2010 Giro unveiled

• Photos

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.

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.

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

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

Former Giro Winners

• Denis Menchov (Russia), 2009
• Alberto Contador (Spain), 2008
• Danilo Di Luca (Italy), 2007
• Ivan Basso (Italy), 2006
• Paolo Savoldelli (Italy), 2005
• Damiano Cunego (Italy), 2004
• Gilberto Simoni (Italy), 2003
• Paolo Savoldelli (Italy), 2002
• Gilberto Simoni (Italy), 2001
• Stefano Garzelli (Italy), 2000
• Ivan Gotti (Italy), 1999
• Marco Pantani (Italy), 1998
• Ivan Gotti (Italy), 1997
• Pavel Tonkov (Russia), 1996
• Tony Rominger (Switzerland), 1995
• Eugeni Berzin (Russia), 1994
• Miguel Indurain (Spain), 1993
• Miguel Indurain (Spain), 1992
• Franco Chioccioli (Italy), 1991
• Gianni Bugno (Italy), 1990
• Laurent Fignon (France), 1989
• Andrew Hampsten (USA), 1988
• Stephen Roche (Ireland), 1987
• Roberto Visentini (Italy), 1986
• Bernard Hinault (France), 1985
• Francesco Moser (Italy), 1984
• Giuseppe Saronni (Italy), 1983
• Bernard Hinault (France), 1982
• Giovanni Battaglin (Italy), 1981
• Bernard Hinault (France), 1980
• Giuseppe Saronni (Italy), 1979
• Johan De Muynck (Belgium), 1978
• Michel Pollentier (Belgium), 1977
• Felice Gimondi (Italy), 1976
• Fausto Bertoglio (Italy), 1975
• Eddy Merckx (Belgium), 1974
• Eddy Merckx (Belgium), 1973
• Eddy Merckx (Belgium), 1972
• Gösta Petterson (Sweeden), 1971
• Eddy Merckx (Belgium), 1970
• Felice Gimondi (Italy), 1969
• Eddy Merckx (Belgium), 1968
• Felice Gimondi (Italy), 1967
• Gianni Motta (Italy), 1966
• Vittorio Adorni (Italy), 1965
• Jacques Anquetil (France), 1964
• Franco Balmamion (Italy), 1963
• Franco Balmamion (Italy), 1962
• Arnaldo Pambianco (Italy), 1961
• Jacques Anquetil (France), 1960
• Charly Gaul (Luxembourg), 1959
• Ercole Baldini (Italy), 1958
• Gastone Nencini (Italy), 1957
• Charly Gaul (Luxembourg), 1956
• Fiorenzo Magni (Italy), 1955
• Carlo Clerici (Switzerland), 1954
• Fausto Coppi (Italy), 1953
• Fausto Coppi (Italy), 1952
• Fiorenzo Magni (Italy), 1951
• Hugo Koblet (Switzerland), 1950
• Fausto Coppi (Italy), 1949
• Fiorenzo Magni (Italy), 1948
• Fausto Coppi (Italy), 1947
• Gino Bartali (Italy), 1946
• Fausto Coppi (Italy), 1940
• Giovanni Valetti (Italy), 1939
• Giovanni Valetti (Italy), 1938
• Gino Bartali (Italy), 1937
• Gino Bartali (Italy), 1936
• Vasco Bergamaschi (Italy), 1935
• Learco Guerra (Italy), 1934
• Alfredo Binda (Italy), 1933
• Antonio Pesenti (Italy), 1932
• Francesco Camusso (Italy), 1931
• Luigi Marchisio (Italy), 1930
• Alfredo Binda (Italy), 1929
• Alfredo Binda (Italy), 1928
• Alfredo Binda (Italy), 1927
• Giovanni Brunero (Italy), 1926
• Alfredo Binda (Italy), 1925
• Giuseppe Enrici (Italy), 1924
• Costante Girardengo (Italy), 1923
• Giovanni Brunero (Italy), 1922
• Giovanni Brunero (Italy), 1921
• Gaetano Belloni (Italy), 1920
• Costante Girardengo (Italy), 1919
• Alfonso Calzolari (Italy), 1914
• Carlo Oriani (Italy), 1913
• Atala Team (Italy), 1912
• Carlo Galetti (Italy), 1911
• Carlo Galetti (Italy), 1910
• Luigi Ganna (Italy), 1909

Photo Gallery

FILED UNDER: Giro d'Italia / News / Road