short at only 15.3km around Verona but if there are two or more riders still in contention after the gruesome 20th stage, this will be the all or nothing opportunity it was in 2009 when Denis Menchov held a mere 20-second lead on Danilo Di Luca (whose results have subsequently been negated because he failed two dope tests).

The 2010 Giro d’Italia

Stage 1	Saturday May 8	Amsterdam (TT)	8.4km
Stage 2	Sunday May 9	Amsterdam to Utrecht	209km
Stage 3	Monday May 10	Amsterdam to Middelberg	209km
Rest day	Tuesday May 11	Travel to Italy
Stage 4	Wednesday May 12	Savigliano to Cuneo (TTT)	32.5km
Stage 5	Thursday May 13	Novara to Novi Ligure	168km
Stage 6	Friday May 14	Fidenza to Carrara	166km
Stage 7	Saturday May 15	Carrara to Montalcino	215km
Stage 8	Sunday May 16	Chianciano Terme to Terminillo	189km
Stage 9	Monday May 17	Frosinone to Cava De Tirreni	188km
Stage 10	Tuesday May 18	Avellino to Bitonto	220km
Stage 11	Wednsday May 19	Lucera to L’Aquila	256km
Stage 12	Thursday May 20	Citta Sant’Angelo toPorto Recanati	191km
Stage 13	Friday May 21	Potro Recanati to Cesenatico	222km
Stage 14	Saturday May 22	Ferrara to Asolo	201km
Stage 15	Sunday May 23	Mestre to Monte Zoncolan	218km
Rest day	Monday May 24
Stage 16	Tuesday May 25	St. Vigil to Plan de Corones (TT)	12.9km
Stage 17	Wednesday May 26	Brunico/Bruneck to PeioTerme	173km
Stage 18	Thursday May 27	Levico Terme to Brescia	151km
Stage 19	Friday May 28	Brescia to Aprica	195km
Stage 20	Saturday May 29	Bormio to Tonale	178km
Stage 21	Sunday May 30	Verona (TT)	15.3km