Explore our 2020 Giro d’Italia Cycling Tour
TOUR DATES
11 Day: Friday 24th May – Monday 3rd June 2019
BOOKINGS ARE OPEN!
The 2019 Giro d’Italia will take place from Saturday 11 May starting in Bologna and finish in the historic Verona arena on Sunday 2 June.
The official 2019 Giro d’Italia route has been released and we’re excited, the course looks fantastic.
TOUR START AND FINISH:
You can finalise your travel arrangements now – our Giro d’Italia trip will start and finish at Milan Malpensa Airport.
Tour Start: 10:00 am pickup on Friday 24th May from the Milan Malpensa Airport, Italy.
(or we highly recommend arriving at our team hotel near the Milan Malpensa Airport a day or two early to recover from travel and or jetlag)
We can arrange a private airport shuttle for you and your bike, or the hotel is easily accessible by train just two stops from the Milan Malpensa Airport, or on a Milan City centre train. If your keen, ask us how.
Tour Finish: Monday 3rd June at approximately 5pm with a dropoff at Milan Malpensa Airport (- this will be after we transfer across from Verona in the morning and repack bikes at our trip start team hotel – *ie bike bags won’t travel with us on the trip*).
About Our Tour:
We’ll pick up the Giro d’Italia at various key points for the final 10 days of the race. We’ll take in many classic Giro d’Italia rides including: The Stelvio, Lake Como/ Madonna Ghisallo, Mortirolo, Gavia, Sella Ronda Loop and many more classics in the Dolomites.
Some days we’ll have a taste of what it’s like to be a pro rider and ride sections of the race course. Plus we’ll be there to see the final race stage and finish in Verona, our trip will conclude on Monday 3rd June, the morning after the race finishes.
*Note, each of our Grand Tour Itineraries is new each year, so we can maximise your experience with race viewing combined with great rides.
Take a look at our previous years trip (below) if you’d like an indication of the great inclusions, format and pricing*
Take a look at our 2018 Giro d’Italia itinerary.
Embrace the passion of Italy and its great race.
Italy is like our second home, we’ve spent much of the last ten years running cycling trips to the Giro d’Italia and all of Italy’s beautiful regions. We love everything about Italy, its cycling, it’s enthusiastic cycling fans the “Tifosi”, its food, its passion and love of “la dolce vita”.
The 102nd edition of the Giro d’Italia will start from Bologna on 11 May and finish in Verona on 2 June. With 3,518.5 km of racing packing in 46,500 meters of total elevation, this edition is one of the hardest courses in recent years.
Three Individual Time Trials, six low difficulty stages suitable for sprinters, seven medium difficulty and five high difficulty stages form the 2019 course. There will be a total of seven summit finishes, including the Bologna and San Marino Individual Time Trials.
The Cima Coppi (highest mountain of the Giro) will be the Gavia Pass at 2,618 metres above sea level; the Mortirolo will be this edition’s Montagna Pantani; and the Bartali stage will be the Bologna-Fucecchio. Homage will be paid to Fausto Coppi in the centenary of his birth with the finish in Novi Ligure and the Cuneo-Pinerolo stage.
The Big Start from the Emilia-Romagna capital city of Bologna and the finish in Verona with its ‘traditional’ arrival in the Arena, are both ITTs, it’ll be an exciting finale to a great Giro course.
STAY
Beautiful Italian Hotels and Chalets.
RIDE | VISIT
Dolomites: Sella Ronda Loop, Passo’s Pordoi, Gardena, Campolongo, Sella
Lombardy: Lake Como – Bellagio, Chapel / Colle del Madonna Ghisallo
Province of Sondrio: Bormio, Stelvio Pass, Mortirolo, Gavia
Final Stage: 2019 Giro d’Italia will finish in Verona, we’ll take in a morning sightseeing ride including riding on sections of the final time trial race course
EAT | DRINK
Wonderful regional produce, passionately prepared by our hosts, matched with the finest aperitivos, local wines, craft beers and mineral waters.
WATCH
A mixture of stage starts, midpoints, feed stations, mountaintop and stage finishes.
It’s possibly the best team we’ve ever assembled for a Giro d’Italia Tour.
Our Giro d’Italia tour provides the perfect mix of “ride more – transfer less”, with challenging rides in the Alps, Dolomites, lake Como. You’ll have your fill of riding, plus we’ll see different aspects of the Giro d’Italia race stages, including stage starts, midpoints, feed stations, hilltops, stage finishes, mixed with a cultural and culinary Italian experience.
There’s something beautiful about riding a bike in Italy, it’s a country practically born and raised on two wheels, the terrain is almost purpose-built for cyclists who love panoramic climbs, sweeping views, lakeside roads, it’s any wonder Italy is regarded as cycling’s birthplace.
Each of our Grand Tour Itinerary’s provides a unique experience as the race route changes dramatically each year. At our 2019 Giro d’Italia tour you can count on riding many of the legendary Italian rides and routes including:
The Stelvio Pass, where you can opt for a Gran Fondo style loop of the Stelvio and climb two sides including climbing the Swiss side if your legs are feeling good, we also ride the beautiful Mortirollo – Gavia loop while we are in the area.
From our Lake Como base, we’ll ride to the stunning lakeside village of Bellagio, the Colle del Madonna Ghisallo with its beautiful chapel of the patron saint of cycling, the nearby Wall of Surmano and soak up the surrounds of Lake Como.
Our Giro d’Italia trip is led by our experienced team who’ve been hosting trips to Italy for many years, we know how to get the best out of your riding, Giro d’Italia race experience, all in a safe, supported – team like environment.
May – June is a beautiful time to visit and ride in Italy, we’ll show you the smaller roads, charming villages and stay in chic Italian hotels. We will keep you updated as more detailed Giro d’Italia race route details are released in the months ahead.
We look forward to showing you around our favourite places, intersecting Giro d’Italia race stages and watching the final days stage. We’re sure you’ll love Italy and the Giro d’Italia as much as we do.
Ciao Pat, Grace and The Team.
Day 1 – May 24th: Arrival Day
10:00 am Pick Up: Milan Malpensa Airport – Transfer to our Hotel.
Build Bikes – Local Warm Up Ride.
Today’s Ride: 45km Loop.
Stay Soronno (near Milan Malpensa Airport)
7.30pm: Three course Welcome Dinner & drinks included
Day 2 – May 25th: Travel to Como.
Today’s Rides: 35km, 45km, 80km – 2300m climbing
Ride: Como to Sormano and onto the Chapel, Madonna di Ghisallo – Visit the magnificent Chapel and Museum.
Ride or drive onto our Lake Lecco Hotel
Stay Lecco
Free to explore Lecco dinner
Day 3 – May 26th: See race today
Depart Hotel to ride race route to Madonna Ghisallo via Bellagio.
See race at both Asso and Surmano and return to Lecco by bike or vehicle.
Today’s Rides: 55km or 85km – 2600m climbing
Stay Lecco
Free to explore Lecco for dinner
Day 4 – May 27th: Mortirolo and onto Bormio
Drive to the base of Mortirolo.
Ride Mortirolo and Gavia loop or Gavia then onto Bormio.
Today’s Rides: 45km, 50km or 95km – 1400m/1900m/3300m climbing
Stay Bormio
Three course Dinner Included
Day 5 – May 28th: Ride Passo Stelvio and see race
Ride Passo Stelvio in the morning.
Today’s Ride: 50km – 1600m climbing (45km / 1200m Optional additional extra’s Ride – Mini Stevio climb)
See race in Bormio approx 2.30pm or on the Gavia.
Stay Bormio
Three course Dinner Included
Day 6 – May 29th: See race start and transfer to the Dolomites
Go to race start in Commezzadura.
After race departs ride race route Commezzadura – Passo Della Mendola to St Michele.
Today’s Ride: 65k – 1100m climbing.
Transfer 1.5hrs to Dolomites Hotel.
Stay: Dolomites, Val di Fassa
Three course Dinner Included
Day 7 – May 30th: Sella Ronda
From our Hotel, ride the famous Sella Ronda Loop.
Today’s Rides: 55km, 75km, 95km / 1700-2450m
(Optional additional extra’s Ride – double loop of Sella Ronda – Ride Loop in both directions 150km/ 4150m)
Stay: Val di Fassa
Three-course Dinner Included
Day 8 – May 31st: See race finish.
Depart hotel and ride to Giro race finish in San Martino di Castrozza via Alleghe.
Today’s Rides: 50km, 80km, 100km / 1200m – 2900m
Stay: Val di Fassa
Three-course Dinner Included
Day 9 – June 1st: Final Mountain Stage – see race.
Ride down the valley to see race at base of Passo Manghen approx 2pm.
Today’s Rides: Passo Manghen 35km – 65km / 200m -1400m climbing.
Transfer to Verona after race pass (approximately 2hours).
Stay: Verona. Farewell Dinner and drinks tonight (This leaves tomorrow night free for everyone to enjoy the final festival /party of the 2019 Giro d’Italia)
Day 10 – June 2nd: Ride the Verona TT course and see final TT
Ride the Verona TT course on race morning plus additional loop.
Today’s Rides: 20km – 60km / 300m – 6000m.
Return to Verona to see the TT finish as it enters the Historic Verona Arena
Stay: Verona old Town. 100m from race finish.
Free to explore Verona for dinner
Day 11 – June 3rd: Departure Day.
Drive to Milan Malpensa Airport via Saronno Hotel to repack bikes ready for flights/ travel.
Drop-off to Milan Malpensa Airport included.
5pm: Earliest flight departures from Milan Malpensa Airport.
We open up our Advance Reservations for trips so you can book well ahead. Guarantee your position by booking up to 12 months prior.
If you’d like to organise and book your trip more than 12 months prior, contact us via email or phone, we’ll arrange everything so you can make an advanced early booking.
An advance booking, accompanied by a fully refundable $750 AUD (Australian Dollar) ensures priority booking status when the trip details are announced. Note, an advance booking is not considered final until payment is received.
Once specific trip itinerary details are finalized, we’ll contact everyone on the advance reservation list via email, we’ll include the itinerary and offer a priority booking position before opening up bookings to the wider community.
If a trip fills – as it often does in the advance bookings, we create a waiting list and then offer reservations on a first-come, first-serve basis (based on the date the advance reservation was made) once our advanced booking guest have finalised.
To cancel an advance reservation a cancellation request must be submitted in writing/ via email within 14 days of the trip details being published. The (AUD) $750 advance reservation payment will be immediately refunded for any cancellation received within this 14-day period.
The balance of your trip payment is due no later than 120 days prior to your trip departure date, we will forward via email your final payment invoice. You can choose to make full payment earlier if you prefer to finalise your trip payment early, contact us and we will arrange for an invoice to be sent.
What if I have to transfer, change or cancel my trip:
We understand you may not be able to go on your trip, cancel, change or transfer due to personal or medical reasons. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to transfer to another trip that has places available. If you have a question give us a call or email.
Due to the high demand, limited hotel availability and the advance payments expected by our hotels and restaurants we use, the following cancellation conditions apply to all of our trips.
120 – 91 days prior to departure | 50% cancellation fee of the trip price |
90 – 61 days prior to departure | 75% cancellation fee of the trip price |
60 days and less prior to departure | 100% cancellation fee of the trip price |
Years of Experience
Tours Completed
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Cycled on Tour
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