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2016 Giro d’Italia route presented in Milan

On Monday the corsa rosa of the 99th Giro d'Italia was revealed in Milan, with a balanced route on offer for Sunday's Il Lombardia winner Vincenzo Nibali and others.

October 5, 2015
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On Monday the corsa rosa of the 99th Giro d’Italia was revealed in Milan, with a balanced route on offer for Sunday’s Il Lombardia winner Vincenzo Nibali and others. Although the course was leaked over a week ago and the start in the Netherlands known since the summer, the presentation confirmed a challenging Grand Tour.

Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Nibali and a decidedly casual new world champion Peter Sagan were on hand for the proceedings.

The 2016 Giro has plenty for sprinters, time trialists and climbers, as seven flat stages, three chronos and nine mountain days in the central Apennines, Dolomites and Alps await the peloton.

The affair kicks off in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn with a 9.8-km time trial. The race remains in the Netherlands for two wind-threatened flat stages before an early rest day for the long transfer to southern Italy. There, the rest of the first week is highlighted by the first summit finish on Stage 6 in the Apennines and a 40.4-km, somewhat rolling Chianti time trial on stage 9.

The Dolomites dominate week two, with Stage 14’s six climbs leading to a descent into Corvara. The climbs and finish town feature yearly in the Maratona dles Dolomites, a gran fondo that will run for the 30th time in 2016. The next day is the setting for the last chrono, a 10.8-km mountain time trial that has a flat 2-km lead-up to the 8.3% clamber.

The final week belongs to the French and Italian Alps, with Stages 19 and 20 the true brutes. Stage 19 is capped off with two nasty ascents–the Colle dell’Agnello, which, at 2,744-metres is the highest point or Cima Coppi of the race, and then 16-km haul up to Risoul. Stage 20 is short but punishing, with the Col de Vars, the Col de la Bonette and the Colle della Lombarda shoehorned into 134-km. The Lombarda, the stage for the final GC skirmishes, is 21.2-km of 7% climbing, with 9.3% at the foot of the mountain.

Nibali is expected to be the only rider of the Big Four to contest the 2016 Giro. Contador, Chris Froome and Nairo Quintan, along with Nibali’s teammate Fabio Aru, will concentrate on the Tour de France. Nibali’s main competition could come from Mikel Landa and Richie Porte, who will be racing for new teams Sky and BMC respectively, and possibly Tom Dumoulin, Il Lombardia podium man Thibaut Pinot and Ryder Hesjedal.