Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia 2014
In 2014 the Giro d’Italia came to Northern Ireland. The Giro d’Italia is one of the cycling world's elite and iconic events.
First held in 1909, the Giro d’Italia is a long distance road bicycle stage race held for professional cyclists over a three week period in May and June annually.
It commands a huge worldwide audience of over 775 million. The international dimension to the event will mean it's a headline-grabbing occasion, and a chance to use the interest generated as a starting point for a whole range of activities that can enrich pupils' experiences of the curriculum.
The event one of the 3 Grand Tours in the cycling circuit (alongside Tour de France and Vuelta a España) and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The Giro d'Italia is considered to be second only to the Tour de France in terms of prestige in the cycling world.
Why Northern Ireland?
Hosted primarily in Italy, the event has a tradition of the start of the race being held outside the country. The organisers chose Northern Ireland for 2014 event due to its landscapes, quality roads that are ideal for racing and iconic architecture.
Facts
- 1 Irish winner Stephen Roche 1987
- 2 Triple Crown winners
- (Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España)
- 3 five time Giro d’Italia winners
- (Alfredo Binda, Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx)
- 11 starts in foreign countries
- 21 stages in 2014
- 66 Italian winners
- 96 previous races
- 183 km is the average stage length
- 403 km is the longest stage length
- 3450 km is the total race distance
- 800 million - Giro d'Italia 2014 potential audience
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