Giro d’Italia to start in Bulgaria next year

TRENTO, Italy (AP) – Next year’s Giro d’Italia will start in Bulgaria.

The tourism minister for the Balkan country had announced the news in August but it was confirmed on Friday by Urbano Cairo, president of RCS MediaGroup – the parent company of race organizer RCS Sport.

“Next year we will set off from Bulgaria,” Cairo said during his appearance at the Festival dello Sport. “Starting from abroad has a positive impact on local people, but also on Italians, it has the ability to give a huge boost to exports.

“The Giro is an ambassador to the world … because it brings joy.”

Full details of the start, known as the Grande Partenza, will be announced in due course but it will almost certainly consist of three stages in Bulgaria before an early rest day as the race transfers to Italy.

It will be the 16th time the Giro has started abroad and the second consecutive edition as this year the first three stages of the Italian Grand Tour took place in Albania.

British rider Simon Yates is the defending Giro champion.

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AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling