The 2020 Giro d’Italia will begin in Sicily in October after organisers announced on Friday a revised start for the coronavirus-delayed Grand Tour.
The opening stage
of the 103rd edition will be a 16-kilometre individual time-trial
around Palermo on October 3, some five months after the race had been due to
start in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
The Giro’s second
stage will be a 150km run between Alcamo and Agrigento the following day. The
first major climb comes in the third stage on October 5 when riders will take
on Mount Etna, arriving at an altitude of 1,775 metres on the Piano Provenzana.
A sprint finish at
Villafranca Tirrena following a 138km ride from Catania in the fourth stage
will finish the Giro’s spell on the island on October 6.
It will be the
first time since 2008 that the Giro launches its ‘Grande Partenza’ in Sicily,
and the ninth time in the race’s history.
In Italy the Giro
was branded the biggest loser when cycling’s revised calendar was announced in
May because the three-week race, which will feature 21 stages, has a six-day
overlap with the Vuelta a Espana and will be raced at the same time as three ‘Monument’
classics.
The opening four
stages of the 2020 Giro d’Italia:
October 3: 1st
stage, Monreale – Palermo, 16km (individual time trial)
October 4: 2nd
stage Alcamo – Agrigento, 150km
October 5: 3rd
stage Enna – Etna (Piano Provenzana), 150km
October 6: 4th
stage Catania – Villafranca Tirrena, 138km
