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Italian
Along with le Tour de France and la Vuelta a España, il Giro d’Italia (the tour of Italy) is one of the three big international cycling races. Held on an annual basis, il Giro, runs along the Italian roads since 1909.
“Fight for pink” is the motto of Il Giro: the winner of every stage has the honour to wear, during the next day of the competition, the iconic pink jersey, la maglia rosa, trademark of the race.
It’s not rare that some stages of the race are beyond the Italian borders (e.g. in 2012 Il Giro started in Denmark) but it’s the first time that Ireland hosts this event.
The race is going to start on the 9th of May in Belfast. The first stage looks quite easy: 21 km around the city, but it’s just the start.
The second day the riders are going to make a tour of 218 km: a ring that starts and ends in Belfast and that is going to pass through Northern Ireland, running along the coast of County Antrim and passing really close to the famous Giant’s Causeway, one of the most dramatic sites of Northern Ireland.
On the third stage the riders are going to start from Armagh and cross four counties. 187 km in the green Irish landscape and the racers will eventually reach their destination, Dublin. Let’s hope that the athletes will have a nice rest in the capital of the Republic, because after a day Il Giro will move back to Italy.
After crossing Italy from south to north, from the coast, through valleys and up to the mountains, the race is going to end on the 1st of June in Trieste.
On the official website, you can find the program and the route for every stage of the race.
Cycling is becoming more and more popular at the moment in Ireland, and surely this was one of the motivations that led to the 
choosing of the Emerald Island as the starting point of Giro d’Italia.
Ireland is the dream of every passionate cyclist, thanks to its quiet roads in the wild nature and its breath-taking landscapes.
Would you like to visit a part of Ireland on your bicycle? Cycling Ireland can help you.
The site provides 100 cycling route guides across Ireland. The guides will show you pictures of the most important points of the routes, giving you advice about traffic, attractions, distances and inclines of the roads.
Cycling Ireland has just launched its App for smartphones. You can choose on your phone the best route for you and the app will show you the roads and the interesting points such as restaurants and panoramic views. Moreover an alarm will ring on your phone if you go the wrong way! You will not get lost anymore.
You can download a free version of the app, with 4 routes on Cycle Ireland’s website.
