After a presentation spread over more than a week, we can guess a little more precisely the route of the Giro 2022. After three days in Hungary, the riders will once again find Sicily (like last year) and the slopes of Etna (as in 2017 and 2020) then will go up towards the Alps – via the Apennines and an arrival at the top of the Blockhaus – which they will reach during stages articulated around the last day of rest. A foray into Slovenia will even be on the program, as will passages to Mortirolo and passo Fedaia.

The program also leaves an interesting part to the sprinters, with at least seven very favorable finishes.

1st stage (May 6): Budapest-Visegrad

195 km. The first pink Giro jersey will be worn by a punching sprinter. Once the big start is given in Budapest, the peloton will discover the plains to the north of the Hungarian capital, pass very close to the Slovak border and reach Visegrad, where the line will be drawn at the top of a five kilometer climb at around 5%. average, on an increasingly narrow road as the finish approaches.

2e food (May 7): Budapest-Budapest (clm)

9,2 km. First individual time of the event, this 2nd stage will end with a little more than a kilometer of false flat uphill.

3e food (May 8): Kaposvar-Balatonfüred

201 km. This stage will highlight Lake Balaton, the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, located in a region nicknamed “the Provence of Hungary”. On rugged roads that wind between volcanic hills in the first part of the stage, the peloton should regroup in the last 50 kilometers, on the edges of the lake, and give the Giro its first massive sprint on a wide straight road. .

4th stage (May 10): Avola-Etna

166 km. After Hungary, the Giro platoon will spin in Sicily where it will tackle from the 4th stage a very large piece, Mount Etna (25.4 km at 5.6%), which had done great damage at the beginning of the 2020 edition. The final ascent will end at the Sapienza refuge and follow an unprecedented route from Ragalna (as in 2018) before forking via Nicolosi (as in 2011) for the last fourteen kilometers.

5th stage (May 11): Catania-Messina

172 km. After the three days spent in Hungary, the peloton will therefore have a first day of rest to head to Sicily, where a very probable 4th stage awaits it on the slopes of Mount Etna. The next day, it will stay on the east coast of the island, starting from Catania to reach Messina via the Portella Mandrazzi (17 km climb with less than 5% average). The top of this difficulty alone will be 100 kilometers from the finish and a sprint finish is extremely likely.

6th stage (May 12): Palmi-Scalea

192 km. The peloton left Sicily and landed at the end of the Italian boot. Another massive sprint expected despite a rough start to the stage. Along the Tyrrhenian coast, the fastest runners will once again be rewarded in Scalea, in the Calabria region.

7e étape (13th ever): Diamond-Power

199 km. This stage, one of the most demanding of this Giro 2022, will require the riders of 4,490 m of elevation gain – the record of this edition – through the mountains of Calabria after a start by the sea.

8th stage (May 14): Naples-Naples

149 km. Relatively short but intense, the Neapolitan stage will end with a 19 km circuit to be covered five times before arriving at the seaside where a small group could compete for the sprint.

9th stage (May 15): Isernia-Blockhaus

187 km. A huge stage in the Apennines on the eve of the first day of rest, marked by a double ascent to the Blockhouse. The last fifty kilometers will be relentless. The final climb (13.6 km at 8.4%), the same as in 2017 when Nairo Quintana won ahead of Thibaut Pinot and Tom Dumoulin, will inevitably be a great climber.

10th stage (May 17): Pescara-Jesi

194 km. If the first part of this long stage is done in a sort of long flat approach, the second part will be relentless for the riders with six climbs, marked by very steep sections.

11e étape (18th ever): Santarcangelo di Romagna – Reggio Emilia

201 km. This eleventh stage is the longest of the Giro 2022, the only one with the third to exceed the 200 km threshold. From Bologna, where the 2019 edition started, the peloton will rally Reggio Emilia through the cities affected by the Emilia-Romagna earthquake in 2012. The route will be flat, the mission of the adventurers promises to be impossible and the victory promised to a sprinter.

12th stage (May 19): Parma-Genoa

186 km. The long climb to the Passo del Bocco will only be the prelude to a steep stage, including the unprecedented ascent of Monte Becco before descending back to Genoa – probably within a small group of heads.

13th stage (May 20): San Remo – Coni

157 km. A short stage (157 km) which will start from Sanremo and join, fifty kilometers later inland, the Colle di Nava, undoubtedly located too far from the finish to prevent the sprinters from controlling the breakaways. The peloton will pass through some emblematic places of the Giro (the sanctuary of Vicoforte, Mondovi …) before reaching the plain of Cuneo, where a sprinter should raise his arms at the end of an ultra-fast final.

14th stage (May 21): Santena-Turin

153 km. Long-awaited, this stage will offer 3,500 m of elevation gain in just 153 km, and where flat parts will be extremely rare.

15e étape (22 never): Rivarolo Canavese – Cogne

177 km. No excessive vertical drop but three long demanding climbs on this stage where 46 of the last 80 terminals will be climbs. All the difficulties are met in the second half of the stage: Pila-les-Fleurs, which had not appeared on the Giro for 30 years, Verrogne, already climbed in 2019, and Cogne (22.4 km to 4.3 %) in the Grand-Paradis National Park, which is celebrating its hundredth anniversary.

16th stage (May 24): Salo-Aprica

200 km. A big stage in the Valtellina region with the first difficulty being the Goletto di Cadino (last borrowed in 1998, a victory day for Marco Pantani at Montecampione). Then follow the mythical Mortirolo (12.6 km at 7.6%), started from Monno (as in 2017), which will inevitably cause damage but will not be decisive since its summit will be located more than 70 kilometers from the finish. . The line will be drawn in Aprica, 6 kilometers after the top of the climb to Santa Cristina (13.5 km at 8%).

17e étape (25th mai): Ponte di Legno – Lavarone

165 km. A third mountain stage in a row! This will take place in two parts: an uphill start to the Passo del Tonale, then a section of more than 70 kilometers downhill. A new stage will then begin with a series of small climbs followed by the Col de Vetriolo then the climb of the Menador, very demanding (almost 10% average for 8 kilometers) and magnificent with its tight hairpin bends and dug tunnels in the rock. At its summit, the leading riders will have 8 hilly kilometers left to reach the finish in Lavarone.

18th stage (May 26): Borgo Valsugana – Treviso

146 km. The last stage for sprinters, also short and at the end of which the points classification will be almost frozen, will end in Treviso at the end of a course which will honor the vineyards of Prosecco and a final circuit. final around the Venetian city. Moreover, the last week will largely take place in the Dolomites and will in principle lead the peloton to Verona and not Milan, the traditional finish city of the Giro.

Stage 19 (May 27): Marano Lagunare – Sanctuary of Castelmonte

178 km. Slovenian incursion via the Passo di Tanamea to then tackle one of the unprecedented climbs of this edition, Mount Kolovrat (10 km at almost 10%). The day will end with a last demanding bump.

20e étape (28th mai): Belluno – Marmolada (Passo Fedaia)

167 km. The big stage of the Dolomites and the last explanation between favorites, on the eve of the final finish. The peloton will have to cross three enormous passes: the Passo San Pellegrino with its numerous passages at more than 15%, the Passo Pordoi (11.8 km at 6.8%) which will be the Cima Coppi of the Giro 2022 (the highest point at 2 239 m above sea level) and finally the Passo Fedaia (14 km at 7.6%), a difficult climb especially in its second half (almost 11% on average in the last 5 kilometers) that the Tour of Italy does not has not borrowed for ten years.

21st stage (May 29): Verona-Verona (subject to formalization)

The final stage has not yet been officially announced but should take place around Verona, during a final individual time trial, the mileage of which remains the last unknown for this Giro 2022.