2019 Giro Rosa route partially presented

The route for the 2019 Giro Rosa was partially unveiled today in Udine, and will start with a team time trial ending in Fausto Coppi's hometown. Details of the final two stages of the ten-day race were also announced, with the full presentation coming next March.

The 30th edition of the race will begin in Cassano Spinola, Piedmont with a hilly team time trial on the 4th July. The 18km stage will end in Castellania, the hometown of Fausto Coppi, on the 100th anniversary of his birth. The eastern city of Udine will host the final stage on the 14th July.

Stage eight will finish in Maniago, host city of the 2018 Para-cycling Road World Championships. The final stage will begin in San Vito del Tagliamento and finish atop the cobbled climb to the Castle of Udine after 118.6km of racing.

Meanwhile, the penultimate stage nine will run 125.4km from Gemona del Friuli to Chiusaforte and the summit finish of Malga Montasio. The climb, which averages 8.1% and maxes out at 20%, featured in the 2013 men’s Giro d’Italia, where Rigoberto Urán took the stage victory.

“The 2019 Giro Rosa will reach an important moment, as it will turn 30 years old, and 100 since the birth of a cycling legend Fausto Coppi,” said race director Giuseppe Rivolta. “We will celebrate [him] with the team time trial on the big start. The climb of Malga Montasio will be spectacular as well.”

It’s the second year in a row that the race will finish in the eastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, with the 2018 edition concluding with a summit finish on Monte Zoncolan and a time trial in Cividale del Friuli. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) won both stages as well as the overall, beating Ashleigh Moolman (Cervélo-Bigla) by 4:12.

Last month, a report stated that the Passo Gavia, the mountain is a fixture of the men’s race but hasn’t featured in recent editions of the Giro Rosa.