Giro, Tour de Suisse, Tour de France, Vuelta 2014: Character analysis of the 4 grand tours

What are the special features of the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Tour de Suisse and Vuelta a España this year? Which route has been chosen, which characteristics are emerging? This preview of the upcoming tours should give you a first overview.

Bruno Fleckenstein

Year after year, race organizers of major cycling races face the same difficult task of putting together an exciting, attractive and sportingly challenging Tour that both meets the demands of riders and teams and attracts the attention of the world in order to continue to grow in popularity - after all, these races are now a million-dollar business. We show what spectators can expect in 2014 with the stage plan and a brief analysis.

Giro d'Italia
It lasts from May 9 to June 1, 2014 and runs over 21 stages from Belfast (Ireland) to Trieste (Italy).
As the first major classic, the 2014 Giro begins spectacularly on the Emerald Isle of Ireland, with a 21km team time trial in Belfast. Two more flat stages follow. The second flat stage has Dublin as its destination, which ends the "island visit". The teams travel to the southern Adriatic coast of Italy the following day. After this "race break", the starting signal is given for a short flat stage over 112 km from Giovinazzo to Bari. During about 850 km the riders work their way up from the south of Italy towards the north into Tuscany and then change in three stages from the Adriatic coast to the Riviera. The 11th stage on May 21 will probably also be the most beautiful stage for the riders in terms of its view. Near the famous city of Parma at Collecchio, the 249 km course leads directly to Sestri Levante along the coast past Portofino to Genoa, finally ending in Savona. A day after that, the first individual time trial over 41.9 km in the Barolo wine region is on the schedule. After that, the tour leads from the Alps....
Tour de Suisse….
Tour de France…
Vuelta a Espana…

The full report can be found in the current issue Sportguide Bike 2/2014 available at the kiosk or directly from us.
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