Exhausted by the Cansiglio queen stage, the riders will have to tackle the last effort of this Giro Next Gen 2023, the final act, the 135-kilometre Tavagnacco-Trieste. They will start from the village of Cavalicco di Tavagnacco, Enzo Cainero’s hometown, and tackle a slightly undulating first part along the moraines of Udine. The peloton will then cross the towns of Pagnacco, Buja, birthplace of Alessandro De Marchi and Jonathan Milan, and Tarcento, to continue through the wine area of Nimis, Attimis and Faedis, all the way to the Cividalese plain.

In the province of Gorizia, characterised by the many dramatic memories of the Great War, the Monte San Michele climb (3.5 km at 6.5%) will be the only KOM of the day. The peloton will then enter the province of Trieste via the “high” road of Aurisina and Santa Croce. At that point, the riders will head towards the coast for the grand finale of both the stage and the Giro, located in the stunning Piazza Unità d’Italia and in front of the Molo Audace.

Everything points to a sprint finish, given that the only asperity is placed at 46 km to go, but the tiredness resulting from eight days lived at a thousand miles per hour could wink at some brave attackers, who may have saved their energy just for Trieste. The names to be marked in red remain those of Magenta and Povegliano, namely Luke Lamperti (Trinity Racing), Davide Persico (Colpack Ballan), Alberto Bruttomesso (CT Friuli), Gianluca Pollefliet (Lotto Dstny) and Tim Torn Teutenberg (Leopard TOGT). On the other hand, should the race turn out to be tougher than expected, Francesco Busatto (Circus-ReUz-Technord) could be a rider to consider, as could Gil Gelders (Soudal-QuickStep DT) and former Maglia Rosa Alec Segaert (Lotto Dstny DT).