Racing the clock up San Luca
The Giro d’Italia 2019 sets off from Bologna with a short but technically demanding individual time trial through the city.
The first six kilometres run mostly flat before the route turns onto the final climb toward the Sanctuary of San Luca, where the last two kilometres ramp up sharply. The double bend known as “Le Orfanelle” is both the most scenic point of the course and its steepest, reaching a gradient of 16 per cent.
It is not the first time the Giro has opened in Bologna against the clock. In 1994, the 77th edition started from the city with a split opening day: an 86-kilometre road stage followed by a 7-kilometre individual time trial, both held entirely within the city limits. The Sanctuary of San Luca had already decided a stage of its own in 1956, when Charly Gaul beat Federico Bahamontes by just three seconds on the 2,450-metre climb.
