Date: Saturday May 6, 2023 - Sunday May 28, 2023
Start: Fossacesia, Abruzzo region, Italy
Finish: Rome, Italy
Total distance: 3,448.6km
Stages: 21
Riders: 176
Teams: 22
Defending champion: Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe)

Key info: Route | Favourites

Giro d'Italia overview

The Giro d’Italia, or just the Giro, is a gruelling multi-stage endurance race and is one of the three Grand Tours, along with the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

Staged over three weeks with 21 individual stage races and two rest days, the Giro features the world’s best cyclists battling it out to win the prestigious pink winner’s jersey.

The 2023 Giro, the 106th edition, will have its Grande Partenza in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Last year the Giro, like the other two Grand Tours, featured a foreign start, beginning with three stages in Hungary. While the peloton will travel in and out of Switzerland, the majority of this year’s race will be held in Italy.

Big stages, big mountains and big time trials – this year’s Giro has stuck to what it does best and has provided the riders with some arduous days in the saddle. There’s plenty of opportunity for the climbers as the peloton tackles seven summit finishes across the weeks, including a gruelling final week in the Dolomites. The Giro concludes with a final circuit-style race in the capital city Rome.

The 2022 winner Jai Hindley was the first Australian to ever win the Giro, making history after claiming the maglia rosa on stage 20. It has not been confirmed whether Hindley will be back to defend his title in 2023, especially with the increased amount of time trials. Hindley may want to play more to his strengths with other Grand Tour routes which may be better suited to him.

Giro d’Italia teams 2023

Twenty-two teams will compete at the Giro in 2023, with 18 of those being WorldTour teams who will automatically receive a place on the start line. The remaining four places will be second-division pro teams who are the top-ranked or chosen as a wildcard by the organisers.

The full confirmed list of teams for 2023 is yet to be finalised.

Confirmed teams so far:

AG2R Citroën Team
Alpecin-Deceuninck
Astana Qazaqstan Team
Team Bahrain Victorious
Bora-Hansgrohe
Cofidis
EF Education-EasyPost
Groupama-FDJ
Ineos Grenadiers
Intermarché-Circus-Wanty Matériaux
Jumbo-Visma
Movistar Team
Soudal-Quick Step
Arkéa-Samsic
Team BikeExchange-Jayco
Team DSM
Trek-Segafredo
UAE Team Emirates

Giro d’Italia route 2023

Starting the 2023 Giro d’Italia off with a bang, the three week long Grand Tour opens with an 18.4km time trial. Unlike previous years, this year’s Grande Partenza is set to take place on home soil in the Abruzzo region of Italy. The ITT runs almost entirely along the Ciclovia dei Trabocchi, a cycle path built from the former Ferrovia Adriatica railway line.

Having warmed the legs up against the clock on day one, the second day begins with a rolling start from Teramo to San Salvo, a 204km undulating route with a sprint finish along the coast. Stage three takes the peloton south, heading out of the Abruzzo region, before they battle it out on stage four where they have their first stage across the Apennines and first summit finish. Taking in a series of climbs, stage four is a constant succession of undulations with little time to catch their breath before their final ascent to Colle Molella. That will be followed by two hilly stages with flat finishes which will test the fastest legs in the peloton.

Stage seven is a lengthy, rolling route from Capua through Roccaraso and Calascio before the peloton faces their second summit finish at Gran Sasso, an eye-watering 45km ascent with a 13% maximum gradient. Riders will then be challenged by the Salita dei Cappuccini and the Monte delle Cesane during stage eight before facing another ITT on stage nine – a pan-flat 33.6km route through the centre of Cesena.

After the first rest day, the second week opens with two hilly stages taking riders across Italy towards the Swiss Alps, where stage 13 provides a savage test for the riders. With 5,100m of climbing, the peloton will take on the Cima Coppi of the 2023 Giro in the form of the brutal 34km-long Colle del Gran San Bernardo before the shorter but steeper Croix de Coeur. The stage concludes with the final climb to the ski resort of Crans Montana, making its first appearance in the Giro.

Giving the climbers a break after the previous day’s efforts, stage 14 is for the sprinters with only one hurdle to overcome at the start – Passo del Sempione. Once up and over, the peloton is rewarded with a downhill out of Switzerland and a sprint finish in Cassano Magnago. Two back-to-back mountain stages await the riders in stage 15 and 16. The first is what the Giro organiser has named an ‘urban’ mountain stage with lots of climbing and punishing gradients en route to Bergamo – expect plenty of attacks on the ascents.

Stage 16 kicks off week three, and sets the tone for a difficult final week in the mountains. Starting on the shores of Lake Garda, the peloton will face a number of climbs before finishing on the legendary Monte Bondone – which last featured in 2006 when Ivan Basso took the stage win. Thankfully for the riders, stage 17 provides a respite from the climbs with another flat stage from Pergine Valsugana to Caorle.

A short but intense stage follows, climbing to the Cansiglio plateau before taking on the rising ramps of the Forcella Cibiana, Forno and Cio — a first-ever pass for the Giro. A final dance with the Dolomites on stage 19 could see the pink jersey won or lost. After crossing the Agordo area, the route then tackles the Passo di Campolongo, the Passo Valparola and the “Holy Stairs” of the Dolomites – Passo Giau, Passo Tre Croci and the Tre Cime di Lavardeo. One after the other. With the entire elevation of the stage in the final 100km, the peloton will have to be prepared for a relentless day of exceptionally tough racing

No time to recover, the penultimate stage sees the third and final time trial of the Giro, and this time it’s in the mountains. With a 10km flat opening, the true test will be the 7.5km ascent to the sanctuary atop Monte Lussari on an average gradient of 12%, and a maximum of 22%. Whose post-Dolomite legs will hold enough power to take them to the finish line quickest?

The final stage of Giro d’Italia 2023 will end with a 115km circuit race around Rome.

Giro d’Italia history

The Giro d’Italia will be in its 106th edition in 2023, having begun life in 1909. Founded by a local, pink coloured newspaper called La Gazzetta dello Sport, today it’s run by RCS Sport, whose parent company RCS Mediagroup also owns the newspaper.

It has become known for being one of the toughest races in the world, and its savage, varied, and beautiful routes have distinguished its prestige even amongst the other Grand Tours.

Such is the Giro’s accolade, overall wins and stage wins are often career defining moments for riders. Throughout the years the Giro has been running, only 22 riders have won the race more than once, and not many can pull off the back-back Giro wins. For many years no one has, with Spaniard Miguel Indurain the last to pull-off the feat in 1992 and 1993. Three riders - Alfredo Binda, Fausto Coppi, and Eddy Merckx - have won the race a record five times.

Fausto Coppi is one of three riders to win the Giro five times (Getty Images)

Mario Cipollini has won the most stages in the Giro with a grand total of 42 wins. No one has come close to challenging this record, with Eddy Merckx holding second place with 24 stage wins, Francesco Moser with 23, and Alessandro Petacchi and Roger De Vlaeminck both with 22.

Throughout the history of the Giro, Merckx holds the title for the rider to have worn the pink jersey the most, donning it on 77 occasions.

Jai Hindley won the 2022 Giro d’Italia, while Ineos Grenadiers won the two prior editions through Tao Geoghegan Hart in 2020 and Egan Bernal in 2021.

Most Giro d’Italia wins:

5 wins - Alfredo Binda (1925-1933), Fausto Coppi (1940-1953) and Eddy Merckx (1968-1974)

3 wins - Gino Baratli (1936-1946), Bernard Hinault (1980-1985), Fiorenzo Magni (1948-1955), Felice Gimondi (1967-1976), Giovanni Brunero (1921-1926)

Recent Giro d’Italia winners:

2022 - Jai Hindley, Bora-Hansgrohe
2021 - Egan Bernal, Ineos Grenadiers
2020 - Tao Geoghegan Hart, Ineos Grenadiers
2019 - Richard Carapaz, Movistar Team
2018 - Chris Froome, Team Sky
2017 - Tom Dumoulin, Team Sunweb
2016 - Vincenzo Nibali, Astana
2015 - Alberto Contador, Tinkoff-Saxo
2014 - Nairo Quintana, Movistar Team
2013 - Vincenzo Nibali, Astana
2012 - Ryder Hesjedal, Garmin-Barracuda