Giro d'Italia 2024: The route - six mountain finishes and the double Monte Grappa
Sebastian Lindner
· 03.05.2024
Giro d'Italia 2024: The most important facts in brief
After organiser RCS Sport had already announced the Grande Partenza with the first three stages on 9 October 2023, the rest of the second most important stage race after the Tour de France followed four days later. Primoz Roglic, Vincenzo Nibali, Peter Sagan, Jai Hindley and Filippo Ganna were present at the Teatro Sociale in Trento when the 21 stages were presented. Race director Mauro Vegni said of the upcoming event: "There are fewer kilometres and fewer metres of climbing than last year, but it's going to start really hard. But the last week is not quite as monstrous."
Six mountain finishes await the starters, two long individual time trials (stage 7 and 14) with a total of 71.8 kilometres, almost eleven kilometres of gravel on stage 6 and the Strade Bianche, seven hilly stages with an uncertain outcome and six suspected sprint finishes, the last of which will be in Rome. The stage race will finish in Italy's capital on the 26th for the sixth time in the history of the Giro after 1911, 1950, 2009, 2018 and 2023. The starting gun for the first stage will be fired in Venaria Reale.
Click through: All winners of the Giro d'Italia since 2010
This will be the fourth time that the Giro has started in the northern Italian region of Piedmont after 1961, 2011 and 2021. In 2011, the start and finish of the stage in Turin were the same as today, with a team time trial linking the suburb and the metropolis. In 2024, a diversion to the Superga pilgrimage mountain in Turin is planned. This is to commemorate the tragedy of an aeroplane crash exactly 75 years ago to the day. All 31 occupants died, including the entire AC Turin football team, which was considered the best in the country.
One day later, there will be another commemoration: the mountain finish at the Santuario D'Oropa on stage 2 will be held in memory of Marco Pantani's epic victory there in 1999, 25 years ago. The "Pirata" dominated the tour, but was excluded after the 20th stage due to an elevated haematocrit level.
Passo dello Stelvio no longer Cima Coppi
In total, the Giro d'Italia 2024 offers seven new start locations and six new finishes. Naples, on the other hand, is anything but new and will be the finish for the 45th time, the third time in a row. It remains to be seen whether there will be a bunch sprint like last year or whether a breakaway will win the stage like the year before. In any case, there are enough hills on the route to guarantee an open finish.
The 16th stage will definitely be an affair for the mountain specialists. On the day after the second rest day, a stage from Livigno, which was originally supposed to lead over the Stelvio, which at 2758 metres was supposed to be the Cima Coppi and thus the highest point of the Giro, up to Monte Pana near St. Christina in Val Gardena, heralds the start of the final week. However, the Stelvio was cancelled from the programme due to snowfall and the risk of avalanches. Instead, the Umbrail Pass is now Cima Coppi.
Two days earlier, the longest stage of the Giro will be ridden at 220 kilometres. But it also comes with plenty of metres in altitude. From Lake Garda, the route goes over the Mortirolo, which slipped into the programme after a route changeto the Passo Passo di Foscagno and then further up - up the Mottolino ski slope. The Giro has never been there before.
Giro d'Italia 2024: Double Monte Grappa brings decision
And the section after the Umbrail Pass, the 17th stage, is also a tough one. Passo Sela, Passo Rolle, Passo Brocon - and then Passo Brocon again, but from the other side, which is also new territory for the Giro. The third stage in a row ends there with a mountain finish.
Nevertheless, the decision will only be made on the penultimate day. Before the 20th stage ends in Bassano del Grappa in Veneto, the Monte Grappa has to be crossed twice.
Giro d'Italia 2024 - all stages at a glance
Stage 1 | Saturday, 4 May | Venaria Reale - Torino | 140 kilometres
Stage 2 | Sunday, 5 May | San Francesco al Campo - Santuario di Oropa (Biella) | 161 kilometres
Stage 3 | Monday, 6 May | Novara - Fossano | 166 kilometres
Stage 4 | Tuesday, 7 May | Acqui Terme - Andora | 190 kilometres
Stage 5 | Wednesday, 8 May | Genova - Lucca | 178 kilometres
Stage 6 | Thursday, 9 May | Viareggio - Rapolano Terme | 180 kilometres
Stage 7 | Friday, 10 May | Foligno - Perugia | 40.6 kilometres (individual time trial)
Stage 8 | Saturday, 11 May | Spoleto - Prati di Tivo | 152 kilometres
Stage 9 | Sunday, 12 May | Avezzano - Napoli | 214 kilometres
Stage 10 | Tuesday, 14 May | Pompei - Cusano Mutri (Bocca della Selva) | 142 kilometres
Stage 11 | Wednesday, 15 May | Foiano di Val Fortore - Francavilla al Mare | 207 kilometres
Stage 12 | Thursday, 16 May | Martinsicuro - Fano | 193 kilometres
Stage 13 | Friday, 17 May | Riccione - Cento | 179 kilometres
Stage 14 | Saturday, 18th May | Castiglione delle Stiviere - Desenzano del Garda | 31.2 kilometres (individual time trial)
Stage 15 | Sunday, 19 May | Manerba del Garda - Livigno (Mottolino) | 222 kilometres
Stage 16 | Tuesday, 21 May | Livigno - Santa Cristina Valgardena (Monte Pana) | 202 kilometres
Stage 17 | Wednesday, 22 May | Selva di Val Gardena - Passo del Brocon | 159 kilometres
Stage 18 | Thursday, 23 May | Fiera di Primiero - Padova | 178 kilometres
Stage 19 | Friday, 24 May | Mortegliano - Sappada | 157 kilometres
Stage 20 | Saturday, 25 May | Alpago - Bassano del Grappa | 184 kilometres
Stage 21 | Sunday, 26 May | Rome - Rome | 125 kilometres
