From the mountain time trial to the Zoncolan: a challenging Giro d’Italia awaits for Team Visma | Lease a Bike
The route for the upcoming Giro d’Italia has been unveiled. The 110th edition features plenty of high mountains, offering the climbers plenty of opportunities to shine. Marc Reef, Head of Racing at Team Visma | Lease a Bike, is already looking forward to next year’s first Grand Tour with great enthusiasm.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike enjoyed a historic Giro d’Italia this season. With six stage victories and Jonas Vingegaard claiming the overall victory, completing the unique Grand Tour trilogy, the team added another chapter to its history. According to Reef, next year will once again offer plenty of opportunities to build on the team’s successful Giro history.
“It is a beautiful route, offering opportunities for all types of riders,” Reef says in his initial reaction. “To win this Giro d’Italia, you need to have a wide range of qualities. That makes it a really exciting challenge.”
The Giro d’Italia will start on 8 May in Trieste with a hilly opening weekend, before the peloton makes a trip across the border into Slovenia on the second day. The first uphill finish comes in stage five, followed by a mountain time trial of almost twenty kilometers in stage seven. The first week concludes with a mountain stage finishing towards Monte Livata.
"It is a beautiful route, offering opportunities for all types of riders"
The Head of Racing at Team Visma | Lease a Bike sees plenty to look forward to in the opening week. “The opening weekend offers opportunities for several types of riders to make their mark, followed shortly afterwards by the first real mountain stage. However, the mountain time trial is the stage I am particularly looking forward to. It is a discipline we do not get to see very often, but it always provides plenty of excitement.”
The second week begins with an opportunity for the sprinters, followed by a mountain stage in Tuscany. Attention will then turn primarily to the final weekend, with a key stage on Saturday featuring no fewer than 4,900 meters of climbing. On Sunday, the week concludes with a 37.3-kilometer time trial finishing in Milan. It was there that Jos van Emden, then a rider for the team and now a sports director with the women's team, claimed the time trial victory in 2017.
“The toughest part of the race comes in the final week, with an extremely demanding mountain stage and a long time trial,” Reef continues. “The great thing about this route is the mix of different types of stages. It adds another dimension to the race. I am also really looking forward to the mountain stage in Tuscany, finishing at Zum Zeri. It is always great to tackle climbs that are less familiar to us.”
"The queen stage featuring the Mortirolo and the Gavia is, of course, a fantastic stage with a great deal of history"
The queen stage follows immediately after the second rest day, featuring no fewer than 5,700 meters of climbing. The peloton will tackle the famous Mortirolo twice, among other climbs. If the battle for the overall victory is still undecided, a gruelling mountain stage awaits on Saturday, as the Giro d’Italia returns to the Monte Zoncolan. The race will then conclude in Rome, where Vingegaard claimed the overall victory last year.
The final week promises to be the absolute highlight. Reef sees a spectacular but extremely demanding route ahead. “The queen stage featuring the Mortirolo and the Gavia is, of course, a fantastic stage with a great deal of history. To then head to the Monte Zoncolan in the final weekend as well is really special. It makes for a spectacular conclusion to the Giro.”
“The Giro d’Italia always has an element of surprise, and this year the organisers have once again put together a great route. Alongside the well-known climbs, they are once again exploring less familiar terrain. We will study the route carefully before putting together the best possible plan,” Reef concludes.
