For the Giro d'Italia the Italians had as much trouble (maybe even more!) keeping the track secret as A.S.O. for the Tour de France 2008, but since the presentation in the Arcimboldi theater in Milan yesterday the stages of the Giro d'Italia 2008 are now officially known.
In this article you'll read more about the different stages with some information about the track for these stages and the start and finish cities.
With the theme Si riaccende la passione - it rekindles the passion - the organiser of the Giro falls back to the same idea as the organiser of the Tour de France with it's theme Le Tour toujours wishing to get back some romantism in the Tour.

The 91st Giro d'Italia will take place between 10 May and 1 June 2008 and will start - just like this year - from an island which is part of Italy. While this year the first three stages of the Giro took place on op Sardinia this year it's Sicily's turn, again for the first three stages. The Giro is thus coming back to Sicily for the first time since 9 years!

Just like A.S.O., RCS Sport likes making small trips to other countries and next year the Giro d'Italia will stop or go through Switzerland and on the soil of the enclave San Marino.

The first stage as a team time trial is also becoming a tradition and the Giro 2008 will thus start on Saturday 10 May from the Piazza Giuseppe Verdi to arrive on the Piazza Politeama in Palermo over a team time trial track of 28,5 kilometers. This track will turn around the Mont Pellegrino. Palermo finally kicks of the Giro again, 22 year after the last start from this city on the north side of the island.

The track of the team time trial around Palermo. © RCS Sport
The second stage will cross Sicily from north to south to connect Cefalù to Agrigento and will partly follow the track used for the world championships in 1994.

The third stage will start in Catania on the east side of the island to take the riders to Milazzo on the north-east side of the island. This stage's track is pretty flat since the stage goes left around the Etna.

After the third stage the Giro will leave the island which forms the football at the foot of Italy to go on mainland Italy on the south side (let's hope that'll be less chaotic as this year from Sardinia).
The fourth stage's start will be in Pizzo Calabro to cross Italy's foot to the stage's finish in Catanzaro-Lungomare.
On this stage's track the riders will have to get over the Colle d'Arena which is 1100 meters high.

For the start of the fifth stage the riders have to transfer to the other side of Italy's foot to start from the seaside resort Belvedere Marittimo. 170 kilometers from there (about half of which will follow the coast line) they'll finish in Contursi Terme.

The Giro will than continue north with a stage going from Potenza to Peschici where the finish will be at 247 kilometers from the start (the longest stage of this Giro) and will take place on the circuit of Monte Gargano.

With 179 kilometers the seventh stage is much shorter but the stage's track between Vasto en Pescocostanzo will lead the riders over some mountains including the Macerone (684 meters), the Rionero Sannitico (1051 meters) and the Pietransieri (1337 meters). As a finishing touch they'll finish on a mountain top.

The eighth stage will start close to the finish of the previous stage, in Rivisondoli to arrive 200 kilometers further in Tivoli. Based on this stage's profile it looks like after the Forca d'Arcero there will be a long descent direction Tivoli ...

After a short transfer to Civitavecchia the riders will have to finish their 194 kilometers this day to finish in San Vincenzo, continuously following the coast line. This stage is pretty flat and they probably deserve that just before the rest day the next day on Monday 19 May.

After the rest day and a transfer to the east coast there'll be another time trial, this time it will be an individual time trial over a distance of 36 kilometers between Pesaro and Urbino.

The next day the riders will start in Urbania a little bit further and they'll arrive in Cesena after 193 kilometers. These 193 kilometers are pretty hilly with mountains like the Monte Carpegna at 1358 meters.

The Giro will continue with two pretty flat stages: the twelfth stage which will connect Forlì to Carpi over 171 kilometers and the thirteenth stage from Modena to Cittadella in 192 kilometers.

The third weekend of this Tour of Italy will probably be the most difficult weekend with two heavy mountain stages.
First of all the fourteenth stage which will make the riders climb directly from the start in Verona and with the Passo Manghen (2043 meters) and a mountain top finish in Alpe di Pampeago / Val di Fiemme (1740 meters) on the stage's track.
On Sunday the track is almost circular for the fifteenth stage between Arabba and Passo Fedaia / Marmolada (Dolomiti Stars). The riders will have to climb no less then 5 mountains in the 'only' 153 kilometers of this stage before climbing for the sixth time to the stage's finish: the Passo Pordoi, the Passo San Pellegrino, San Tomaso Agordino, the Passo di Giau and the Passo Falzarego.

Once arrived at the north of Italy there's yet another individual time trial between San Vigilio di Marebbe and Plan de Corones (Kronplatz). This is a pretty short time trial with a distance of only 13,8 kilometers.

With all these mountain and time trial stages there will be a severe selection for the highest places in the ranking for the pink jersery!

The riders again get a well deserved rest day on Tuesday 27 May before they start the last week of this Tour of Italy.

This last week will start with the 17th stage which starts in Sondrio on the north side of Italy to finish 192 kilometers from there in Locarn in Switzerland! This is a hilly stage with especially the Passo dello Spluga and the Passo San Bernardino before starting the descent to Locarno.

The next day is reserved for the 18th stage which is pretty flat and will connect Mendrisio - still in Switzerland - with Varese in Italy.

The next two stages are again real mountain stages with on Friday 30 May the 19th stage which will lead the riders and their followers from Legnano to Presolana. The finish will be on top of the Monte Pora after 228 kilometers on their bike. During this stage the riders will also have to climb the Passo del Vivione and the Passo della Presolana before they can start climbing to the finish at the top.

The last mountain stage will start in Rovetta and will go over the Passo di Gavia (the Giro's 'roof top' because with its 2618 meters this is the highest point of this Tour of Italy), the Passo del Mortirolo and the Aprica. The finish will be in Tirano after 224 kilometers.

To finish all this, the Giro d'Italia will end with a final individual time trial which will connect Cesano Maderno with the final finish in Milan after 23,5 kilometers. Probably we won't know for sure who will wear the final pink leader jersey before the end of this final stage ...

By that time, the riders will have finish 3,423.80 kilometers on their bikes and another few hundreds of kilometers in a car or in their team's bus.

The rest of this Giro in numbers

- 91 - this is the 91st edition of the Giro since it's creation 99 years ago
- 247 - the number of kilometers of the longest stage, connecting Potenza to Peschici
- 153 - the number of kilometers of the shortest stage (except time trials), connecting Verona to the Alpe di Pampeago
- 12 - the number of cities in which the Giro will start or finish for the first time: 6 as a stage finish (Contursi Terme, Pescocostanzo, Cittadella, Passo Fedaia, Plan de Corones and Monte Pora) and 6 as a stage start (Pizzo Calabro, Belvedere Marittimo, Civitavecchia, Urbania, Legnano and Rovetta)

The map

List of stages

Date	Stage	Start	Finish	Distance	Comments
Sa 10 May	1	Palermo	Palermo	28,5 km	team time trial
Su 11 May	2	Cefalù	Agrigento	207 km	world championships 1994 track
Mo 12 May	3	Catania	Milazzo	208 km	-
Th 13 May	4	Pizzo Calabro	Catanzaro-Lungomare	187 km	-
We 14 May	5	Belvedere Marittimo	Contursi Terme	170 km	-
Th 15 May	6	Potenza	Peschici	247 km	longest stage
Fr 16 May	7	Vasto	Pescocostanzo	179 km	-
Sa 17 May	8	Rivisondoli	Tivoli	200 km	-
Su 18 May	9	Civitavecchia	San Vincenzo	194 km	-
Mo 19 May	-	Repos	-	-	-
Tu 20 May	10	Pesaro	Urbino	36 km	individual time trial
We 21 May	11	Urbania	Cesena	193 km	Monte Carpegna
Th 22 May	12	Forlì	Carpi	171 km	-
Fr 23 May	13	Modena	Cittadella	192 km	-
Sa 24 May	14	Verona	Alpe di Pampeago / Val di Fiemme	195 km	mountain finish
Su 25 May	15	Arabba	Passo Fedaia / Marmolada	153 km	shortest stage but with 5 mountains + mountain finish
Mo 26 May	16	San Vigilio di Marebbe	Plan de Corones	13,8	very short individual time trial
Tu 27 May	-	Repos	-	-	-
We 28 May	17	Sondrio	Locarno (Suisse)	192 km	Passo dello Spluga, Passo San Bernardino
Th 29 May	18	Mendrisio (Suisse)	Varese	182 km	-
Fr 30 May	19	Legnano	Presolana	228 km	mountain finish
Sa 31 May	20	Rovetta	Tirano	224 km	Passo di Gavia (toit du Giro), Passo del Mortirolo, Aprica
Su 1 June	21	Cesano Maderno	Milan	23,5 km	individual time trial

All images in this article are © RCS Sport

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Giro d Italia | Cycling general (except Tour de France)

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