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The complete but unofficial 2008 Giro d'italia route

steephillsteephill Posts: 151
edited November 2007 in Pro race
Now that the Tour route has been announced, we can now turn to the Giro.

I just received the list of towns and climbs from a source that proved very reliable last year. I'm not sure of the accuracy but it's very complete and if anything should be an excellent start to the Giro rumour process:

Giro d'Italia 2008 (route and stage details)

If you have some input then let me know. It's still a long way off until the offical Dec. 1 announcement.

Steve
http://www.steephill.tv
www.steephill.tv bike travelogue

Posts

  • ContrelaMontreContrelaMontre Posts: 3,027
    One rest day!! Bit extreme!! :shock:

    And this stage:

    05.28. Malles-Monte Pora (Stelvio, Mortirolo, Salven, Presolana)

    ...must be a bit hard. The Stelvio and the Mortirolo on the same stage could be a tad tricky and maybe even a bit exciting! Probably followed by child like hormonal levels of the top 10 riders!!
    Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster
  • jimmythecuckoojimmythecuckoo Posts: 4,598
    Not really related to the thread but wanted to say how good I think Steephill is.
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  • GroupOfOne MkIIGroupOfOne MkII Posts: 1,289
    Erm surely stage 4 is wrong, as Catania to Napoli would not only be a bloody long stage, but also involve some swimming!!

    Or is that just a rough indication of the stage direction?

    Also do we really think they'll spend four days on Sicily? Hmm I suppose they did spend three on Sardinia this year, and got moaned at for having a transfer so soon, so perhaps their thinking of an extra stage would be to combat this.
  • pat1cppat1cp Posts: 766
    It's a big Island is Sicily. Myself and the wife were visiting just after http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardo_Provenzano had been arrested. Quite a celeb back home is Benny the Tractor.

    It's a pretty island and they have some big mountains too. We hired a car and went for a drive, before we knew it we were going over a pass at 2500m and it went straight up from sea level. You don't get that in the Alps.
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  • timoid.timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Usual Cappacino effort. Insane climbs and badly timed rest days.

    At least they're not starting in Russia or some such.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • shfcookshfcook Posts: 347
    Do they do the Pedalata Rosa every year? If so is it announced the same day as the main Giro stages?
  • ricadusricadus Posts: 2,379
    For Cavalese → Marmolada Fedaia, to get any kind of distance/climbing terrain the route would have to zig-zag about a lot and maybe go over both the Rolle and San Pellegrino passes on the way to the supposed final climb.

    Cavalese to Canazei (at the foot of the Marmolada climb) you could ride up the main valley in an hour.

    There is an Dolomite granfondo each year (DolomitiStars, part of the Gazzetta Challenge series: www.gazzetta.it/challenge/) and timed to roughly concide with the Giro passing through the area and taking in part of one of the stages. It's not quite the Etape but still a better challenge than the well-known Maratona dles Dolomites. And maybe better value for money than the oversubscribed Étape du Tour nowadays.
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  • steephillsteephill Posts: 151
    GroupOfOne MkII wrote:
    Erm surely stage 4 is wrong, as Catania to Napoli would not only be a bloody long stage, but also involve some swimming!!

    Or is that just a rough indication of the stage direction?

    Also do we really think they'll spend four days on Sicily? Hmm I suppose they did spend three on Sardinia this year, and got moaned at for having a transfer so soon, so perhaps their thinking of an extra stage would be to combat this.

    What I received was a little confusing regarding Catania -> Napoli, but upon review, I'm fairly certain of the following change: Wednesday, May 14th, the day after stage 3 is likely a transfer day from Catania to Napoli. Stage 4, the following day, will start in Maddaloni just outside of Napoli (Naples).
    www.steephill.tv bike travelogue
  • GroupOfOne MkIIGroupOfOne MkII Posts: 1,289
    steephill wrote:
    GroupOfOne MkII wrote:
    Erm surely stage 4 is wrong, as Catania to Napoli would not only be a bloody long stage, but also involve some swimming!!

    Or is that just a rough indication of the stage direction?

    Also do we really think they'll spend four days on Sicily? Hmm I suppose they did spend three on Sardinia this year, and got moaned at for having a transfer so soon, so perhaps their thinking of an extra stage would be to combat this.

    What I received was a little confusing regarding Catania -> Napoli, but upon review, I'm fairly certain of the following change: Wednesday, May 14th, the day after stage 3 is likely a transfer day from Catania to Napoli. Stage 4, the following day, will start in Maddaloni just outside of Napoli (Naples).

    Ahh now that makes more sense. I wondered if it might be a transfer.
    Not a big fan of having rest days and such big transfers so close to the start of the race, but I guess the start of the Giro is the best time to visit Sardinia/Sicily as you only need the one transfer then.
  • Brian BBrian B Posts: 2,071
    Thats next years Grand Tours sorted out and both the Giro and the TDF routes look good. I am off to the Dolimites in 2008 and will be doing the Stelvio, Mortirolo etc and it will be great to cycle over this years fresh paintings.
    Brian B.
  • afx237viafx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Brian, I think you've forgotten the Vuelta.

    And stuff the grand tours, I'm more excited about whether the Koppenberg will make it back into the Ronde!
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