New Giro d’Italia director Luca Guercilena wants to move the race one week later in the calendar, arguing that the change could improve conditions in the mountains and attract more riders.
Guercilena, who moved into race organisation after many years as Lidl-Trek’s general manager, set out the proposal in an interview with Corriere della Sera published on Tuesday, September 8.
A later finish would allow organisers to build the closing phase of the Giro around Italy’s Republic Day on June 2. Guercilena compared that opportunity with the Tour de France’s established use of Bastille Day on July 14.
“A later place in the calendar would allow us to take advantage of June 2, as they do in France with July 14,” Guercilena said.
“At the same time, we could have greater certainty of good weather in the high mountains and move further away from the Belgian races, so we can attract more riders.”
The proposed shift would create additional separation between the Giro and the Belgian spring calendar. It would push the Italian Grand Tour’s decisive mountain stages closer to summer, reducing, in Guercilena’s view, the threat of poor weather on the major passes.
A Giro less dependent on Tour stars
As we analysed in our piece on the trade-offs behind the Giro’s foreign starts, the race is already wrestling with how to strengthen its identity while competing with the Tour for attention. Guercilena now wants it to stop waiting to see which leading Tour de France contenders decide to enter. Recent route discussions have often centred on whether the biggest stage racers can be persuaded to combine the two Grand Tours or prioritise Italy over France.
“We are a great event that must free itself from subservience to the Tour and present a beautiful, well-structured route earlier, so riders know what they can expect,” he said.
Publishing the course earlier would give riders and teams more time to plan their seasons. Guercilena also rejected the idea of shaping the route around the preferences of individual stars, instead arguing for a course capable of attracting different types of riders on its own merits.
“We should not chase the big names,” Guercilena said. “We should create a race that makes them come of their own accord.”
