Video: 2016 Giro d'Italia route stage-by-stage

The route for the 2016 Giro d'Italia, the first Grand Tour of the year, was officially unveiled in Milan on Monday. With three individual time trials, seven mountain stages, and seven likely sprint stages, it is a balanced route that should attract a quality field. 

This video from the Giro organisers offers a stage-by-stage breakdown of the 2016 race, which starts with three days in the Netherlands followed by an early rest day to facilitate the transfer to southern Italy. The opening stage is a 9.8km individual time trial in Apeldoorn and one of three such stages in the race, along with a 40km test through the rolling vineyards of Chianti on stage 9 and a cronoscalata on stage 15.

There is a summit finish on stage 6 but the real mountains are found at the back end of this Giro. Things kick off with stage 13 to Cividale del Friuli, preceding a gruelling day in the Dolomites and the mountain time trial. A rest day and three transitional stages then set up a trip across the French border into the Alps for two big days in the fight for the maglia rosa before a flat and ceremonial final stage to Turin. 

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