The route for the 2016 Giro D'Italia has been announced in Milan.
The race will be over 3,383km from May 6th to May 29th, starting with an individual time tria which is not a prologue and will have seven mountain days and seven stages for the sprinters.
The race will start in the Netherlands with a 9.8km time trial in Apeldoorn before a stage from Arnhem to Nijemgem and then back the next day before a rest day and the transfer onto Italian soil.
Catanzaro will be the departure point for a 191km stage four which is a medium mountain stage with a finish in Praiha A Mare.
Stage five, a 233km stage from Praoa A Mare to Benevento will be lumpy with stage six from Ponte to Roccaraso (Aremogna) being a 165km stage with a mountain finish.
The sprinters should get a turn to excel on a 210km stage from Sulmona to Foligno which is the departure points for a 169km eighth stage with a finish in Arezzo.
The Chianti vineyards in central Tuscany will provide the back drop for the individual time trial on stage nine,
Back to the road racing and stage ten brings three climbs on a 216km stage from Campi Bisenzio to Sestola but a flattish stage from Modena to Asolo on a 212km stage eleven.
It's another sprinters stage on the 168km stage twelve from Noale to Bibbione but on stage thirteen, near the Slovenian border things get serious with four climbs on a 161km long stage from Palmanova to Cividale Del Friuli.
The Queens Stage could well be stage fourteen in the Dolomites with a 210km stage from Alpago (Farra)-Corvara (Alta Badia) with six major climbs.
Then, it's a 10.8km mountain time trial between Castelrotto and the Alpi di Siusi ski station with plenty of 8% average gradients and a road that twists and turns.
There will be more climbing on stage sixteen with a 133km stage from Bressanone/Brixen to Andalo but stage seventeen will give the sprinters who have survived this far, a chance with a 196km stage from Molveno to Cassano D'Adda.
A long 234km stage from Muggio to Pinerolo is lined up for stage eighteen before a mountain top finish on a 161km stage nineteen from Pinerolo to Risoul after crossing the border into France and taking on the 2744m Colle dell’Agnello, which is the highest climb of the race and will see the special Cima Coppi prize awarded for the first over the top.
The final mountain stage is on Stage 20 from Guillestre to Sant’Anna di Vinadio. A short stage at 134km, it does include the Col de Vars and 2715m Col de la Bonette before the final climb of the Colle della Lombarda which will test those racing for the maglia rosa to the limit.
The final stage is 150kms long on Sunday May 29th and sees the riders set off from Cuneo and head for Turin where the overall winner of the 2016 Giro d’Italia will be crowned.