Giro to kick off in Turin next year
Italian city Turin is releasing its plans today for hosting the start of next year’s Giro d’Italia.
The 2011 Giro d’Italia will start in Turin to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Turin served as the capital city of United Italy from 1861 to 1865.
The Giro d’Italia will begin with a 22-kilometre time trial from the Royal Palace.
The race also started in the Piedmontese city in 1961, then to celebrate the centennial anniversary. Spaniard Miguel Poblet won the opening stage 50 years ago and Italian Arnaldo Pambianco won the overall three weeks later in Milan.
Next year’s Giro d’Italia is rumoured to finish in Rome, the capital city since 1871. The race finished there last year, when Russian Denis Menchov secured the overall win.
Race organiser, Angelo Zomegnan, has not confirmed Rome as the finishing city.
“Next year’s race will be a good one, and 2012 will be even more impressive,” Zomegnan said in May.
“The Anglo-Saxon world is important. That is why we worked with team Sky and we are working to start the Giro d’Italia in the USA.”
The 2012 edition may start with two stages in Washington, DC, the first time any of the three Grand Tours would start outside of Europe.
Zomegnan said in early November that there is a possibility of the race starting in the USA thanks to the interest from DC. The Giro d’Italia’s first foreign start was in San Marino, 1965.
This year, the Giro d’Italia started with three stages based around Amsterdam, in The Netherlands. Italian Ivan Basso won the race when it finished with a time trial in Verona.