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2021 Giro Route Rumours

By this time of the year this thread would already be filled with rumours... This year unfortunately not so much. Still, there is something.

In theory, 2021 was supposed to start in Sicily, but as far as we know the Grande Partenza has been swapped with the one of this year, so next year we should have exactly the three Hungarian stages that were originally planned.
It is still very unclear what the plan will be for the tranfer. There are rumoured stages in Calabria (in particular a MTF on Monte Botte Donato), so I suspect they will once again have a long transfer to the south and then work their way up.
There is not much of concrete rumours, given the current situation, but there is a big one: local authorities have presented an official proposal for a stage on the same route of the Granfondo Fausto Coppi: https://www.lastampa.it/cuneo/2020/...ato-a-tappa-del-giro-d-italia-2021-1.39067768

That would be Cuneo - Cuneo, climbing Valmala, Montemale, Fauniera and Madonna del Colletto. The project also includes a ton of roadworks on Fauniera that are really needed and apparently were the primary reason the Giro avoided it in recent years.

Not gonna lie, the stage as proposed would be nice but not great, with the long flat stretch to return to Cuneo, but if it lets us see Fauniera again I'm all for it. AND it would open up more possibilities for future editions...
 
They did tinker around with the route of the Sportful for last year's Giro stage, not impossible the finish ends up being moved to Borgo San Dalmazzo. Also not sure if the sides of Valmala and Montemale descended in the Granfondo itself are safe enough for the Giro.
 
Vegni is probably on the phone with every larger Slovenian town durning these days, trying to convince them to host a stage after the 3 stages in Hungary and offering them a big discount. That would be the smart thing to do, you avoid a larger transfer after the GD in Hungary and have a legit chance of getting Roglic and/or Pogacar to ride your race. Besides that I wouldn't mind seeing a Giro like that, the northeast with the first mountain stages durning the first week, a 2nd week with central and southern Italy and the 3rd one finishing in the northwest.
 
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Would almost certainly need to be through Gorenje, that's the kind of axis of cycling there and I can't see Vegni putting an MTF there if they go with a Départ. Ljubljana-Ljubljana, then Ljubljana to probably Kranj or Bled (possibly Kranjska Gora), then a third stage into Italy to like, Trieste or Udine somewhere. Kranj is the bigger town, Bled is the obvious tourist spot (maybe Bohinj, but Bled is bigger) and Kranjska Gora is the ski resort.

Otherwise, you could look at an MTF at Pokljuka (hosting the 2021 Biathlon World Championships) or Passo Vršič. I suspect Rogla, the current MTF of choice in the Tour de Slovénie, is a bit too far away from Italian territory, and Mangart, which would be a brutal MTF, doesn't have a massive amount of space at its summit though is an outside possibility. A stage coming from Italy to finish with the double ascent from this proposed stage could work, possibly with a flatter first half or using Matajur or Passo Glevizza to enter Slovenia instead of the Kolovrat climb used there (there is a town called Livek partway up the climb of Kolovrat there, which links to the Matajur roads).
 
I fear the way from Hungary to Italy through Slovenia is a bit too long to be put in at the beginning of the Giro. I just can't see them reaching Italy only late in stage 5 or something like that. I think the more realistic scenario is a route that goes into Slovenia in the 2nd or third week when they enter the Alps.
 
Pokjika with a finish in Bled doesn't sound bad to me.
Speaking of nordic sports, a punchy uphill finish in Planica wouldn't be bad early on in a gt. Of course I'd prefer to have a stage that starts in Slovenia, then crosses the Austrian border and has the ungodly steep Wurzenpass/Korensko Sedlo before an uphill finish in Planica, but I really doubt that's gonna happen.
A stage to one of the worlds most famous ski jumping venues? Roglic wouldn't be able to resist
 
Pokjika with a finish in Bled doesn't sound bad to me.
Speaking of nordic sports, a punchy uphill finish in Planica wouldn't be bad early on in a gt. Of course I'd prefer to have a stage that starts in Slovenia, then crosses the Austrian border and has the ungodly steep Wurzenpass/Korensko Sedlo before an uphill finish in Planica, but I really doubt that's gonna happen.
A stage to one of the worlds most famous ski jumping venues? Roglic wouldn't be able to resist
Planica is one way to keep Roglic very far away. It is where his infamous crash happened
 
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What was the reason they decided to not include Matajur MTF in this year's Giro? There were a lot of speculations about it.
You can make some pretty great profiles with that one, especially if you want to go over the border. For example - finish the stage with something like the climb to Crai (that they used a couple of years ago), then over the border into Slovenia, take that nasty little climb to Livek and descent to Savogna where they start the final climb (rode it recently - it's pretty brutal).
 
For a moment I thought that Eshnar The Extraordinary had created two amazing threads in one day!

95% sure that Roglic skips the Giro and goes back to the Tour in 2021, regardless of routes.
Realistically, this.
The year to make a slovenian giro stage is most likely 2022 not 21. After his defeat this year going to the Giro would basically sound like giving up for Roglic while Pogacar surely has to try defending his title. No matter the outcome of next years Tour I think they are both more likely to go to the Giro another year later.
 
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Hungary if everything goes right, otherwise the race will start in Southern Italy, so a big transfer after Hungary. For the Veneto region there is talk about a Cortina stage (would be so much better than a Nevegal mtf, fimgers crossed) and the final stage in Verona. For the Friuli region there is talk about a big mtf, Zoncolan or Montasio (no Lussari goattrack this year) and a hilly stage with multiple muritos finishing in Cormons.
 
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Hungary if everything goes right, otherwise the race will start in Southern Italy, so a big transfer after Hungary. For the Veneto region there is talk about a Cortina stage (would be so much better than a Nevegal mtf, fimgers crossed) and the final stage in Verona. For the Friuli region there is talk about a big mtf, Zoncolan or Montasio (no Lussari goattrack this year) and a hilly stage with multiple muritos finishing in Cormons.

We will see.

View: https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/1320329872603029504
 
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I absolutely think it would be the smart decision to not go abroad next year. It might be all over in May, but it might as well but just as bad as it is right now. Two months ago the situation in most of Europe was completely fine until it suddenly escalated again. Making a decision now is just pure guess work and as yesterday shows it's not a bet worth making.
 
I absolutely think it would be the smart decision to not go abroad next year. It might be all over in May, but it might as well but just as bad as it is right now. Two months ago the situation in most of Europe was completely fine until it suddenly escalated again. Making a decision now is just pure guess work and as yesterday shows it's not a bet worth making.
annex the Alps Maritime?
 
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Alright let's go for a first draft. I'm assuming the Giro will start in Sicily, as I read somewhere that that would be again the plan B in case Hungary is not possible.
The race should then go north to a first MTFish stage on Monte Botte Donato. Then proceed north with an unknown stage on the Tyrrenic side of the peninsula. There should be a finish in Monte Compatri (despite the name, not a MTF) and then a finish in Umbria. The first weekend should end in Firenze or in nearby Sesto Fiorentino.
After the first rest they should transfer to the Adriatic coast, where Ravenna is 100% in, albeit it's not clear how. It is news of today that there might be a Ravenna - Verona, but at the same time there were rumours about Rimini wanting a stage so one good solution would be to have a Rimini - Ravenna ITT and then off to Verona the next day. A few days ago local newspapers claimed that Veneto will have two stages: one finishing in Verona (check) and one in Cortina, while the region of Friuli would have two more stages, one finishing in Cormons and one mountain stage either to Zoncolan or Montasio. I believe they'll just go counterclockwise, and after Cortina they'll have a stage to Valtellina (which is rumoured to be in, but no idea exactly where) to end the second weekend.
In the west, we have 4 rumoured stages: Verbania should be in, either as a road stage or ITT (and if I place it in the third week, I'm leaning towards a road stage), a MTF to Pila, in the Aosta Valley, a finish in Casale Monferrato and the previously mentioned Fausto Coppi Granfondo of Cuneo, which I bet (and really, really hope) is gonna be the penultimate stage.

Keep in mind that most of this is still guesswork. No idea when the presentation is gonna be,

1: Sicily?
2: Sicily?
3: Sicily?
4: ??? - Monte Botte Donato
5: ??? - ???
6: ??? - Monte Compatri
7: ??? - Gualdo Tadino or Foligno
8: ??? - ???
9: ??? - Sesto Fiorentino or Firenze
rest
10: Rimini - Ravenna ITT
11: Ravenna - Verona
12: ??? - Cormons
13: Udine? - Zoncolan or Montasio
14: ??? - Cortina
15: ??? - Somewhere in Valtellina
rest
16: Somewhere in Valtellina - Verbania
17: Borgomanero - Pila
18: Aosta - Casale Monferrato
19: ??? - ???
20: Cuneo - Cuneo
21: Milano ITT
 
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