The 2022 Giro d'Italia, the first of cycling's three Grand Tours, takes place in a familiar May spot with Olympic champion Richard Carapaz among the leading contenders.
One of the most prestigious cycle races in the world, the Giro routinely attracts many of the best riders from the professional peloton and is targeted by big names who may or may not harbour Tour de France aspirations.
While the bulk of the action takes place in Italy, the 2022 Giro starts in Budapest, Hungary, with 18 UCI WorldTeams and four UCI ProTeams on the start line.
The partenza, or departure for the Giro d'Italia takes place on May 5th in Budapest and the race concludes with an individual time trial in Verona on May 29th.
The early action from Budapest concerns the sprinters, but the General Classification battle really starts to heat up with stage four on May 10th, where the riders tackle fearsome Mount Etna, first by climbing the Ragalgna and then the traditional Nicolosi side.
Five days later, the GC riders go pedal-to-pedal again with an Appennine ninth stage, which will finish with the brutal Blockhaus climb featuring huge gradients, which tend to play to the strengths of the pure climbers - Nairo Quintana won on Blockhaus in 2017.
The Maglia Rosa is likely to be decided on stage 20, the classic Dolomite stage from Bulluno to Marmolada via Passo Fedaia, which includes this year's Cima Coppi - the highest point of the race and a target for those with eyes on the mountains jersey.
Once all the big climbs are done and dusted, the final stage of the 2022 Giro d'Italia echoes the route used in 2019, a 17km individual time trial which will finish in Verona's Roman amphitheatre.
The winner of the General Classification of the Giro d'Italia receives the Maglia Rosa, or Pink Jersey, which goes to the rider with the quickest overall time throughout the entire race. The Maglia Rosa is likely to change hands on several occasions as the race develops.
A purple jersey is awarded to the leader of the points classification - usually a sprinter - and the leader of the mountains classification receives a blue jersey. As is the case at the Tour de France, the best young rider is awarded a white jersey.
The Giro d'Italia will be shown live on Eurosport in the UK and can also be streamed via the Global Cycling Network (GCN+) and Discovery+ apps.
The 2022 Giro d'Italia will be the 105th edition of the race. The inaugural edition, which took place in 1909, was won by Italian rider Luigi Ganna.
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Three men have claimed the Giro d'Italia's famous Maglia Rosa on five occasions. Italian rider Alfredo Binda won five times between 1925 and 1933 and another legendary Italian, Fausto Coppi, claimed his quintet of victories between 1940 and 1953.
Coppi is remembered with the Cima Coppi, a title which is awarded to the highest mountain point in the race each year. The rider who climbs the Cima Coppi first gets more mountain points than at any other point in the race.
The only non-Italian to win five Giro d'Italia GC titles is Belgian legend Eddy 'the Cannibal' Merckx, who won five times from 1968 to 1974 and also claimed the Yellow Jersey at the Tour de France on as many occasions in the same period.
Ecuadorian rider Richard Carapaz is 11/8 to win a second Giro d'Italia, having claimed the Maglia Rose for the first time in 2019.
Carapaz, who won gold in the Olympic road race in 2021, is the team leader for the Ineos Grenadiers, who won the race in 2018 with Britain's Chris Froome (as Team Sky), in 2020 with another British rider, Tao Geoghegan Hart, and again last year with Colombian Egan Bernal.
British Team BikeExchange rider Simon Yates, the winner of the Vuelta a Espana in 2018, is 5/1 to claim a first Giro victory having finished third a year ago. Joao Almeida, of UAE Team Emirates, is 13/2 with Bahrain-Victorious rider Mikel Landa a 7/1 shot.
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