Giro d’Italia Women 2024 route: Blockhaus mountain finish to decide eight-day race

The 2024 Giro d’Italia Women will start with a 14.6km time trial around Brescia and end with two consecutive mountain stages in the southern Apennines, first at the summit of the Blockhaus and then to the town of L’Aquila via more climbs in the Abruzzo region. 

The Italian Grand Tour was known as the Giro d'Italia Donne in recent years but new race organiser RCS Sport are determined to lift the profile and the quality of the race.

The Giro d'Italia Women will change dates in 2024, moving later into July for eight days of racing between July 7-14. That once again overlaps with the men's Tour de France (June 29 - July 21st) but the stage finishes are expected to be earlier in the day. In 2024 the Tour de France Femmes will move to mid-August, arguably making the Giro d’Italia Women the ideal way to prepare for the Paris Olympic Games. 

The 2024 Giro d’Italia Woman has a balanced route, with the seven consecutive road stages all over 100km, and with no rest day. 

“It’s a Giro d’Italia Women with something for everyone. During the eight stages we want to give every kind of rider a chance of a stage victory before a final showdown in the Apennines,” Giusy Virelli, who designed the route and has 15 years of race direction with RCS Sport, explained during the route presentation.     

“The 14.6km time trial is long enough to create some gaps and so reveal who will be the overall contenders and who will be inspired to attack to make up for time losses. 

“Stage 7 to the Blockhaus is without doubt the Queen stage. It is 123 km long and includes 3600 metres of climbing. That’s more than when the men last finished there.”      

The Blockhaus will award the Cima Alfonsina Strada prize - the women’s version of the Cima Coppi - named after the Italian cyclist who took part in the men’s Giro d’Italia in 1924.

The Giro Women starts with the Grande Partenza in the north of Italy and then travels south to the Abruzzo region for the finish in L’Aquila. 

After the 14.6km Brescia time trial, stage 2 seems made for the sprinters. It travels from Sirmione on the edge of Lake Garda to finish in Volta Mantovana after a 20km finishing circuit.

Stage 3 is over 111km from Sabbioneta to Toano near Imola, and features a steady uphill finish.

Stage 4 takes the Giro Women south and towards the Adriatic coast, with a 133 km stage from Imolas to Urbino. The first part is pan flat but then the stage climbs into the hills near San Marino for a testing final 50km. The stage will surely shake up the overall classification.

Stage 5 is from Frontone to Foligno and is perhaps the final chance for the sprinters.

Stage 6 is a hard and long day in the saddle. It covers 155 km between San Benedetto del Tronto and Chieti, on roads often covered during the men’s Tirreno-Adriatico. The stage includes 10 climbs, many other short ramps, descents and country roads, before an uphill finish in Chieti.

Stage 7 is the Queen stage of the Giro d’Italia Women, with the 123 km ride from Lanciano to the summit of the Blockhaus.

The stage climbs the Passo Larciano after 75km and then covers the same tough loop before climbing even higher to the 1680 metre finish on the Blockhaus.

The final stage from Pescara on the coast to L’Aquila is over 109 km, with more climbing in the Apennines.

The stage climbs up to 1230 metres and then descends to L’Aquila for a hilly finish in the city that is being rebuilt after the terrible earthquake of 2009.