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The 2018 Giro d'Italia is just around the corner, bringing the world's best cyclists to begin the famed race in Jerusalem before moving to Sicily and all across the Italian peninsula.

By The Numbers

21 Days

3,562.9 Kilometers 

169.7 Average Kilometers Per Stage

39 KOM Lines

44,000 Vertical Meters Of Climbing

2 Individual Time Trials: Stages 1 & 16

7 Potential Sprint Stages: 2, 3, 7, 12, 13, 17 & 21

5 Medium Difficulty Stages: 4, 5, 10, & 15*


8 Summit Finishes Stages: 6, 8, 9, 11, 14, 18, 19 & 20

3 Rest Days: May 7, 14, and 21

*Stage 15 contains 4 KOMs and finishes atop an uncategorized climb. It may well prove to be a decisive day despite not being denoted as a summit finish.

The Competition

A new UCI rule will take effect at this year’s Giro d’Italia. Team rosters have been reduced to eight riders at grand tours in 2018. As a result, 176 riders from 22 teams will start the race.

In addition to all 18 WorldTour teams, four Professional Continental squads have been granted wildcard entries:

1. Androni - Sidermec - Bottecchia 
2. Bardiani - CSF 
3. Israel Cycling Academy 
4. Wilier Triestina

Route Highlights

The Giro d’Italia begins in Jerusalem. This is, in fact, the first time a grand tour has ever departed from outside of Europe. The race begins with a 9.7-kilometer individual time trial followed by two sprint stages. The racers and staff will then use their first rest day to transfer to Italy.

The first test for the GC contenders arrives early in the tour. Stage 6 concludes with a never-before-used ascent of Mt. Etna. The final 30 kilometers are effectively all uphill and total 1,672 vertical meters of climbing. A brief descent breaks up the climb before the final 15-kilometer push to the finish.

Stages 14 and 15 take the peloton into the northeast corner of Italy. Stage 14 will be particularly difficult with five categorized climbs and a summit finish atop the infamous Monte Zoncolan.

Michael Rogers solos to victory on Monte Zoncolan during the 2014 Giro d'Italia.

Stages 18, 19, and 20 all feature demanding climbs. With no time trials remaining, the final GC battle will be decided entirely on the slopes of Northern Italy’s Alps.

Halfway through Stage 19, the Cima Coppi prize will be awarded. The prize is awarded to the first rider to reach the highest summit of the Giro d’Italia. This year, that summit lies at the top of the Colle Delle Finestre, an 18.5-kilometer long climb which deteriorates into gravel road for the final 9km. It tops out at 2,178 meters above sea level.

The second half of the Colle Delle Finestre is unpaved.

After 20 days of racing, the Giro concludes on the historic streets of Rome. The finale of the 2018 Giro features 10 laps of a flat 11.5-kilometer circuit. Following 350 meters of pavement, the riders will pass under the flamme rouge as they circumvent the Colosseum. Once around the Colosseum, a 900-meter straight line sprint will be the final spectacle of the 2018 route.

The Roman roads nearly cost Dennis Menchov his 2009 Giro d'Italia.

A Chance For History

Chris Froome enters the Giro seeking a third straight grand tour victory following his success in the 2017 Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana. Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault are the only other riders to win all three grand tours consecutively. Should Froome succeed, he will also join the likes of Jacques Anquetil, Alberto Contador, and Vincenzo Nibali as champion of all three races.