2020 Giro Route Rumors

[Eshnar]

Re:

Are they going to go from Hungary to Sicily without a rest day? Sounds like a logistical nightmare.

Because it is.

Even with the TDF (Tour de Forbidden Race) full blowing this is arguably the most interesting thread

What, there is a race going on?
Anyway, to address your questions:
- You don't have to assume anything about the Hungarian stages, the official profiles are out there. And yes, they are mostly flat. Sicily will have three stages, I assume the first one might be short and flat due to the transfer, the second one should be hilly and the third one should be the Etna MTF.
- Roccaraso is quite a strong rumour but it's not set in stone yet. In any case I don't expect anything big. It also depends on where they can start the stage. I expect the stages after Sicily will have to be all fairly long in order to reach the Adriatic, so I don't think it will be possible to cram too many climbs in.
- The stage to Verbania (or surroundings) depends on what comes before it. If it is an ITT it's definitely gonna be flat. If instead it's a flattish stage, then they can do something similar to 2015.
- Yeah I don't see how they could possibly get to Entracque with the current rumours. It seems basically fixed the penultimate stage to be the Sestriere one, and if they come from north-east, as everything seems to suggest, then the south-west Alps are simply out of any chance.

 

[Red Rick]

How are the ITTs gonna be if they happen?

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re:

Stelvio Livigno i've been propagandising for a while

That was a nice little stage.

 

[Kyllingen86]

@Eshnar

Sounds good with Sicily. With regards to Verbania, Mottarone is quite close. The last couple of years the Giro finished with three mountain stages. If that is anything to go by my fingers are crossed.

If Finestre, Fraiteve, Stelvio/Gavia and Fedaia are all in, the route of 2020 will include some high mountains above 2000 m. If they do a better version of this years "high mountain route of TDF," I wouldn't complain

Giro 2017 and 2018 has disappointed a bit in that sense. Cima Coppi in 2018 was Finestre and 2019 was Passo Manghen (due to Gavia getting cancelled).

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

How are the ITTs gonna be if they happen?

no idea really.

@Eshnar

Sounds good with Sicily. With regards to Verbania, Mottarone is quite close. The last couple of years the Giro finished with three mountain stages. If that is anything to go by my fingers are crossed.

A finish in Verbania can be made arbitrarily hard, plenty of climbs there. You could do Mottarone - Ologno - Segletta for example... but I don't think that they would charge it this much, with two MTFs coming.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

More likely to get something mainly flat but then a finish with the climb into Bèe (on the way to Pian del Sole) from Motte and a descent into Verbania, like in the 2015 Giro Rosa, if they don't want to go mountainous, and with two mountain stages to come backing off of it, it would seem unlikely that we'd see frantic racing from Mottarone, since it doesn't exactly descent right to the line either, though I guess you could argue that if they descend into Baveno the flat to the line wouldn't make it too dissimilar to the Monte Grappa stage in the 2010 Giro.

 

[Kyllingen86]

@Eshnar

I just scrolled through cicloweb. Someone is questioning it is certain with three stages in Sicily. He/she instead suggest it might just be two. What is your take on that? The frightening thing is that the version with three stages in Sicily excludes Fedaia and Belluno. I almost threw up after that.


@Libertine

Sounds like there are plenty of options. If compared with Prato Nevoso (third last stage in 2018), I just hope for something similar (or perhaps a bit harder and fun). Anyway looking forward to more rumors and information

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

@Eshnar

I just scrolled through cicloweb. Someone is questioning it is certain with three stages in Sicily. He/she instead suggest it might just be two. What is your take on that? The frightening thing is that the version with three stages in Sicily excludes Fedaia and Belluno. I almost threw up after that.

it's a hypothesis just like any other. In my draft I have three Sicilian stages and the Dolomitic stage is still there. In general, we have more rumoured stages than real ones... as it happens every year. At least a few of them have to be false... who knows which ones.

 

[Kyllingen86]

Re: Re:

@Eshnar

I just scrolled through cicloweb. Someone is questioning it is certain with three stages in Sicily. He/she instead suggest it might just be two. What is your take on that? The frightening thing is that the version with three stages in Sicily excludes Fedaia and Belluno. I almost threw up after that.

it's a hypothesis just like any other. In my draft I have three Sicilian stages and the Dolomitic stage is still there. In general, we have more rumoured stages than real ones... as it happens every year. At least a few of them have to be false... who knows which ones.

For some reason I just thought it was pretty fixed with three Sicilian stages. Come to think of it in 2017 they only had two Sicilian stages after the initial start in Sardinia.

 

[Nirvana]

It's fixed, there is a deal that RCS signed last winter with Sicilian government for three stages next year and the grand depart in 2021 + the Giro di Sicilia for three years.

 

[Eshnar]

Local newspapers today are talking about an ITT from Conegliano to Valdobbiadene, similar to 2015 (but shorter, I assume around 40 km). That would of course rule out both ITTs on the Adriatic and in Valtellina. Since I haven't heard about those in quite some time, I'm gonna trust this new rumour for now. I think it's gonna be stage 12, but there's also the possibility that it's stage 13, in which case just shift all following stages by one day and delete stage 17.

1 Budapest - Budapest ITT
2 Budapest - Gyor
3 Szekesfehervar - Nagykanisza
4 Sicily
5 Sicily 2
6 ??? - Etna
7 Mileto - ???
8 ??? - Sorrento
9 ??? - Roccaraso/Aremogna
rest
10 Cesenatico - Cesenatico
11 ??? - Spresiano? Possagno? Castelfranco?
12 Conegliano - Valdobbiadene ITT
13 Rivolto - San Daniele del Friuli
14 Udine - Matajur
15 ??? - Fedaia?Nevegal?Others?
rest
16 ??? - Cancano?/Livigno?
17 ??? - ???
18 ??? - Verbania?
19 Verbania - San Domenico
20 ??? - Sestriere/Basset?/Fraiteve??
21 Milano - Milano ITT?

 

[barmaher]

Interesting, thanks.

Promising, but the devil is in the detail.

Would the ITT be a rolling test?

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Interesting, thanks.

Promising, but the devil is in the detail.

Would the ITT be a rolling test?

possibly. But no idea about ITTs really.

A very well-informed user in Cicloweb forum says that he's been told the final sequence will be
18. Somewhere in Valtellina - Somewhere in the Verbania province (San Domenico still very possible)
19. Verbania? - Bra (flattish)
20. Cuneo?? - Fraiteve (via Finestre)
21. Milan (still unclear if ITT or road stage)

Even though I'm surprised stage 19 is planned to be flat, I don't see why not to trust him. I was still missing a third week stage in my previous draft, so this fits.
I guess that stage 17 will be a big stage in Valtellina (Thinking about Cancano or Livigno, but it could still be the ITT...), while stage 16 will probably be a breakaway stage in Trentino.

1 Budapest - Budapest ITT
2 Budapest - Gyor
3 Szekesfehervar - Nagykanisza
4 Sicily
5 Sicily 2
6 ??? - Etna
7 Mileto - ???
8 ??? - Sorrento
9 ??? - Roccaraso/Aremogna
rest
10 Cesenatico - Cesenatico
11 ??? - Spresiano? Possagno? Castelfranco?
12 Conegliano - Valdobbiadene ITT
13 Rivolto - San Daniele del Friuli
14 Udine - Matajur
15 ??? - Fedaia?Nevegal?Others?
rest
16 ??? - ???
17 ??? - Cancano?/Livigno?
18 ??? - Verbania? San Domenico?
19 Verbania? - Bra
20 Cuneo? - Fraiteve?
21 Milano - Milano ITT?

 

[Red Rick]

The Finestre inflation is on apparently

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

The Finestre inflation is on apparently

Which worries me as when a climb gets overused, riders know how to base their efforts on the climb, where to put a higher pace and so on which makes the climb predictable.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

The Finestre inflation is on apparently

Which worries me as when a climb gets overused, riders know how to base their efforts on the climb, where to put a higher pace and so on which makes the climb predictable.

Think this is more true for climbs that are always a MTF or where the lead in is always the same.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I can't get enough of Finestre, so fine by me.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

I can't get enough of Finestre, so fine by me.

Wish the Tour would use it.

Instead we get the Giro using Tour climbs better than the Tour

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

I can't get enough of Finestre, so fine by me.

Wish the Tour would use it.

Instead we get the Giro using Tour climbs better than the Tour

You’d still moan if the tour used it..

 

[houtdffan]

Re: Re:

I can't get enough of Finestre, so fine by me.

Wish the Tour would use it.

Instead we get the Giro using Tour climbs better than the Tour

Would love a stage from St. Jean en Maurienne to Sestrieres that includes the Mollard, Galiber, Montgenevre, Finestre, with a finish at Sestrieres. Would love for there to be some significant climbing before Finestre, instead of the peloton arriving relatively fresh. Let them tackle the hardest climb in pro cycling tired

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

I can't get enough of Finestre, so fine by me.

Wish the Tour would use it.

Instead we get the Giro using Tour climbs better than the Tour

Would love a stage from St. Jean en Maurienne to Sestrieres that includes the Mollard, Galiber, Montgenevre, Finestre, with a finish at Sestrieres. Would love for there to be some significant climbing before Finestre, instead of the peloton arriving relatively fresh. Let them tackle the hardest climb in pro cycling tired

They weren't exactly fresh last year. The battle for the breakaway was madness.

 

[Valv.Piti]

It also came at the end of a hard Giro.

That Finestre stage was basically the same as the Iseran stage this year. Raced incredibly hard beforehand on some quite difficult terrain.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The Giro would just have to use Moncenisio, a hard climb that is right there before Fineste...

 

[Nirvana]

Why not starting from Bourg Saint Maurice with the north side of Iseran? Then Mont Cenis and after the descent on Susa you are at the foot of Finestre with circa 2.500 meters of altitude gain in the legs.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm more interested in Colle Basset to be honest