The Giro d’Italia is one of cycling’s three Grand Tours, along with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. It is the first of the three week races of the cycling season, usually taking place in the month of May.
As you might expect, the race predominantly takes place within its home country of Italy, but has frequently visited other nations in its 103 editions so far, 2021 is the 104th edition.
The race for 2021 takes place entirely in Italy, starting and finishing in the North West of the country taking in almost all of mainland Italy along the 3450km route.
The Giro is well known for its long, high mountain stages in the Alps and Dolomites, making famous names of climbs like the Passo dello Stelvio, Passo Gavia, Monte Zoncolan, Passo di Mortirolo, and Passo Giau among others.
But the Giro is often decided by it’s testing time trials, with the 2021 edition featuring two efforts against the clock which open and close the race.
Anyone hoping to win the Giro overall will also need to navigate numerous sprint stages and medium mountain stages, which offer up opportunities to riders looking for prestigious individual stage wins that can define careers.
Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) took the overall title in a shock win over another young up-and-coming rider in Jai Hindley (Team DSM) by 39 seconds last year.
The British rider went into the race to support Geraint Thomas, who crashed out early on after hitting a bottle. Last year’s edition introduced a whole new cast of Grand Tour riders with Geoghegan Hart, Hindley and João Almeida (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) looking like potential future winners.
