Giro d'Italia 2024: Date, location, history, how to watch & odds

The Giro d'Italia is one of the three big Grand Tours on the UCI World Tour calendar and is raced over three weeks in May.

The Giro is the first Grand Tour of the season with the Tour de France and Vuelta Espana coming later in the year.

Due to the timing, the Giro d'Italia is often hit by inclement weather conditions, making it even more brutal for the riders.

The Giro d'Italia was the brainchild of Gazzetta dello Sport editor Tullo Morgagni, who was inspired by the Tour de France, and wanted a race that traversed Italy,

The first Giro d'Italia took place in 1909 and is the second most prestigious race of the year, behind the Tour de France.

As is the case with the other two Grand Tours, the leader of the Giro d'Italia will wear a special coloured jersey, in this case pink, otherwise known as the Maglia Rosa.

The aim is to be in possession of the Maglia Rosa when the Giro d'Italia reaches its climax.

There are also jerseys available for points classification, the mountains classification and young rider classification.

Giro d'Italia Dates

The 107th edition of the Giro d'Italia is due to begin on Saturday 4th May, 2024.

It will run for just over three weeks, concluding on Sunday 26th May.

Giro d'Italia Route

As always the Giro d'Italia will be contested over 21 stages, and the riders will travel 3321 kilometres during the race.

The 2024 edition of the race will begin in Venaria Reale in Turin, and will conclude in the Italy’s capital city, Rome.

The Giro d'Italia route is famous for its brutal climbs and the 2024 race is no different, with the riders set to tackle over 44,500 metres of altitude gain.

Even the opening stage, a race around Turin, is hilly, while there is a mountain top finish as early as stage two.

During the first week of the Giro d'Italia, the peloton will make its way to Naples and will include a mountain top finish at the infamous Prati di Tivo.

In the second week the race heads back north up the Adriatic coast then inland, before heading into the Alps on stage 15.

Sticking to tradition, the final week of the race is the most brutal, with a number of big climbs on the agenda.

The riders have to tackle the iconic Stelvio pass on stage 16 and will also head into the Dolomites for more uphill finishes.

For those that make it to Rome, the final stage will be fast and flat, ending with a sprint finish.

Giro d'Italia How to Watch

Australian fans will be able to watch the 2024 Giro d'Italia via SBS and SBS on Demand.

Giro d'Italia Most Wins

Three riders share the record for most wins in the Giro d'Italia, which currently stands at five victories.

They include Italian legends Alfredo Binda and Fausto Coppi, along with arguably the greatest cyclist of all time, Eddie Merckx from Belgium.

In recent times no one rider has dominated the Giro d'Italia and it is usually won by a different rider each year.

Vincenzo Nibali won the Giro for a second time in 2016, but since then it has been shared around.

Primoz Roglic won the 2023 edition of the Giro d'Italia.

Giro d'Italia Favourites

Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogacar is the hot fancy to win the 2024 Giro and is priced at 1.28.

Pogacar is attempting a Giro d’Italia/Tour de France double and if successful will be the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to achieve it.

Geraint Thomas is also racing both grand tours and is priced at 6.00 to win the Giro.

Then there is a big gap to the other main contenders, Ben O’Connor and Cian Uijtdebroeks, who are both available at 17.00.