ROME (AP) — Next year’s Giro d’Italia will start in Trieste, cross briefly into Slovenia, and climb up three iconic mountains in the final week before the mostly ceremonial finish in Rome.

The route for the 110th Giro, scheduled for May 8-30, was presented in Rome on Monday.

The 21 stages will be made up of: two time trials, six sprint stages, eight medium mountain legs and five in the high mountains on a total route of 3,418.9 kilometers (2,124.4 miles).

The Giro will open with a 172-kilometer stage that starts and finishes in Trieste, crossing the nearby border briefly into Slovenia. The second stage is entirely in Slovenia before crossing back into Italy for the rest of the race.

The peloton then travels down the Adriatic coast before heading across to Naples — the southernmost point of next year’s Giro — and back up through the center of Italy.

Three mythical mountains

As ever, the final week is set to be the most daunting.

The toughest leg, known as the queen stage, is slated to be Stage 16 from Sondrio to Aprica and comes immediately after the race’s second — and final — rest day.

The 192-kilometer (119-mile) route packs in nearly 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) of elevation gain as it takes the riders over a double ascent of the feared Mortirolo pass, either side of the legendary Gavia climb — which marks the “Cima Coppi” as the race’s highest point at 2,618 meters (8,589 feet).

The Gavia has not been climbed on the Giro since 2014.

Monte Zoncolan also returns for the first time since 2021 and should decide the winner of the Giro as it is the finish of a brutal penultimate stage before the long transfer down south and the largely processional ride through Rome the following day.

It is the first time the three daunting climbs of the Mortirolo, Gavia and Monte Zoncolan have been taken on in the same edition of the Giro.

Motorsport tracks

There are seven summit finishes in total, ranging in difficulty across the Apennines and Alps, with the standings also set to be shaken up by two time trials — on the seventh and 15th stages.

The first is almost entirely uphill, while the second is a much flatter route that starts at Monza’s famous Formula 1 circuit.

The Giro also takes in two other motorsports race tracks, as Stage 4 finishes at the Autodromo Marco Simoncelli in Misano, while another MotoGP circuit, Autodromo Mugello, is the finish of Stage 11.

The nine-stage Women’s Giro will start in Viareggio on May 29 and finish on the Italian side of Western Europe’s highest mountain, Mont Blanc, on June 6.

As well as the tough final day in the Alps, the route includes two mountain top finishes as well as a mountain time trial on the penultimate day.

Jonas Vingegaard and Demi Vollering won the Giro this year.