Giro d’Italia 2022
1 FRIDAY 6 MAY
BUDAPEST - VISEGRAD | FLAT
195 KM
Hungary will at last host the Grande Partenza, two years after the Covid pandemic scuppered plans to do so in 2020. The first ever Grand Tour stage held on Hungarian roads will be a mostly flat affair, but an uphill finish to the beautiful medieval castle in Visegrad, overlooking panoramic views of the Danube Bend, rules out the pure sprinters.
Instead, the first pink jersey of the race will go to whichever fast-finishing puncheur can hang on for the five kilometres of climbing (at an average gradient of five per cent), or a climber with a rapid enough finishing kick.
2 SATURDAY 7 MAY
BUDAPEST - BUDAPEST | INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL
9.2 KM
Even compared with the many glorious locations featured in mainland Italy, it’s arguable that Budapest is the prettiest town visited in this year’s Giro. This time trial will show off the city in all its splendour, beginning at the historically significant Heroes’ Square, passing the grandiose neo-gothic parliament building on the bank of the Danube River, then crossing the river to a short, cobbled uphill stretch to the finish at Buda Square. It’s too short for any significant gaps between the GC contenders, but there will be a fierce battle between time trial specialists for custody of the maglia rosa.
3 SUNDAY 8 MAY
KAPOSVAR - BALATONFURED | FLAT
201 KM
During the first week of last year’s Giro, young climber Attila Valter became the first ever Hungarian to wear the pink jersey, but he and the other GC hopefuls will likely spend the third and final stage in his native land hiding anonymously in the peloton for what is a straightforward flat stage. Instead, considering how their title sponsor and pork processing company Kometa is based in Kaposvar, look out for the Hungarian contingent of wildcard team Eolo-Kometa to get into the day’s breakaway; a breakaway that is surely doomed to be caught
