Race officials for the Giro d’Italia have announced a change to this year’s route, adding the Passo di Mortirolo to stage 15 after local authorities in Switzerland declined to authorize the race’s planned border crossing en route to Livigno.
The Alpine stage from Manerba del Garda was originally slated to cross into Switzerland in order to tackle the 18km ascent of Forcola di Livigno before taking in another 8km climb to the finish in Livigno.
“Keeping Alpine passes such as the Forcola di Livigno safe would impose a disproportionate burden. For this reason, the Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Mobility of Graubünden (Switzerland) did not accept the proposed passage of the race,” read a statement from RCS Sport today.
The amended 220km route means the Italian Grand Tour at the Giro will remain in Italy for the duration of stage 15, traversing the Mortirolo before taking a different approach to the 2,385m-high finish at Livigno.
The revised route will see the peloton grapple the category 3 ascent of Lodrino and the category 2 Colle San Zeno in the opening 64km as planned before facing the Mortirolo.
Although the new route will take on a less demanding approach from Edolo, the category 1 ascent is still a difficult one, featuring 12km of climbing with gradients upwards of 16%.
After descending to Grosio, the race proceeds towards Livigno with the category 1 Passo di Foscagno (14.6 km at 6.5%), whose summit comes just under 9km to the finish. A short, sharp descent follows before the 4.7km ascent to the finish via the Passo di Eira.
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