Heres the Giro dItalia guide. Youll find all the stage profiles together on one page and summary of each stage.Theres also all the rules in case you need to know time cuts and how the points and mountains competitions work.As ever you can read this post but there is a permanent page all May at inrng.com/giro which can also be found via the menu at the top.Route summaryIn one word: gentler. Its shorter as the average stage length is 173km, down 20km from last year. Its flatter, with about 44,000m of vertical gain which means 8,000m (15%) less than 2023, the least amount since 2010. If there are six summit finishes some of these are big ring types of climbs.Two time trials totalling 70km make the overall win tricky for pure climbers and there could be up to nine bunch sprints.Stage 1 Saturday 4 May 1850m V+An gentler Giro but no soft start. This is a short, crunchy stage and possibly the chance for Tadej Pogaar to take the maglia rosa and keep it to Rome. A feat not achieved since Gianni Bugno in 1990 but would it be wise to try? The stage win, yes but defending the lead in the coming days is another matter. Hell find plenty of rivals at least for the win in Torino.Stage 2 Sunday 5 May 2300m V+A scenic ride via the Zegna Oasis, a park created by the eponymous fashion designer. The Oropa summit finish is no walk in the park, listed as 11.8km at 6.2%, this includes the easy roads out of Biella that lead to a fierce 7km section that almost never goes below 8% as it winds up through the woodland with steep hairpins, this is a big day for the GC contenders.Stage 3 Monday 6 May 750m V+Monday and a sprint stage as the race crosses the plains. Theres more food and wine than sport as it passes risotto rice fields and plenty of vineyards before the climb to Fossano which could sour things for the sprinters.Stage 4 Tuesday 7 May 1700m V+A start in Acqui Terme, famous for its boiling spring that has gushed out steaming water since Roman days but the race wont reach boiling point until late as it crosses over the Ligurian hills to the Mediterranean and then takes up the Milan-Sanremo. Like the previous day a short climb, this time the Capo Mele, the easiest of the capi triology, is there to disrupt sprint trains before the finish.Stage 5 Wednesday 8 May 1700m V+After the previous days Milan-Sanremo dj vu, more familiar roads with the Passo del Bracco, this time taken in the opposite direction to the 2023 Giro and then a finish in Lucca in one of the regional heartlands of Italian cycling and here the Montemagno climb is gentle. This is the third sprint stage in a row.Stage 6 Thursday 9 May 1900m V+The sterrato or strade bianche stage with three sections totalling 11.6km to the south of Siena. Its a more gentle day than the Giros 2021 stage to Montalcino but theres still 1,900m of vertical gain here, and packed in the second half. The gravel gets the headlines but there are plenty of twisty tarmac roads with steep ramps to make the going hard too.Stage 7 Friday 10 May 400m V+The first time trial stage and the profile says it all, flat for 34km before the climb to Perugia including some steep parts. Two time trial stages in this race are an invitation to hulking homeland hero Filippo Ganna.Stage 8 Saturday 11 May 3750m V+A hard day, a real mountain stage. An unmarked but very real climb out of Spoleto will help the breakaway go clear. Prato di Tivos been a regular in Tirreno-Adriatico, eg 2021, and hosts the second summit finish of the Giro. Its a long climb on a wide road, a ski station summit finish but with a wild feel as its remote. Once again near the Gran Sasso, RCS will be praying theres no headwind so as to avoid last years anticlimactic outcome at nearby Campo Imperatore.Stage 9 Sunday 12 May 1300m V+The Giro is back to Napoli for the third year in a row and this time a possible sprint finish but with some tricky roads in the finale, this is no dragster finish. First via the volcanic campi flegrei said to be more risky than Vesuvius for a disastrous eruption then into the urban streets where the peloton has its own risk. At 206km its the longest stage of the opening week.Stage 10 Tuesday 14 May 2850m V+A start in Pompeii and the Giro reaches its southernmost point for the three weeks before heading north into the Matese hills and a summit finish on the Bocca della Selva, a long climb but rarely steep, a big ring kind of climb or what is called pedalabile, pedalable in Italian, and a probable breakaway day but only 141km.Stage 11 Wednesday 15 May 1850m V+A sprint stage on the coast.Stage 12 Thursday 16 May 2100m V+A fun stage with some of the wall climbs from Tirreno-Adriatico, but none of the wildest ramps. There are six categorised climbs and more unmarked ones.Stage 13 Friday 17 May 150m V+A sprint stage.Stage 14 Saturday 18 May 100m V+The second time trial stage and flat. Its on rural, twisting roads where a good line saves seconds.Stage 15 Sunday 19 May 5250m V+The tappone. In a Giro of shortened stages this is the longest stage of the race. A 220km marathon and over 5,000m of vertical gain. The Mortirolo is mid-stage and if its climbed by the easy side that means they descend the trickiest slopes. Mottolino, not so much a ski resort as a ski piste, for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Livigno. Its via the main road to the Passo Eira, then a turn onto a small service road with sections from 9-17%. As a one way road up, the rest day after is planned to allow more time to get the race infrastructure down the mountain.Stage 16 Tuesday 21 May 4350m V+Two mountain passes but no points then Stelvio from Bormio and the Cima Coppi high point, a big day for the mountains competition as its in the stage and the springboard for a breakaway. Then a long procession into South Tyrol and Italys German-speaking corner ending in a summit finish above Ortisei with gentler gradients to start before 3km at over 10% on the Panastrae.Stage 17 Wednesday 22 May 4100m V+If stage 15 was the tappone, this is another claim to royalty. The Dolomites and 4,100m of climbing compressed into 159km with the famous Selva and Rolle passes before the new Passo Brocon, climbed here twice: once from the north then a descent to the south before climbing back up another version of the southern flank. The stats on the profile say the first time is easier but the second time up is more uneven and has some steeper parts. Neither side is savage but combined theyll be selective.Stage 18 Thursday 23 May 550m V+A sprint stage as the race exits the mountains via the prosecco vineyards. Arguably more importantly its an active rest day for the GC contenders who can recover a bit for the upcoming days. Watch out for the corners in the finish through Padova.Stage 19 Friday 24 May 2850m V+A day for the breakaway? Surely thats the base case on a stage with 2,700m thats open to many types of rider but its also ambush territory on the off-chance a rider has a slender lead and a rival with a strong team wants to hammer things.Stage 20 Saturday 25 May 4250m V+Two ascents of Monte Grappa, 18km at an average of 8.1% is tough but thats with two brief downhills on the way so its more often 9% and more, especially on the upper slopes. The descents matter as much as the climbs, tricky in places.Stage 21 Sunday 26 May 300m V+A copycat stage of last years finish with a start in the Eur district and then the Rome criterium finish.The JerseysThere are four jerseys in the race: pink, cyclamen, blue and white.Pink: the most famous one, the maglia rosa, it is awarded to the rider with the shortest overall time for all the stages added together. As such, they have covered the course faster than anyone else. It is pink because the race has been organised by La Gazzetta Dello Sport, a newspaper printed on bright pink paper. It is sponsored by Enel, an energy company.There are time bonuses available on all the stages except the time trials:10-6-4 seconds for the first three riders respectively on each stage3-2-1 seconds at Intergiro point, look for the I in a green circle on the stage profilesCyclamen: the points competition. Riders score points at both of the intermediate sprints per day and at the finish line. The allocation of points depends on the stage in question, they are categorised with the typical sprint stages offering more points in a bid to place the purple-toned jersey on the shoulders of a sprinter who can handle arithmetic. The maglia ciclamino is sponsored by Be It, a Made in Italy marketing campaign.Category A+B stages (Stages 3,4,5,7,11,13,14,18,21) offer points for the first 15 riders at the finish: 50-35-25-18-14-12-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1Category C stages: (Stages 1,2,6,9,10,12,19) offer points for the first 10: 25-18-12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1Category D+E: (Stages 8,15,16,17,20) offer points for the first 10: 15-12-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1For the first intermediate sprint of each stage there are points for the first eight: 12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1(in case you are wondering the second intermediate sprint counts for the flying sprint competition where both points offer 10,6,3,2,1 points for a separate competitionBlue: the mountains jersey. It is sponsored by Banca Mediolanum, a bank. There are five categories of climb:12 fourth category climbs: the first three riders crossing the top of the climb win 3-2 and 1 points respectively10 third category climbs: the first four riders over the top get 9-4-2-1 points9 second category climbs: first six riders get 18-8-6-4-2-1 points but if it is also the finish of the stage then 26, 12, 8, 4, 2, 1 points instead11 first category climbs: the first eight riders get 40-18-12-9-6-4-2-1 points but if it is also the finish then 50,24,16,9,6,4,2,1CC or Cima Coppi: a special award, the Coppi Summit for the highest point of the race. This year it is the Stelvio on Stage 16. The first nine win 50-30-20-14-10-6-4-2-1 pointsWhite: for the best young rider, this is awarded on the same basis as the pink jersey, except the rider must be born after 1 January 1999, ie aged 25 or under. It is sponsored by Eataly, a restaurant and food retail company.Now a rider cant wear two jerseys at once, theyd get too hot and the sponsors wouldnt get the exposure theyve paid for. So if a rider leads several classifications, they take the most prestigious jersey for themselves and the number-two ranked rider in the other competition gets to wear the other jersey. For example if a rider has both the pink jersey and the blue mountains jersey theyll wear pink whilst whoever is second in the mountains jersey will sport blue jersey. The hierarchy is pink > points > mountains > white.There are also other prizes and in-race competitions such as the intermediate sprint competition which is separate to the points competition or the time bonuses also available at these spots; the breakaway prize for the rider with the most kilometres in the breakaway; the fighting spirit prize which is a combined competition for scoring across the points, mountains and so on; the team prize; and the fair play prize for teams that avoid fines and penalties.Time cutsAll riders have to make the time cut each day to stay in the race and this is a function of the stage type and average speed:Stages 3,4,5,11,13,18,21: the winners time plus 9% if the average speed is less than or equal to 37 km/h; 10% of the average speed is between 37 and 41 km/h; 11% if the average speed is over 41 km/hStages 1,2,6,9,10,12,19 the winners time plus 11% if the average speed is less than or equal to 35 km/h; 12% if the average speed is between 35 km and 39 km/h; 13% if the average speed is over 39 km/hStages 8,15,16,17,20 the winners time plus 16% if the average speed is less than or equal to 30 km/h; 17% if the average speed between 30 km/h and 34 km/h; 18% if the average speed is over 34km/h;For TT Stages, the winners time plus 30%Three Kilometre RuleAnyone with a mechanical or crash within the final three kilometres can get the same finishing time as the group the were with at the time of the incident on Stages 1,3,4,5,6,9,11,12,13,18,20 and 21.Bunch sprint time gapsThe protocol for time gaps in bunch sprints applies for Stages 3,4,5,9,11,13,18 and 21.The unmissable stagesAnything can happen during the Giro but there are some stages that matter more than others, some suggestions for the must-watch days:Stage 2: the Oropa summit finishStage 10: a short stage that suits the breakaway so look for non-stop actionStage 12: the walls of the Marche regionStage 15: the hardest stage with the finish above LivignoStage 17: a hard day in the DolomitesStage 20: Monte Grappa and the final mountain stageTVAll stages will be broadcast live from start to finish. Host broadcaster RAI offers the richest coverage with experienced commentators as well as two roving reporters on motorbikes to add extra info.If you want English coverage, theres Eurosport, in the US its on Max, Flobikes for Canada, Australia SBS and in Japan on J-Sports.As a rule the finish is expected for around 5.15pm CEST each day.The post Giro dItalia Technical Guide first appeared on The Inner Ring.