The 2023 Giro d’Italia will finish at Rome’s iconic imperial forum, five years after poor road conditions led to the final stage in the Italian capital being cut short.
Cycling’s second-biggest Grand Tour suffered embarrassment in 2018 when only three of the 10 laps of the final stage in central Rome were counted as the route was considered too dangerous.
This year’s 21st and final stage will take in some of Rome’s most famous sites, including the Colosseum, Circus Maximus and the Spanish Steps.
Riders will arrive in Rome after over three weeks of gruelling competition spread out over 3,448.6 kilometres and 51,300m of climbing.
The race, whose route was unveiled on Monday in Milan, gets underway on May 6 with the ‘Grande Partenza’, an 18.4km individual time-trial along Italy’s Adriatic coast between Fossacesia Marina and Ortona, in the central Abruzzo region.
That is one of three time-trials in this year’s edition, including the penultimate stage, a tough 18.6km run with a steep climb of 7.5km to Monte Lussari which will be the last competitive stage of the race.
The second stage will stay in the region, a 204km run from Teramo to San Salvo which features relatively gentle climbs and will be the first of eight stages to favour sprinters.
Riders will return to Abruzzo for the seventh stage which will host the first of seven summit finishes of next year’s Giro, at Campo Imperatore in the Gran Sasso d’Italia massif.
The Giro will be raced almost entirely on Italian roads after last year’s start in Hungary, although the riders will head into Switzerland for the Crans Montana
finish of the 13th stage, which will also feature the highest
peak at Col du Grand Saint-Bernard.
The general classification could well be decided by the end of stage 19, which features five category climbs as the riders push the 182km from Longarone to Tre Cime di Lavaredo.
Last year’s Giro was won by Jai Hindley, the first Australian ever to win the race.

The route for Giro
Stage 1 - May 6
Fossacesia - Ortona, 18.4km (individual time-trial)
Stage 2 - May 7
Teramo - San Salvo, 204km
Stage 3 - May 8
Vasto - Melfi, 210km
Stage 4 - May 9
Venosa - Lago Laceno, 184km
Stage 5 - May 10
Atripalda - Salerno, 172km
Stage 6 - May 11
Napoli - Napoli, 156km
Stage 7 - May 12
Capua - Gran Sasso d’Italia, 218km
Stage 8 - May 13
Terni - Fossombrone, 207km
Stage 9 - May 14
Savignano sul Rubicone - Cesena, 33.6km (I TT )
Stage 10 - May 16
Scandiano - Viareggio, 190km
Stage 11 - May 17
Camaiore - Tortona, 218km
Stage 12 - May 18
Bra - Rivoli, 179km
Stage 13 - May 19
Borgofranco d’Ivrea - Crans Montana, 208km
Stage 14 - May 20
Sierre - Cassano Magnago, 194km
Stage 15 - May 21
Seregno - Bergamo, 191km
Stage 16 - May 23
Sabbio Chiese - Monte Bondone, 198km
Stage 17 - May 24
Pergine Valsugana - Caorle, 192km
Stage 18 - May 25
Oderzo - Val di Zoldo, 160km
Stage 19 - May 26
Longarone - Tre Cime di Lavaredo, 182km
Stage 20 - May 27
Tarvisio - Monte Lussari, 18.6km
(individual time-trial)
Stage 21 - May 28
Rome - Rome, 115km