The 2018 Giro d’Italia will begin with a 10.1-kilometre individual time trial in Jerusalem on Friday, May 4 and spend two more days in Israel with stage finishes in Tel Aviv and Eilat. Giro director Mauro Vegni announced the full details of the Israeli Grande Partenza at a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday. Former Giro winners Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso were among those present at the formal announcement.
The opening time trial will start and finish close to the walls of Old Jerusalem, and the rolling, technical course will bring the riders past the Knesset before a gently climbing approach to the line, where the first maglia rosa of the race will be presented.
The two road stages that follow ought to suit the sprinters. Stage 2 starts from the northern port of Haifa and follows a predominantly flat 167-kilometre route to the finish in Tel Aviv. The stage will feature the race’s first categorised climb, Zikron Yako, but it would be a surprise if the sprinters were denied their opportunity on the seafront in Tel Aviv.
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Stage 3 is some 226 kilometres in length, and sets out from Be’er Sheva and brings the race through the Negev Desert to the finish at the Red Sea port of Eilat. The route climbs gently for the opening 70 kilometres, but the gradual drop towards the finish in Eilat ought to present the sprinters with another chance before the race returns to Italy.
“The time trial here in Jerusalem is quite difficult, and the riders won’t have a moment to catch their breath,” Vegni said. “It’s a particular time trial, a lot of bends and ups and downs. It’s not necessarily for the pure specialists, although the winner will have to be able to defend himself against the watch.”
The Giro has started on foreign roads every second year since 2010, with Amsterdam, Herning, Belfast and Utrecht all hosting the event, but the Israeli start will mark the first time in history that a Grand Tour has started from outside of Europe.
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