TUTTOSPORT REVEALS 2009 GIRO D’ITALIA ROUTE

The route of the 2009 Giro d?Italia will be official unveiled in Venice on Saturday afternoon but Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport revealed a detailed map of the route on Friday, as they tried to out do rival newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport that owns the Giro d?Italia and race organiser RCS Sport.

The Tuttosport map seems to confirm many of the leaks already published, including the Venice start, the early trip to Austria through the Dolomites, the criterium stage in the centre of Milan and the Cuneo to Pinerolo stage in the Alps which replicates the stage in the 1949 Giro when Fausto Coppi won after a 192km solo break.

The Tuttosport route also seems to confirms the 61.5km individual time trial through the spectacular Cinque Terre coastal region. The twisting roads overlooking the Mediterranean cold produce huge time gaps, with Lance Armstrong and Ivan Basso likely to benefit the most.

Tough finishes at San Luca above Bologna and Monte Petrano will also be testing before the short but nasty mountain stage to the 2000 metre summit of the Block Haus in the central Apennines. However the many hilly stage finishes will probably limit the number of finishes for the sprinters.

The 2009 Tour de France will decided on the slopes of Mont Ventoux and the Giro tries to do one better by finishing near the top of the still active Mount Vesuvius volcano overlooking Naples. There is then only a flat stage on the Saturday before a final short time trial stage to the centre of Rome on Sunday May 31.

There will be full coverage of the official 2009 Giro d?Italia route presentation over the weekend on cyclingweekly.co.uk.

2009 Giro route, Tuttosport

RELATED LINKS

Cycling Weekly's 2008 Giro coverage