Giro Rosa 2016: The Route

From Friday, July 1, 2016, to Sunday, July 10, the 2016 Giro Rosa is played out. Centrepieces are the stages 5 and 6, when the high mountains are on the menu with among others the mighty Mortirolo. The most important multiday stage race on the women's cycling calendar is set to close with a hilly stage near Lake Maggiore.

The Giro Rosa begins with a 2 kilometres prologue on flat roads. Stage 1 is a 104 kilometres endeavour with a short and steep climb with 23 kilometres left, while the 2nd stage leads the women over rolling terrain to an interesting finale with two climbs. The first peak is crested with 12.2 kilometres remaining and the uphill finish lies at the end of a 5.8 kilometres climb.

Stage 3 should be for the fast women as the 120 kilometes course is extremey flat and stage 4 leads around the enchanting Lago d'Iseo. Except for a few climbs in the beginning the stage is mostly flat.

Then it's time for the centrepieces in the 2016 Giro Rosa. Stage 5 takes the women over the Mortirolo, a 12.4 kilometres toil at 10.5% that's crested with 34 kilometres remaining. It's the only climb in a 77.5 kilometres race, which is certainly not the case on the next day. At 118.6 kilometres, stage 6 leads over four peaks and totals almost 40 kilometres of climbing. The final toil is 7.4 kilometres at 7.7%, while the last 1,600 metres are a brutal 13.5%. Uphill finish!

The 7th stage is a hilly individual time trial at almost 22 kilometres. Stage 8 is on flat roads with some marginal uphill action halfway. The Giro Rosa is set to conclude in the hills around Lake Maggiore. Both start and finish of stage 9 are in Verbania and a climb with 13.3 kilometres to go is set to detonate the fireworks.

All stages feature one intermediate sprint, that comes with time bonuses at 3, 2 and 1 seconds, while bonuses at the line are 10, 6 and 4 seconds.