2019 Giro d'Italia to Start in Bologna
MILAN (AFP) - The 2019 Giro d'Italia will begin with an 8.2km time-trial in Bologna, in the central Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, organizers have announced.
Britain's Chris Froome won the 2018.
The 102nd edition of the race for the pink jersey will start on May 11 and end on June 2, with full details of the world's second biggest stage race, after the Tour de France, to be published in November.
The race gets underway with a tough individual time trial concluding in an uphill finish at the San Luca Sanctuary which overlooks Bologna, which last hosted the opening stage 25 years ago.
"Emilia-Romagna has produced some of the greatest champions of the sport of cycling. It thoroughly deserves this recognition," said Giro director Mauro Vegni.
Many top Italian cyclists have hailed from the region including former Tour de France and Giro winner Marco Pantini, who died in 2004.
The second stage heads south from Bologna, with the peloton revisiting the Emilia-Romagna region with starts or finishes in Riccione, Ravenna, Modena and Carpi, organizers RCS said.
RCS confirmed that stage nine will be a demanding 34.7km time-trial from the Adriatic coastal town of Riccione to San Marino, where the second half of the course is almost entirely uphill, and suits the climbers.
The Giro's first rest day will be on May 20, the race resuming the following day with a flat 147km stage 10 from Ravenna to Modena which will favor the sprinters.
Stage 11 will start from Carpi and, according to RCS Sport, "head west".
"We realized it was time to create something unforgettable with the Big Start in Bologna and other stages that visit different parts of the Emilia-Romagna region, passing from the coast to the mountains via the plains and countryside," added Vegni.
*****Britain's Chris Froome of Team Sky won the Giro d'Italia in 2018 for his sixth grand tour title.
Britain's Chris Froome won the 2018.
The 102nd edition of the race for the pink jersey will start on May 11 and end on June 2, with full details of the world's second biggest stage race, after the Tour de France, to be published in November.
The race gets underway with a tough individual time trial concluding in an uphill finish at the San Luca Sanctuary which overlooks Bologna, which last hosted the opening stage 25 years ago.
"Emilia-Romagna has produced some of the greatest champions of the sport of cycling. It thoroughly deserves this recognition," said Giro director Mauro Vegni.
Many top Italian cyclists have hailed from the region including former Tour de France and Giro winner Marco Pantini, who died in 2004.
The second stage heads south from Bologna, with the peloton revisiting the Emilia-Romagna region with starts or finishes in Riccione, Ravenna, Modena and Carpi, organizers RCS said.
RCS confirmed that stage nine will be a demanding 34.7km time-trial from the Adriatic coastal town of Riccione to San Marino, where the second half of the course is almost entirely uphill, and suits the climbers.
The Giro's first rest day will be on May 20, the race resuming the following day with a flat 147km stage 10 from Ravenna to Modena which will favor the sprinters.
Stage 11 will start from Carpi and, according to RCS Sport, "head west".
"We realized it was time to create something unforgettable with the Big Start in Bologna and other stages that visit different parts of the Emilia-Romagna region, passing from the coast to the mountains via the plains and countryside," added Vegni.
*****Britain's Chris Froome of Team Sky won the Giro d'Italia in 2018 for his sixth grand tour title.