Giro d'Italia 2027 Route Revealed: Monte Zoncolan and Passo Gavia Return for a Climbing-Heavy Edition

RCS Sport unveiled the route for the 110th Giro d'Italia on November 3 at Rome's Auditorium Parco della Musica, and it is one of the most climbing-heavy editions in years. The 2027 race brings back two of cycling's most feared ascents, Monte Zoncolan and the Passo Gavia, across 21 stages from Trieste to Rome.

The Big Picture

• Start: Trieste, Saturday, May 8, 2027
• Finish: Rome, Sunday, May 30, 2027
• Stages: 21, including six sprint stages, eight hilly stages, five mountain stages and two individual time trials
• Total distance: 3,418.9 kilometers
• Total elevation gain: 50,250 meters
• Time trial distance: 56.9 kilometers combined

Stage 2 briefly takes the race outside Italy, running from Ljubljana to Koper in Slovenia, before it loops back through Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

The Queen Stage: Gavia and a Double Mortirolo

The route's hardest day comes on stage 16, a 192km leg from Sondrio to Aprica packed with roughly 5,700 meters of climbing. The Passo Gavia, at 2,618 meters, serves as this year's Cima Coppi, the race's highest point, and sits between two ascents of the brutal Mortirolo, long nicknamed the Montagna Pantani after the late Italian climbing great Marco Pantani. It is the Gavia's first Giro appearance since 2014, and organizers and cycling media have already flagged the stage as perhaps the most intimidating profile of the entire route.

Zoncolan's Return on Stage 20

Just four days later, stage 20 sends the peloton 180km from Pordenone to a finish atop Monte Zoncolan, climbed from the steep Ovaro side, one of the sport's most punishing summit finishes. With the race's overall result likely still in the balance that late, a Zoncolan finish so close to Rome sets up a dramatic final week.

Two Time Trials Bookend the Climbing

Despite the mountain focus, the route includes two individual time trials totaling 56.9 kilometers. Stage 7 is a 19.6km uphill test from Sulmona to Campo di Giove in the Apennines, while stage 15 is a flatter 37.3km race against the clock from Monza's Autodromo Nazionale into Milan, giving pure time trialists a chance to claw back time before the race heads into its hardest mountain block.

Why This Route Stands Out

Between the double Mortirolo, the Gavia's return after over a decade away and a Zoncolan finish inside the final week, the 2027 Giro is shaping up as one of the most demanding routes organizers have produced in recent memory. For general classification riders, there is little room to hide: climbers get two genuine queen-stage opportunities, while time trial specialists get just enough flat running to stay in touch. The route announcement sets up an early narrative heading into next spring, much as this year's Tour de France 2027 route reveal reshaped expectations for cycling's other Grand Tour.

What It Means for the Contenders

A route this loaded with high-altitude climbing tends to reward riders who can hold form across three weeks rather than those who rely on a single explosive day. The Gavia-Mortirolo double on stage 16 is the kind of stage that can blow a general classification apart on its own, long before the race even reaches Zoncolan four days later. Pure climbers should relish the chance to attack twice in the mountains, while all-rounders with a strong time trial will look to bank time early at Campo di Giove and again at Monza before the race turns decisively uphill.

The Slovenian excursion on stage 2 is a reminder that Grand Tour organizers increasingly treat the opening days as a showcase as much as a sporting test, much like the Giro's recent starts abroad in Hungary, Albania and Northern Ireland. But with 50,250 meters of total climbing packed into three weeks, there is no mistaking where this edition's real drama will unfold: in the mountains of Lombardy and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, on climbs that have decided Giri d'Italia for decades.

Follow all the buildup to next spring's race in our cycling coverage.

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