TOMORROW'S STAGE
Stage 8 – FOLIGNO - AREZZO – 186km
This stage combines flat and mountain roads. The route runs up the Tiber River valley, after rolling past Assisi and Perugia, all the way up to Città di Castello. The roads are quite wide, but with worn out surfaces in places, and narrowing when cutting through urban areas. Just past Città di Castello, the route leaves the Tiber River valley to tackle the steep Anghiari ascent first, followed by the Scheggia categorised climb. The stage course rolls along wavy roads, with a few narrower sectors while crossing urban areas, all the way up to Indicatore (intermediate sprint) and Arezzo. Next on the route, after a first pass over the finish line, is the Alpe di Poti climb, featuring 6.4km on dirt roads, and double-digit gradients. After clearing the KOM summit, the road drops quickly into Foce dello Scopetone and straight into the finish.
Final kms
The final kilometres run entirely within the city. A fast descent down from Scopetone, with wide bends, leads to the stadium. The route then cuts across the city centre, where traffic dividers and roundabouts will be the main obstacles. After the “flamme rouge”, the route takes two right-hand bends on wide roundabouts, and passes under a mediaeval gateway. A short, steep climb (first on asphalt road, and then on stone-slab paving) leads to the home straight (200m), still slightly uphill (approx 5%), on 6m wide stone-slab paving.
POINTS OF INTEREST
The stage starts from Foligno (Umbria) and finishes in Arezzo (Tuscany), with a very wavy and bumpy profile in the final part.
FOLIGNO – km 0
Foligno hosted a stage start in 1968 and finish in 2014; and was the start city for the Foligno-Assisi ITT, the second stage of the 1995 Giro d’Italia when the Swiss Tony Rominger snatched the Maglia Rosa from Mario Cipollini and defended it all the way to Milan.
SPELLO – km 3 and ASSISI – km 15
Spello, at the foot of Mount Subasio, has a rich Roman heritage and major landmarks such as the Baglioni chapel, with frescoes by Pinturicchio (c. 1452-1513). Next on the stage course is the beautiful Assisi, brimming with architectural and artistic splendour.
Assisi is known as the town of Saint Francis (1181/1182-1226) and Saint Clare (c. 1193 -1253), both of whom were designated patron saints of Italy. The Basilica of Saint Francis has been holding the remains of the saint since 1230, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
UMBERTIDE (intermediate sprint) – km 64
The route runs past Piccione, Casa del Diavolo and Resina, and enters the wide territory of Perugia. The magnificent old town rises on the upland surrounding the Tiber valley. Next on the stage course is Umbertide (intermediate sprint) which features a number of remarkable civil buildings and churches, housing paintings by Luca Signorelli and Pinturicchio. The castle of Civitella Ranieri lies 3km from the town, surrounded by a lush wood.
MONTERCHI (feed zone) – km 97
SCHEGGIA (KOM) – km 120
While approaching the third-category Scheggia climb, the route runs through Anghiari, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. Anghiari is the scene of a battle between the Florentine and the Milanese troops in 1440, that was subsequently portrayed in a painting by Leonardo da Vinci.
INDICATORE (intermediate sprint) – km 146
AREZZO (passage) – km 154
The city was first settled by the Etruscans, then conquered by the Romans, then after 1000 AD, it thrived as an independent municipality. In the 1289 battle of Campaldino, near Poppi, the mainly Ghibelline forces from Arezzo were defeated by Florence and Siena, securing Florence’s dominance over Arezzo. One of Florence’s combatants was Dante Alighieri.
Two major symbols of the city, the Roman statue of Minerva and the Etruscan Chimera, were discovered during restoration works.
ALPE DI POTI (KOM) – km 168
AREZZO – km 186
Arezzo hosts the stage finish. Major landmarks include the Gothic cathedral, featuring frescoes by Piero della Francesca, the 14th century church of San Damiano, with a wooden crucifix by Cimabue, the Basilica of San Francesco, Casa Vasari and Loggia Vasari, Piazza Grande and the Fortezza Medicea. Notable citizens include Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (68-8 BC), “minister” for culture under emperor Augustus, whose name has become a byword for a generous patron of the arts; Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374); Pietro Aretino (1492-1556), poet and writer, and Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), painter, architect and art historian.
The city has hosted 11 Giro d’Italia stage finishes, with victory going to Girardengo in 1925, Binda in 1928, Olmo in 1937, Volpi in 1940, Maggini in 1950, Pellegrini in 1959, Bariviera in 1963, to Renosto in 1981, Sciandri in 1992 and Cipollini in both 1997 and in 2003.
TV COVERAGE
TV coverage of the 99th Giro d’Italia will reach all four corners of the world: 184 countries will see the Corsa Rosa on 29 different networks, 24 of them live.
ITALY
RAI – Radio Televisione Italiana, the longstanding host broadcaster, provides extensive coverage of the Corsa Rosa. The action is live in three separate programmes: “Prima diretta” ("Pre-Live") on Rai Sport 1, “Giro in diretta” ("Giro Live") at 15:10 - 16:15 in simulcast on Rai 3 and Rai HD, and “Giro all’arrivo” ("Giro on the Finish Line"), with the last hour of racing until 17:15. The traditional post-race analysis programme "Processo alla Tappa" ("The Stage on Trial") ends at 18:00.
When the race reaches Italy, the stage start will be covered in Rai Sport 1's "Giro Mattina" ("Giro Morning"), showing the signing in ceremony, with interviews, the start of racing, and local colour. The strand "Journey through the Italy of the Giro d'Italia" will show historical and cultural anecdotes and features.
For viewers unable to watch the stage live in the afternoon, the evening show TGiro ("Giro Bulletin") will tell the story of the day's racing from 20:00 on Rai Sport 1, followed by Giro Notte ("Late Night Giro"), with 90’ of stage highlights from 22:45 on Rai Sport 2. The Corsa Rosa will be streamed on the website www.rai.tv.
AROUND THE WORLD
In Italy the Giro can also be seen live on Eurosport, broadcasting to 53 countries across Europe from 14:15, with race commentary in 19 languages.
In France, the stages are live exclusively on beINSports, with reports and features from the scene.
The Dutch public broadcaster NOS is showing three hours of live racing of the first three stages in the Netherlands, as well as the final 90 minutes of the weekend stages in Italy, plus daily highlights of every stage.
Free to air race coverage is live in Flemish via VRT, in Danish on TV2 Denmark, in Switzerland via SRG SSR, in Spain via Teledeporte and EITB and in Kazakhstan, in highlights, on Kaz Sports.
The Corsa Rosa is live in South America on ESPN, with Portuguese commentary in Brazil, English commentary in the Caribbean and Spanish across the rest of South America. Colombian fans have a wide range of options, with live coverage on RCN and Señal Colombia. TDN is showing the race live in Mexico and Central America. beIN Sports is covering the Giro in the United States of America and RDS is providing French-language coverage in Canada.
The Giro d’Italia is also on the small screen in the Middle East and North Africa thanks to live coverage on beIN Sports, while in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa the Giro is on the Supersport channels.
In Asia, the Corsa Rosa in available in 16 countries via Eurosport Asia Pacific; J Sports is covering the race live and exclusive in Japan. LeTV is doing the same in China.
Race highlights are on FPT Telecom in Vietnam, while the Thai public can enjoy the key parts of the stage on both True Visions and NOW26.
The huge interest that Australia has shown in the Giro continues in 2016: SBS is showing all 21 stage live, while Fox Sports is showing highlights. In New Zealand, Sky is showing the race live and in highlights.
Finally, the Corsa Rosa is being shown worldwide via SNTV - Sports News Television and Sport24, the 24 hour sports channel for airline and cruise ship passengers.
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