The 2017 Giro d'Italia will be 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. The race will start on 5 May in Alghero on the island of Sardinia,[1] and end on 28 May in Milan. All 18 UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited and were obliged to attend the race. Four wildcard UCI Professional Continental teams were also selected.[2] Each team is expected to start with nine riders apart from Astana, with eight riders, due to the death of Michele Scarponi.
Details about the first three stages of the race were unveiled at a press conference on 14 September 2016. The remainder of the route was unveiled by race director Mauro Vegni on 25 October 2016. However, organizers RCS Sport leaked the route on their website the day before the official presentation. There will be 21 stages in the race, covering a total distance of 3,609.1 km (2,243 mi), 142 km (88.2 mi) longer than the 2016 Giro.
The longest race stage will be stage 12 at 229 km (142 mi), and stage 14 the shortest at 131 km (81 mi). The race features a total of 69.1 km (43 mi) in individual time trials, and five summit finishes: stage 4, to Mount Etna; stage 9, to Blockhaus; stage 14, to Oropa; stage 18, to Ortisei/St. Ulrich; and stage 19, to Piancavallo. The Cima Coppi (the race's highest elevation) will be Stelvio Pass, summited during stage 16. Stages were categorised in four ways by race organisers; time trials, low, medium and high difficulty.
