THE FIRST STAGE
After a flat stretch of approx. 45 km, the stage has a very hilly profile. Before entering the final circuit (approx. 30 km), the route takes in two categorised climbs of increasing difficulty: Berzano di San Pietro and Superga, coming from Baldissero Torinese, where the gradients are less sharp than coming from Turin, along the ‘traditional’ side. Before the first pass over the line, there is a kick up to San Vito, which will be repeated at the -3 km mark. After the pass over the line comes the Colle Maddalena ascent (7 km at 7%), followed by a technical descent leading to Moncalieri and, eventually, to San Vito.
The Egyptian Museum will award the rider wearing the first Maglia Rosa with a gold-lacquered wooden object made by artist Marco Sciascia. The object is loosely inspired by the shebyu collar worn by the architect Kha, around 1400 B.C., whose grave goods are preserved at the Egyptian Museum. This ancient Egyptian necklace was known as “gold of valor”, which the pharaoh gave as a reward to his most capable officials as a mark of honor often for an important achievement, a precious symbol.
Composed of numerous disc beads held together by a string that runs exactly through its center, the shebyu collar is known from wall depictions and other objects displayed in the largest museum collections, but, the Egyptian Museum is the only one to have an original specimen, although not visible in a display case, as it is preserved among Kha’s bandages.
After Turin, on Sunday, May 5, comes an uphill finish reminiscent of Marco Pantani’s victory at the 1999 Giro d’Italia: San Francesco al Campo-Santuario di Oropa (Biella). The third and final stage in Piedmont is Novara-Fossano, suitable for sprinters but with a final climb that could cut off the purest sprinters. The Carovana Rosa will leave Piedmont on May 7 with the fourth stage, starting in Acqui Terme.
BELL’ITALIA – GIRO D’ITALIA MONOGRAPH
Once again this year the monthly magazine Bell’Italia (Cairo Editore), one of the event’s media partners, is celebrating the Corsa Rosa with a 178-page special edition. The magazine, which will be on sale from April 30, presents the route of Giro 107, from the Reggia di Venaria to Rome and the Imperial Fora, from a tourist perspective, illustrating the artistic and scenic beauties of our country – cities, villages, Alpine passes, lakes and coastal stretches, monuments and archaeological sites – and providing more than 500 addresses for “good stopovers.” A guide to follow the Giro and an invitation to visit the places it passes through. Inside, a special insert anticipates the stages of the Giro Women. On the cover, a cyclist poses under the Winged Victory from the 1st century AD, which is on display in the Capitolium of Brescia, the starting city of the Race.
