Giro d'Italia 2022

• 2022 Giro d'Italia
• Giro d'Italia past winners
• 2022 Giro d'Italia map

The 105th edition of the Giro d’Italia will start on Friday, May 6, in Budapest, Hungary and ends on Sunday, May 29 in Verona. The Friday start of the Italian Grand Tour provides an extra rest day and transfer from Hungary to Italy, set to take place on Monday, May 9. 

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) took the maglia rosa at the last edition of the Giro, which saw him build his overall victory on the strade bianche of Tuscany and then on the climbs above the snow line of the Zoncolan and Passo Giau. Italian Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) fought to a second-place finish after three weeks of racing, and Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) rounded out the podium in third overall.

The 2021 route has a few surprises, such as the longest stage coming in at 201km and just two time trials that total just over 26km, the lowest amount since 1962. Mountains are still king and the route is has many signature passes and summits on the menu, including Etna on stage 4 and the Blockhaus down south to the Mortirolo in week two, plus the Pordoi and Fedaia in the final week.

News and features

Race Route

• Giro d'Italia: Five key stages from the 2022 race route
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• Almeida: I wanted more time trialling in 2022 Giro d'Italia route
• 2022 Giro d'Italia: Full race route confirmed with just 26km of time trialing
• Giro d'Italia 2022 to climb Etna, Blockhaus, Mortirolo, Menador and the Marmolada
• Giro d'Italia 2022: Six hilly stages revealed in Naples, Genoa, Turin and Friuli
• Seven sprint stages confirmed for 2022 Giro d'Italia
• Hilltop finale for opening day of 2022 Giro d'Italia in Hungary
• Valter eyes first maglia rosa of 2022 Giro d'Italia on home soil
• 2022 Giro d’Italia to start in Hungary

Teams and contenders

• Tom Dumoulin: I still have it in me to ride for GC in a Grand Tour
• Almeida focused on climbing and race craft as he targets Giro and Vuelta
• Damiano Caruso seeks balance between team duty and personal ambition in 2022
• Miguel Angel López 'dreaming big' for 2022 Giro d'Italia
• Barguil and Arkéa-Samsic hope for Giro d'Italia wildcard in 2022
• Classics, Giro and Worlds on Nizzolo's 2022 hitlist after Israel Start-Up Nation move
• Alejandro Valverde to ride Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España in final professional season
• Ben O'Connor returns to target Tour de France in 2022
• Giro d’Italia director challenges Tadej Pogacar to attempt Giro-Tour double
• BikeExchange open to Simon Yates racing Giro d’Italia and Tour de France

Giro d'Italia 2022 route 

Budapest was originally slated to host the start in 2020 but the coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement of the race and the revision of the route, with the start instead taking place in Sicily. The Giro’s last foreign start was in 2018, when the race began in Israel, and the race had also set out from the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland during the preceding decade.

With a Hungarian Grande Partenza for the Giro, all three Grand Tours will have foreign starts in 2022, with the Tour de France starting from Copenhagen and the Vuelta a España setting out from Utrecht.

The 2022 course covers 3,410.3km with a total of 51,000 metres of climbing across three weeks of racing. There will be just two time trials, on stage 2 in Budapest and stage 21 in Verona, totaling 26.3km. With its mix of flat, hilly and mountain stages, organisers RCS Sport saved the key days of climbing for the third and final week, including back-to-back mountain days on stages 16 and 17, then the final weekend in the Dolomites.

The first week begins in Hungary with three days of racing, the Grand Tour’s first ITT at 9.2km sandwiched between two flat road days. But uphill finishes on stage 1 and 2 will make this interesting for the early battle of the pink jersey. After an early rest day, stage 4 features the first mountain challenge with a summit finish at Mount Etna. After one more day in Sicily, the race moves north along the Tyrrhenian coast that includes a summit finish at Blockhaus on stage 9.

Week two offers a number of hilly stages, including finales for puncheurs in Jesi, Genoa and Turin. A mountainous stage 15 in the Alps brings the week to a crescendo with category 1 ascents of Le Fleurs and Verrogne ahead of a summit finish at Cogne in the Gran Paradiso National Park.

After the third rest day, the final week opens with one of the toughest days of the race. Stage 16 provides 5,540 metres of climbing with three tough first category climbs that lead to ‘Montagna Pantani’ on the route, the Santa Cristina. Another mountain day leads to sprint day to Treviso then leads to back-to-back climbing stages, with stage 20 passing the Cima Coppi, the highest point of the race on the Passo Pordoi at 2,239 metres, followed by a summit finish of Marmolada. The 17.1km time trial in Verona may then decide the overall champion on the final Sunday.

Giro d'Italia history

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) earned the maglia rosa after 21 days of racinig the 2021 Grand Tour. He covered the 3,479.9 kilometres just one minute 29 seconds ahead of Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) who finished second overall. Third place was secured by Adam Yates (Team BikeExchange), 4:15 behind the Colombian rider.

The tradition of marking the GC leader with a pink jersey was recognised last year with the 90th anniversary of the iconic prize. The maglia rosa was introduced in 1931 by Armando Cougnet, a journalist at La Gazzetta dello Sport, who had created the Giro d'Italia 20 years earlier. The idea was to make the race leader easier to identify in the peloton by race officials and the roadside fans. 

Eddy Merckx holds the record of 78 days in the pink jersey, followed by Francesco Moser with 57 and Gino Bartali with 50. Legendary riders who have worn the maglia rosa over the years include Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Charly Gaul, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx, Francesco Moser, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, Marco Pantani and others.