2022 Giro d’Italia – Route Preview

In short? Lotta hills, not a lotta time-trials. That makes things difficult for some riders, but opens the door to the climbers as a major target. And it’s just better to watch.

51km of altitude gain. 26.3km of time-trialing. LOL. Here’s the route.

The Route

The 2022 Giro starts in Hungary, beginning with an uphill sprint(?) finale. Then we go straight into a 9.2km time-trial. One day for the sprinters, and then we’re on for an early rest day.

When we return, we’re on Sicily, headed to Mt Etna. That’s a volcano. Stage Four, folks! Sprints for two days following, then a hilly Stage Seven. Stage Eight finishes on a circuit, which is fun. And Stage Nine takes in 5km of climbing. We won’t know who will win by now, but we’ll certainly be able to identify who won’t.

Stage Ten passes through Filottrano, home of the late Michele Scarponi. Puncheurs will look for victory on Stage 11. And a sprint almost certainly awaits on Stage 12.

The week ends with an Alpine summit finish at Cogne after a lot of climbing.

After a rest day, a big Stage 16 awaits with a lot of climbing. Yeah, the Mortirolo. This stage takes in 5.5km of climbing, and should shake up the GC.

More climbing follows, albeit with a plateau summit finish that may limit the time gains of the pure climbers. Two more tough days follow.

Entering the final weekend, we finally his the big, big climbs. This could decide the race, cementing a leader or turning the GC upside down.

But hopefully it doesn’t decide the race too much, because the final stage is a 17.4km time-trial in Verona. Could be an epic final stage. Could be a procession. No idea, and we fired our Italian correspondent for going full Q-Anon so we can’t make a good prediction.