Giro d'Italia 2024 route

The 2024 Giro d'Italia will include two time trials (of 37.2km and 31km), a 12km Strade Bianche gravel section on stage 6 and six mountain top finishes, with race organiser RCS Sport hoping the balanced but testing route will attract several big-name overall contenders and perhaps even Tadej Pogačar.

The 107th edition of the Corsa Rosa starts in Turin on Saturday, May 4 and ends in Rome with a circuit stage around the Colosseum on Sunday, May 26.

The riders face three weeks of hard racing. However, RCS Sport have finally followed other Grand Tour and reduced stage distances to try to make the daily racing more exciting, with only four stages over 200km and many around 170km.

The full route was presented in Trento on Friday during the Gazzetta dello Sport Festival of Sport. 2023 winner Primož Roglič, his future Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Jai Hindley, Filippo Ganna, Peter Sagan and two-time winner Vincenzo Nibali were all presented at the route presentation and liked what they saw.

The time trials are on stage 7 in Umbria, with a climb up to the finish in Perugia after 37.2 km and on stage 14 over a flat 31 km near Lake Garda.

The mountain finishes start early in the 2024 Corsa Rosa meaning the overall contenders will have to be at their best when they travel to Italy in early May.

The first key stage is on stage 2 to Oropa, with other tough days in the mountain on stage 8 to Prati di Tivo in the southern Apennines and to Cusano Mutri inland from Naples on stage 10.

The final week is packed with climbs, with stage 15 finishing at 2385 metres in Livigno after a short visit to Switzerland.

After the second rest day the riders climb the Passo dello Stelvio, the highest point in the 2024 Giro d'Italia at 2758 metres and so the Cima Coppi. Sadly the legendary hairpins come early in the stage followed by a fast valley ride east for an 11%, 2.7km mountain finish at Monte Pana near Santa Cristina in Val Gardena.

Stage 17 includes several climbs and finishes on the Passo Brocon, while stage 19 returns to Sappada to no doubt evoke memories of Stephen Roche's attack and overall victory in the 1987 Giro.

Stage 20 offers a final chance to snatch overall victory with a double climb of Monte Grappa in the Veneto region. The fast descent to the finish could be as decisive as the two climbs.

The 2024 Giro d'Italia winner will be crowned like a Roman Emperor in the centre of Rome, after an environmentally unfriendly 550 km transfer from Venice to the capital.

The first week - early mountains and Tuscan dirt roads

The 2024 Grande Partenza was revealed earlier this week, with Turin and the Piemonte region hosting the opening three stages before the route heads south.

The northeast of Italy is set to become a crossroads of Grand Tour racing, with the area also hosting a stage of the 2024 Tour de France after the Grand Depart in Tuscany, with reports that the 2025 Vuelta a Espana could also start in Piemonte.

Teams will stay in and around Turin, with stage 1 starting from Venaria Reale north of the city. This is the fourth Giro Grande Partenza in the city, with Ganna the last winner of an individual time trial in 2021.

The opening stage coincides with the 75th anniversary of the 1949 air tragedy when a plane carrying Turin's football team, known locally as Grande Torino, crashed on the Superga hilltop on the outskirts of the city and all 31 people on board died.

The 136km stage will climb the Superga climb mid-stage before the Colle Maddalena and a fast descent to the finish in central Turin. The sprinters will have to work for a shot at victory and the first maglia rosa.

Stage 2 will be the earliest major mountain finish at the Giro d'Italia since the race began in Sicily in 1989 and went up Mount Etna.

The Oropa finish also marks the 25th anniversary of Marco Pantani's famous victory on the climb to the sanctuary in 1999, when he dropped his chain at the foot of the climb but blasted past all his rivals. A week later Pantani failed a haematocrit test and was excluded from the race, changing his career and life forever.

The Oropa climb is not long or steep at 11.8km and 6.2% but Tom Dumoulin distanced his rivals back in 2017.

The sprinters will finally get their chance on stage 30 to Fossano, with stage 4 to Andora on the Ligurian coast a second opportunity if they can survive the midstage Colle del Melogno. The sprinters can also target stage 5 to Viareggio on the Tuscan coast but have to survive the late Montemagno climb. 

Stage 6 from Lucca to Rapolano Terme is more testing, with the second half of the 177 km stage in the Chianti hills south of Siena. The stage covers the Vidritta and Bagnaia dirt roads used in Strade Bianche each spring, plus a new sector near Pievina and an uphill finish in Rapolano Terme. It seems a perfect day for the Classics riders will be a test of bike skills and nerve for the overall contenders too.

The stage 7 37.2km Foligno to Perugia time trial comes the day after and so is another early important stage for anyone targeting the maglia rosa. Lose a minute here and it will be difficult to recover.

Stage 8 ends with the 14.6km climb to Prati di Tivo near the Gran Sasso in Abruzzo. The climb was used in the 2021 Tirreno-Adriatico, with Tadej Pogačar beating Simon Yates to set up the overall victory.

Stage 9 takes the Giro peloton to Napoli for the now traditional circuit finish in the hills of the city.

Week two - to Naples, the south and a second flat time trial

The riders will enjoy the first rest day on Monday, May 13 in the Naples area before stage 10 starts from Pompeii and its famous Roman ruins that were buried under ash and pumice after Mount Vesuvius erupted on a massive scale in 79 A.D.

The 141 km stage is short but includes a number of climbs and ends with the 20.9km, 4.6% grind to Cusano Mutri and the Bocca della Selva climb.

The route crosses to the Adriatic coast for the second week, with sprint stages likely in Francavilla a Mare on stage 11 and then up to Cento in Emilia Romagna. Stage 12 to Fano may look flat but includes a series of short steep climbs in the second half of the 183 km stage, which seems ideal for a breakaway but also another GC showdown.

The second time trial comes on stage 14, with a flat and fast 31km 'cronometro' from Castiglione delle Stiviere to Desenzano del Garda on the southern edge of the lake. It is a time trial for the specialists and the last chance to gain time before the mountains of the final week.

The high mountains begin on stage 15 and the third Sunday of the race. The 220km stage is the longest of the 2024 Giro d'Italia and climbs from Manerba del Garda high into the Alps, via the Colle San Zeno and Switzerland. The road to Livigno is long and constant but the day ends with an extra twist and extra climb up to Mottolino, above the ski resort and border town. The final two kilometres climb at over 10%.

Week three - into the high mountains

The riders will spend the second day at altitude in Livigno, unable to escape the mountains to come.

Stage 16 is 202 km and starts with the Passo dello Stelvio. Having the Cimas Coppi so close to the start is questionable but will still hurt. The stage then descended into the valley and across to the Val Gardena dolomites for the climb up the little-known Passi di Pinei and up further to Val Gardena.

Stage 17 is arguably the tappone of the 2024 Giro d'Italia and so the Queen stage. The 159 km ride starts immediately with the Passo Sella and then climbs the Passo Rolle and then the high plain Passo Brocon twice via a nasty loop.  The middle third of the 10.9k climb is especially hard, with a gradient of 10.5% for three kilometres.

RCS Sport have put a long descent and so expected sprint finish at the end of stage 18 to Padua but the mountains return on stage 19 for the final GC battle of the 2024 Giro.

Stage 19 climbs high to Sappada close to the border with Austria, with an extra climb from the village up to Cima Sappada and the Biathlon arena included in the short 155 km stage.

In 1987, Roche attacked race leader and fellow Carrera team leader Roberto Visentini and went on to gain 6:50 and the maglia rosa in Sappada. Perhaps the road will inspire similar skulduggery in 2024. 

Stage 20 is over 195 km and includes two climbs of Monte Grappa, which overlooks the Vento plains and remembers the many lives lost in the First World War and the many members of the Italian resistance who were killed at the end of World War II when Germany occupied Italy. 

The stage also passes through San Martino di Colle Umberto to remember Ottavio Bottecchia on the hundredth anniversary of his Tour de France victory. It climbs Monte Grappa from the Treviso side and Semonzo, with riders facing an 18.1km climb on the nearly constant 8% military gradients and sweeping hairpins.

Whoever is in the maglia rosa after the final summit finish will surely be crowned the overall winner of the 2024 Giro d'Italia the following day in central Rome.

Stage 1: Venaria Reale-Torino, 136km

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Stage 2: San Francesco al Campo - Santuario di Oropa, 154km

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Stage 3: Novara - Fossano, 165km

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Stage 4: Acqui Terme - Andora

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Stage 5: Genova - Lucca

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Stage 6: Viareggio - Rapolano Terme

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Stage 7: Foligno - Perugia (ITT) 37.2km

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Stage 8: Spoleto - Prati di Tivo

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Stage 9: Avezzano - Napoli, 206km

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Stage 10: Pompei - Cusano Mutri, 141km

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Stage 11: Foiano di Valfortore to Francavilla al Mare, 203km

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Stage 12: Martinsicuro - Fano, 183km

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Stage 13: Riccione - Cento, 179km

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Stage 14: Castiglione delle Stiviere - Desenzano del Garda (ITT), 31km

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Stage 15: Manerba del Garda - Livigno (Mottolino), 220km

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Stage 16: Livigno - Santa Cristina Valgardena (Monte Pana), 202km

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Stage 17: Selva di Val Gardena - Passo del Brocon, 159km

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Stage 18: Fiera di Primiero - Padova, 166km

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Stage 19: Mortegliano - Sappada, 155km

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Stage 20: Alpago - Bassano del Grappa, 175km

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Stage 21: Rome - Rome, 126km

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