BARCELONA, 5 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The 105th edition of the Giro d’Italia starts this Friday with a ‘Grande Partenza’ from Budapest (Hungary) and with a well-known finish in Verona, with a time trial with ascent that will put an end to a ‘pink corsa’ of almost 3,450 kilometers that will have historical colossi and others that seek to be such as Etna, Marmolada and a double passage through the Blockhaus.
A total of 3,445.6 kilometers for an average of 164.1 kilometers per stage with 50,580 meters of accumulated altitude; this is how this Giro 2022 is. The start, that ‘Grande Partenza’, will be three stages in Hungary. The first will be flat starting in Budapest and arriving at Visegrád Castle, with ascent in its last 5 kilometers and ramps of up to 8 percent.
The Hungarian capital will host the second stage in its entirety, on May 7, with an individual time trial of 9.2 kilometers with a drop of 150 meters. An urban time trial linking the Hungarian capital from Pest to the historic center of Buda, with a final section with peaks at a 14 percent gradient before reaching Buda Square. Finally, in the third stage, the peloton will start from Kaposvár and arrive in Balatonfüred on a flat stage, the first for sprinters.
Italy will host his ‘pink corsa’ from the fourth stage -with a subsequent excursion to Slovenia-, after a forced day of rest and transfer. But it will be a special ‘4-star’ stage return between Avola and Mount Etna, the famous volcano that will be the end of a 166-kilometre stage that will culminate in almost 40 kilometers of prolonged ascent, with an unprecedented approach to Ragalna and after passing, as in the 2011 Giro, by the classic Nicolosi before the last 14 kilometers to the volcanic summit.
Etna will be one of the six stages considered high mountain. The Apennines will also have a lot of weight in this new Giro, and the double climb to Blockhaus -where Eddy Merckx consecrated himself- will be one of the hardest arrivals. From Pretoro the Passo Lanciano will be reached and then the finish line will be climbed from Roccamorice, as in 2017, with double-digit slopes in tight and hard curves like few others.
Despite not having a hilltop finish, the stage between Salò and Aprica will be historic. And it will be for climbing the Goletto di Cadino –absent since 1998 and Pantani’s fiefdom–, the always demanding and necessary Passo del Mortirolo and a climb to Santa Cristina where in the past a Pantani-Indurain duel was seen that remained for the annals of history.
The stage between Ponte di Legno and Lavarone can be attractive due to its atypical route, divided into two mountainous parts and with a climb at the start, as soon as the flag is lowered. A long descent will take the peloton to the second stage, with three passes and a final climb up.
In this stage, the Vetriolo pass will be climbed on one side that cannot be seen and the Menador climb, with its sharp curves and tunnels typical of roads carved into the rock for war reasons, as well as the Monte Rovere pass prior to a arrival where only the strongest will arrive in the lead.
The Dolomites will not miss the appointment, which will have a stage to remove the hiccups between Belluno and Marmolada with 4,500 meters of accumulated difference in altitude. It will be a last triptych of climbs with the San Pellegrino Pass (slopes of more than 15 percent after Falcade), followed by the Pordoi Pass (Cima Coppi 2022, the highest peak of the entire route or ‘percorso’) and finally , the Paso Fedaia with the famous Malga Ciapela facing the Marmolada, absent for 14 years in the Giro and that always has slopes of more than 10 percent and reaches a maximum of 18.
The Marmolada will be the last high finish in the mountains, but this Giro d’Italia presents among its strong points a ‘Grande Arrivo’ that could turn the classification around and change the owner of the ‘pink jersey’. If the general is in a fist before the final stage, it will take on even more relevance with a time trial of 17.1 kilometers with a port in its equator and finish before the Verona Arena.
The runners will be measured in this last stage to a route through the streets of Verona that includes a 5 percent climb with an average gradient and “steps” with large ramps, which will give way to 4 kilometers of descent to face the last 3,000 meters by the city, until the arrival in Piazza Bra and the Arena. It will be the fifth time that the Giro has finished in Verona, after the previous editions of 1981, 1984, 2010 and 2019.