Joaquim Rodríguez receives the leader’s jersey after winning stage 10 last year
The organisers of the Giro d’Italia, RCS Sport have unveiled details of the race’s 2014 start in Ireland, with Belfast proving the big winner.
The event will start on Saturday May 10th and will remain in Ireland for three stages. The first will start and finish in Belfast, with the riders leaving the city’s Titanic Quarter and arriving for a stage finish at Belfast City Hall.
While details of the stage routes have not been revealed, that opening stage is likely to be the traditional curtain-raiser time trial, with the Giro having often opted for a team time trial to start with.
The following day, May 11th, the riders start and finish their stage again in Belfast, at the same two locations as the opening stage. Stage 3 starts in Armagh and crosses the border south into the Republic to finish in Dublin.
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The details of the stage starts and finishes have been revealed in Belfast this morning and a second launch is planned for Dublin later today.
However, the fact that the race will only have one stage end in Dublin, with the riders and support crew leaving immediately, will come as a disappointment for many.
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It is unclear if the drugs controversy that surrounded the 1998 Tour de France visit to the Republic influenced Government thinking in the Republic about hosting more of the race there.
The 1998 visit of the Tour was also not as commercially successfully as those behind it had hoped and with the recession now deeper in the Republic than the North, financial considerations may also have come into play.
The race’s visit to Ireland comes in the form of a partnership between RCS Sport and the tourism authorities on both sides of the border.
Giro chief Michele Aquarone said in Belfast today that holding the start of the race in Ireland would enhance the country’s reputation for staging major sporting events.
“Belfast will provide spectacular backdrops for the 2014 Grand Partenza and will add something very special into the history of this great cycling event.”
Northern Ireland tourism minister Arlene Foster said plans were being put in place to make the occasion a fabulous celebration “worthy of Italian cycling traditions”.
It promises to be a fantastic occasion and the very best of luck to all involved in organising the race. We’ll keep you posted of further developments when we have them.
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