The Giro d’Italia is an annual multiple-stage cycling race that is primarily held in Italy, while also beginning in, or passing through, other European countries.
The first race of its kind was organised in 1909 in order to increase sales of the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. It is still run by a division of that paper’s owner. The Giro has been held once a year since its first edition in 1909, except for during the two world wars. As the race gained prominence and popularity it was made longer and the Giro d’Italia expanded from primarily Italian participation to cyclists from all over the globe.
The Giro is a UCI World Tour event. This means that the teams who compete in the race are mostly UCI World Teams together with some additional teams invited as ‘wild cards’.
At the moment, the 2022 edition of the Giro d’Italia is taking place. Here are some of the highlights.
Stage 8
Aggressive cycling by Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) netted him in the final break on stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia. He took advantage of that position with a well-staged sprint to victory in Naples.
His teammate, Harm Vanhoucke, was deciding on the pace on the front while, 200 metres out, the Belgian expert launched from the back of the small lead group, easily beating second-placed Davide Gabburo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) as well as third-placed Jorge Arcas (Movistar) to the line. It was De Gendt’s second Giro d’Italia stage win, with his first coming atop the Passo dello Stelvio 10 years ago.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) began proceedings in stage 8 with a solo attack in the first 10km of the 153km stage. He was primarily chased by De Gendt, Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën Team) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux) and then …
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