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On Friday, 176 riders will start for the 105th Giro d'Italia over 21 stages in 24 days and a total of 3446 kilometre. But most of all there are 54730 vertical meters to overcome. What are the key stages and how does this route compare to previous editions?

Climbers vs. sprinters

A basic question for sprinters to determine which Grand Tour they will ride is the number of sprinter opportunities. With the ProfileScore we compute how hard a stage is in terms of climbing. The higher the score, the harder the stage. This year, the Giro has 9 stages with a ProfileScore above 200, two stages between 100 and 200, eight stages below 100 and 2 time trials.

Table 1. ProfileScores per stage Giro 2022

To put this into perspective we have tabulated the highest profile score victory for an example set of sprinters. Assuming he does not improve his climbing capabilities, Caleb Ewan has only have 7 chances for a stage victory, as stage 1 has a profile score for the final 20k of 36. For Fabio Jakobsen only 6 stages would suit him.

Table 2. Highest profileScore victory per rider

Climbing, climbing, climbing

The 54730 vertical meters is the 2nd most vertical meters since 2000, just 500 meters short of the most in 2020. However, the average profileScore per stage is this year 165, which was never this high. Since the beginning of the century the profileScore has increased on average by 50%.

Table 3. Vertical meters per year

Table 4. Avg. profile score p/stage since 2001

Table 5. Avg. profileScore per stage vs previous years

toughest climbs

The climbs come thick and fast this Giro. Here are the toughest climbs according to the ProfileScore formula. Blockhaus tops the list, followed by Valico di Santa Christina and the Kolovrat. The Etna is also high up there and already appears in stage 4.

Table 6. Climbs with highest profile score

breakdown per week

It seems the standard format for any grand tour is to have the majority of the climbing in the 3rd week. This year the final week is incredible hard, with on average 3300 vertical meters per day in the final week. However, the Giro of 2012, won by Ryder Hesjedal had the most climbing in the final week with almost 25000 meters.

Table 7. Vertical meters per week

Table 8. Vertical meters in 3rd week