Next year's Giro d'Italia's Grande Partenza will centre on a very special part of Italy: Liguria.
A bit like the Tour de France's Grand Départ from Britain, the three days have just about everything:
It all starts with a team time trial between San Lorenzo al Mare and the cycling mecca of San Remo.
Things then move on to a circuit finish in Genoa, taking in some of the Milan-San Remo route along the way.
And finally there is the ever-photogenic Cinque Terre, with some steep climbs along the way before finishing in the un-showy port that is La Spezia.
Here is Cycling Weekly's write-up. According to Cycling News, the cost of bringing the race to Liguria will be around €1m, compared with the €6m price tag attached to this year's launch in Northern Ireland.
Completely oblivious to all this excitement, I cycled the route of the opening time trial in July. It will follow the dedicated pista ciclabile recently created along the former coastal railway line. The path is used by all sorts - walkers, runners, slow folk on "shopper" bikes (aka me), as well as serious road cyclists.
And it is absolutely beautiful:
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| Early morning above San Lorenzo al Mare |
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| Km 0: San Lorenzo al Mare |
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| Just outside San Lorenzo, appoaching a 1.5km tunnel |
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| Riva Ligure |
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| The beach at Bussana, just before San Remo |
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