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2019 Giro d’Italia: three hilly time trials and an action-packed final week

A preview of the Corsa Rosa before Saturday's start

It was the first Dutch win in the Giro d'Italia
May 7, 2019
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Saturday sees the Grande Partenza of the 102nd Giro d’Italia in Bologna with the first of three hilly time trials. This year’s edition of the Giro ignores the foot of the boot and gets as far south as the region of Lazio. Canadian Cycling Magazine has already introduced this year’s wild card teams, so let’s take a look at the course.

Week One

The first week is really nine days long and bookended with two time trials. Saturday’s chrono in Bologna is 8.2 km long and pancake flat until the final two kilometres when it becomes a serious climb. Will riders swap out their bikes at its foot?

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There’s something for the sprinters as the route heads south, flares east and then returns north in the week that follows, especially on Stages 2, 3, and 5. Stages 4 and 7 have short ramps to the finish line that will eliminate all but a few sprinters from contention.

Stage 9’s time trial is the longest of the three. The route rises almost imperceptibly for 22 km before the climb to San Marino, the only visit to another country outside Italy. The first part of the climb is 5.6 km at 6.2 percent before a flatter middle section and then a final clamber to the line. In all the climb is 12.3 km of 4 percent.

Stage 9 is the longest of the three time trials and ends with a visit to San Marino.

Week Two

The two stages after the first rest day are absurdly flat. A half kilometre of 12.5 percent peaking 2 km from the finish in Pinerolo will thin out the peloton on Stage 12, but the first real summit finish comes on Stage 13. The Colle del Nivolet ascent to Lake Serrù is long at 34 km, but has a mitigating factor of a 5-km “step” just past the midway point. The final 5 kms have the steepest grades. The organizers crammed four steep climbs into Stage 14’s 131 km.

Stage 15 to Como caps off Week Two with some of the same climbs as Il Lombardia, including the crucial, 9.8 percent Civiglio cresting 10 km before the finish line. Paging Vincenzo Nibali…

Two time Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali will like Stage 15’s resemblance to Il Lombardia, which he has also won twice.

Week Three

Here we go. RCS Sport jammed a lot of difficulty into the final five-day week, starting with Stage 16’s visit to the Eastern Alps. Riders will scale two Giro classics–Passo di Gavia (16.5 km of 7.9 percent) and Mortirolo (12.1 km at 10.8 percent)–before a final long drag to the finish in Ponte di Legno.

The Gavia and Mortirolo await the riders on Stage 16.

Stage 17 ends with a mild Cat. 3 summit finish, while Stage 18 is the last chance for the sprinters. Like Stage 17, there aren’t any tough ascents on Stage 19 to soften up the legs before a 13.7 km, 5.7 percent summit finish at Anterselva/Antholz.

Stage 20 is a monster in the Dolomites. The first three climbs are all around 20 km in length. After a 40 km descent from the Passo Rolle, the riders have two last ascents, the 11.2 km Croce d’Aune and the final clamber up Monte Avena, 6.4 km of 7.7 percent. With the time trial coming the next day, the action should be frenetic.

June 2’s final stage is in fair Verona, where we lay our scene. There, a 17-km time trial will crown the next champion. Flat on both ends, the route has a 4.1 km, 4.8 percent hill that crests at the 9.5 km mark.

May 11 Stage 1: Bologna-San Luca ITT 8.2 km
May 12 Stage 2: Bologna–Fucecchio 200 km
May 13 Stage 3: Vinci–Orbetello 219 km
May 14 Stage 4: Orbetello–Frascati 228 km
May 15 Stage 5: Frascati–Terracina 140 km
May 16 Stage 6: Cassino–San Giovanni Rotondo, uphill finish 233 km
May 17 Stage 7: Vasto–L’Aquila 180 km
May 18 Stage 8: Tortoreto Lido–Pesaro 235 km
May 19 Stage 9: Riccione–San Marino ITT 34.7 km
May 20 Rest Day One
May 21 Stage 10: Ravenna–Modena 147 km
May 22 Stage 11: Carrpi–Novi Ligure 206 km
May 23 Stage 12: Cuneo–Pinerolo 146 km
May 24 Stage 13: Pinerolo–Ceresole Reale, summit finish 188 km
May 25 Stage 14: Saint-Vincent–Courmayeur 131 km
May 26 Stage 15: Ivrea–Como 237 km
May 27 Rest Day Two
May 28 Stage 16: Lovere-Ponte Di Legno, Gavia and Mortirolo 226 km
May 29 Stage 17: Commezzadura–Anterselva/Antholz summit finish 180km
May 30 Stage 18: Valdaora/Olang–Santa Maria di Sala 220 km
May 31 Stage 19: Treviso–San Martino di Castrozza summit finish 151-km
June 1 Stage 20: Feltre–Monte Avena summit finish 193 km
June 2 Stage 21: Verona–Verona ITT 15.6 km