page_title: 2010 Giro d'Italia
section_title: Route and stages
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 Giro d'Italia / Route and stages
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Stad: Hellevoetsluis, Wijk: Noordwest, Straat: Amnesty Internationallaan, Details: Rotonde bij afslag de Sportlaan, met vlaggen van de Giro D'Italia
context_page_description: The 2010 Giro d'Italia was the 93rd edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro started off in Amsterdam on 8 May and stayed in the Netherlands for three stages, before leaving the country. The route included climbs such as Monte Zoncolan, Plan de Corones, the Passo del Mortirolo and the Passo di Gavia before ending in Verona with an individual time trial.
  Principal favorites for overall success in the Giro included Ivan Basso of the Liquigas–Doimo team, Cadel Evans for BMC Racing Team, and Cervélo TestTeam's Carlos Sastre. After three weeks of racing, it was Basso who claimed his second Giro d'Italia title, after also winning in 2006. David Arroyo from Caisse d'Epargne and Basso's teammate Vincenzo Nibali rounded out the podium. Australian riders won all the lesser jersey awards, with Evans taking the points classification, Omega Pharma–Lotto's Matthew Lloyd the winner of the mountains classification, and Richie Porte of Team Saxo Bank the Giro's best young rider.
  The road race stages in the Netherlands were both marred by repeated crashes, which led to some unexpected big time gaps before the transfer to Italy.
context_section_description: The Giro's 21 stages were divided into the following classifications by race organizers Gazzetta dello Sport: four time trials (three individual and one team), seven flat stages, five mixed stages, and six mountain stages. The race began in the Netherlands, the ninth time in the Giro's history that the race began outside Italy, and the first since 2006's start in Belgium. A short individual time trial and two flat stages were held there. Starting the race away from Italy meant that an early rest day, coming just three days into the 23-day race, was necessary to transfer to Italy. The first stage upon entering Italy was a team time trial, the fifth consecutive year that discipline had featured in the Giro. Stage 7 visited Tuscany and was raced partly on unpaved roads used yearly in the Italian semi-classic Montepaschi Strade Bianche. The course honored Italian cycling legends Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, and Costante Girardengo by passing through their hometowns in the first road race stages in Italy.
  Five stages ended with climbs, with most coming in the race's last week. The first was stage 8 to Monte Terminillo, a 16.1 km (10.0 mi) long climb gaining 1,672 m (5,486 ft) of vertical elevation for an average gradient of 7.3 percent, one of the most difficult climbs in the Apennine Mountains in the region of Abruzzo. The next was Monte Zoncolan in the Carnic Alps, which at 10.5 km (6.5 mi) in length was shorter than some of the other climbs in the race, but with 1,210 m (3,970 ft) of vertical gain in that time, its 20 percent maximum gradient made it one of the most difficult. The Stage 16 individual time trial went to Plan de Corones, on a course identical to the one used in the 2008 Giro d'Italia. In 12.9 km (8.0 mi), this stage gained over 1,000 m (3,300 ft) and featured a section with 24 percent gradients in the final kilometer. The Giro's last two road race stages were especially climbing-intensive, including the Passo del Mortirolo, rising 1,250 m (4,100 ft) in 12.8 km (8.0 mi) for an average gradient of 10 percent, and the Passo di Gavia, known for being climbed during the 1988 Giro d'Italia in the middle of a driving blizzard. The Gavia was also the Cima Coppi, the race's highest point, and Stage 20, in which it featured, was considered the queen stage. Other climbs during the race included the Passo del Bratello, Monte Grappa, the Passo delle Palade, the Passo di Santa Cristina, the Forcola di Livigno, and the last climb of the race, the Passo del Tonale. Most of these climbs also featured difficult descents.
  The route was noted to appeal to many types of riders, be they climbers, sprinters, or time trialists. The race had seven flat stages which figured into end in mass sprints, and the hilly mixed stages were inviting for breakaways. Sastre, one of the first riders to announce he would ride the Giro, commented that the route was much harder than that of the 2009 Giro, and would demand a very strong climber to be its champion. Zomegnan concurred that the route favored climbers, noting that the distance spent time trialing was not great and that it would take errors from climbing specialists to allow a rider better suited for time trialing to be Giro champion.
caption: Hellevoetsluis, one of the Dutch cities the peloton rode through on its way to Middelburg in stage 3. The text on the flag says Welkom!, meaning welcome!
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