The 2013 Giro d'Italia finished on Sunday but rumours already circulate around the make-up of next year's route. According to Tuttosport, the feared Monte Zoncolan will be back after a two-year absence while Milan could be back as the place of the grande arrivo.
Despite the many alterations, this year's course for the Giro d'Italia was mostly heralded as a spectacular and well-balanced one. With a little less than one year to the start of the 2014 edition, the Giro organizers have apparently already made up the itinerary of next year's race and hope to repeat the success.
It has already been confirmed that the race will start far from Italy in the Northern Ireland where the riders will tackle to stages around Belfast. On the third day of racing they cross the border into Ireland to finish in Dublin and then they face a long travel back to Italy to restart the race in its homeland without taking an early rest day.
According to a report in Tuttosport, the race is expected to continue with a team time trial near Bari in the Southern part of Italy, thus keeping with recent tradition of using the collective event to restart things the day after its return from a foreign race start. The riders will then travel north and the route will include a stage finishing in Ponte a Ema to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Gino Bartali's birth in that city.
A time trial should take place between Barbarolo and Barbaresco near Turin while the feared Jafferau and Monte Zoncolan climbs could also be part of the race's make-up. Mauro Santambrogio came out triumphant on the former in this year's race on a day where fog prevented the production of live images from the short 7km climb with an average gradient of almost 10%. The latter is extremely steep and includes several stretches of more than 20% gradient and was last used in 2011 when Igor Anton beat Vincenzo Nibali on the torturous slopes.
Many had suggested that the race should return to Sicily, the birthplace of this year's Giro champion Vincenzo Nibali, but that is unlikely to happen. The start in Northern Ireland means that the riders will face the stress of a long travel early in the race, and RCS will try to limit transfers later in the race.
Unlike the Tour and Vuelta which always finish in the capital of their home countries, the Giro has finished in different cities in recent years. While Milan has been the most common choice, the race finished in Rome in 2009, in Verona in 2010 and in Brescia this year. Race director Michele Acquarone confirmed that he would like the race to finish in Milan due to historical reasons but the team has not made an official request to hold the grande arrivo and so he could choose another of the many cities that have expressed interest in the event.
The route will be presented during the autumn, often on the day after the Tour of Lombardy which is another important RCS event.
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