The route for the 2012 Giro d'Italia, which was unveiled on Sunday, will be easier than in recent years, when it has been labelled inhuman, and riders are expected to spend less time on transfers between stages.
The race will start with an 8.7km individual time trial in Herning, Denmark, on 5 May and after three days fly to Italy. It is the 10th time in its 95 editions that the Giro has started abroad and on this occasion the first three stages will all be held in Denmark.
The world champion, Mark Cavendish, who wore the leader's pink jersey for one stage and won stage 10 of this year's race, is likely to be pleased with the profile of the first week, which clearly favours sprinters, but the Giro should be decided in the final week, with the penultimate stage, a 218km mountain trek ending with the tough climb up the Stelvio, likely to create significant gaps.
The race ends on 27 May with a 31.5km individual time trial in Milan – this year's version of which was won by David Millar – the third test against the clock after the first stage and a team time trial in Verona.
Unlike last year, when exhausting, high mountain stages were lined up in succession with long, energy-sapping transfers, the 2012 route features a flat stage between two mountain treks in the final week.
Riders have complained in the past about the Giro route, and the former director Angelo Zomegnan has accused of setting up a "freak show". But Zomegnan has been replaced by Michele Acquarone, who promised to take riders' demands into consideration.
Perhaps partly as a consequence of the demanding 2011 route, Britain's Team Sky entered effectively a second-string team, with Russell Downing and Peter Kennaugh – who would finish as the highest placed Briton, in 87th – the only British riders on the squad. But the prospect of Cavendish possibly lifting the pink jersey for the team in the first week, and the profile being much more suited to Chris Froome or Bradley Wiggins, who finished second and third in this year's Vuelta a España, respectively, are likely to persuade the team principal, Dave Brailsford, to enter a strong squad next year.
The 2011 champion, Alberto Contador of Spain, who has already announced he will not be taking part but focusing instead on the Tour de France, spoke positively of the 2012 route. "This Giro will be more human," he said. "There are more 'recovery stages' and, although I don't think I'll take part, it seems to be a very interesting route."
Contador, a three-time Tour de France champion, said of his decision not to defend his Giro title: "I don't think I will ride in the Giro; it will be very difficult. It's very difficult to do both the Giro and the Tour. Maybe in two years' time. I still have to talk to the team managers and discuss it with them but at the moment it's not in my plans."
Of next year's race he said: "It's a nice course, a bit different to last year and maybe a bit more even. For me the Giro is the best race in the world. It has a particular fascination for me. And if it was only up to my heart, I would race it. But next year I will think of other objectives, such as the Tour de France."
The Liquigas rider Ivan Basso, the 2010 winner, said it would be a pity not to compete against Contador again. "I think it's too early to talk about who'll be there and who won't because we're in a bit of a particular situation, in that they've only revealed the route about 15 minutes ago so the cyclists have still to look at it properly, talk to their teams," the Italian said.
"We also have to finish this season. But I would definitely prefer him to be there. I want to race against him."
Next year's Giro will have a solemn tone, with the third stage to be dedicated to Wouter Weylandt, the Belgian cyclist who died after a fall during this year's race. Weylandt crashed on the descent of the Passo del Bocco on the third stage of the race – the same stage he won the previous year. The jersey No108, which Weylandt wore during the Giro, has also been retired.
The route for the 2012 Giro d'Italia unveiled by organisers on Sunday:
• May 5 stage 1: Herning (Denmark)- Herning, 8.7km (individual time trial)
• May 6 stage 2: Herning – Herning, 206km
• May 7 stage 3: Horsens (Denmark)- Horsens, 190km
• May 8 Rest day
• May 9 stage 4: Verona – Verona, 32.2km team time trial
• May 10 stage 5: Modena – Fano, 199km
• May 11, stage 6: Urbino – Porto Sant'Elpidio, 207km
• May 12 stage 7: Recanati – Rocca di Cambio, 202km
• May 13 stage 8: Sulmona – Lago Laceno, 229km
• May 14 stage 9: San Giorgio nel Sannio – Frosinone, 171km
• May 15, stage 10: Civitavecchia – Assisi, 187km
• May 16 stage 11: Assisi – Montecatini Terme, 243km
• May 17 stage 12: Seravezza – Sestri Levante, 157km
• May 18 stage 13: Savona – Cervere, 121km
• May 19 stage 14: Cherasco – Cervinia, 205km
• May 20 stage 15: Busto Arsizio – Lecco/Pian dei Resinelli, 172km
• May 21 rest day
• May 22 stage 16: Limone sul Garda – Falzes/Pfalzen, 174km
• May 23 stage 17: Falzes/Pfalzen – Cortina d'Ampezzo, 187km
• May 24 stage 18: San Vito di Cadore – Vedelago, 139km
• May 25 stage 19: Treviso – Alpe di Pampeago, 197km
• May 26 stage 20: Caldes/Val di Sole – Passo dello Stelvio, 218km
• May 27 stage 21: Milan – Milan, 31.5km individual time trial
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/oct/16/giro-ditalia-2012-team-sky
