A mountain time trial, the Mortirolo twice and a return to the Zoncolan - What we know ahead of the 2027 Giro d'Italia route presentation

The route of the 2027 Giro d'Italia will be presented in Rome on Tuesday, November 3 but just like with the recent 2027 Tour de France route or for a new Apple iPhone, some details have already emerged in several Italian media, helping us to understand the difficulties and key moments of next year's race.

The 110th edition of the Corsa Rosa is expected to start in Trieste, with two stages in the north-east of Italy, before heading south via the Adriatic coast. A sprint finish in Naples is expected to be the southern-most point in the three-week race route, with a return north via Umbria, Tuscany, Liguria and into Lombardy.

The high mountains will feature in the third week with reports of a double climb of the Mortirolo before a ride east to visit Austria, with the Queen stage finishing on the mighty Zoncolan.

A new deal with the Rome city council means the riders will transfer 600 km south to the capital after stage 20 for a final sunset stage around the Roman ruins and the Colosseum on Sunday May 30.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) won the 2026 Giro but it remains to be seen if he will defend his maglia rosa, or if two time trials will be enough to tempt Remco Evenepoel or any of the other big-name Grand Tour contenders. 

Nothing is confirmed and a contract might not even have been signed even just a week before the official presentation, but the 2027 Giro is expected to start in Trieste on Saturday, May 8.

Trieste, once at the centre of a post-war territorial dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia, was due to host the Grande Partenza of the 2025 Giro but lost out to Albania. A reported deal worth nearly €10 million with the Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional government will see the region host three stages, including the Grande Partenza and the final mountain stage.

According to journalist Antonio Simeoli of Il Messaggero Veneto, stage 1 will start and finish in Trieste with a short loop into Slovenia that will suit the sprinters and perhaps even tempt Tadej Pogacar to make an appearance.

Stage 2 will finish in Pordenone, the Italian capital of culture in 2027 and offer the sprinters a second chance of victory. 

The Giro race route could jump south, passing Venice and the Po river delta during week one but RCS Sport and new race director Luca Guercilena are keen to limit the stage transfer to keep the riders and teams happy.

A stage in Romagna, not far from Marco Pantani's birthplace, is likely followed by a hilly stage to Sassotetto in Le Marche to honour the memory of Michele Scarponi.

The route will head further south into Abruzzo for a finish in Lanciano before the return of a 'cronoscalata' - a mountain time trial, from Sulmona to Campo di Giove on Friday, May 14.

The Naples stage, with a finish on the wide Viale Caracciolo seafront promenade instead of the greasy, crash-prone cobbles of Piazza del Plebiscito is expected to mark the turning point of the race.

Week two of the Giro sees the riders turn north and ride through Lazio, Umbria and then Tuscany with a finish at the Zum Zeri ski resort in the Apennines that divide Tuscany from Liguria.

Before then a sprint stage could finish in Subiaco inland from Rome, with another fast finish on stage 12 on the Mugello motor racing circuit just north of Florence.

The mountain finish to Zum Zeri comes before heading to Emilia Romagna on Friday May 21, before a possible short visit to Piemonte and then a finish on the little known Piani di Bobbio climb north of Bergamo, with the last eight kilometres at close to 10%.

The second week is likely to end with a flat and fast time trial that finishes on the Monza motor racing circuit, with the second rest day in the Milan area. The length of the time trial could have been extended in recent weeks to tempt the time trialists and so offer a more balanced route like the 2027 Tour.   

The hardest and most decisive mountain stages seem to be packed into the final week.

The Mortirolo will be back as the race heads north and east on stage 16, with contrasting reports and suggestions about the difficulty of the stage.

The stage is likely to start in Sondrio and end in Aprica, with reports suggesting that the Giro will return to the Passo del Gavia before a possible double assault of the Passo del Mortirolo resulting in 6,000 metres of climbing.

Stage 17 offers a respite between mountain stages, with a finish expected in Negrar, near Verona, in the heart of the Valpolicella wine region.

The mountains return with a stage to Madonna di Campiglio in Trentino, where Pantani famously failed a blood haematocrit test and was disqualified from the 1999 Giro. A hilly road stage finishing in Vicenza, in the Veneto region, is likely to follow instead of a previously reported time trial.

The final three stages will begin with a mountain stage to Lienz in Austria. The 2027 Giro 'tappone' or Queen stage is expected on Saturday May 29, with a finish atop the Monte Zoncolan.

The stage could climb the Zoncolan from the Ovaro side, which ends with the natural amphitheatre finish packed with thousands of tifosi. This climb was last raced in the Giro in 2018, when Chris Froome won alone and went on to win the Giro.

Whoever pulls on the maglia rosa atop the Zoncolan will surely be crowned as the 2027 Giro winner 24 hours later in Rome on Sunday May 30.