The Giro dell’Emilia is one of Italy’s most prestigious autumn one-day races, first held in 1909 and centred on Bologna and the surrounding hills of Emilia-Romagna. Its defining feature is the final circuit to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, reached by a steep ascent alongside the monumental portico climbing above the city.
Around the Peloton explores the Giro dell’Emilia through Bologna, the Apennine foothills and the historic communities along its changing routes, uncovering centuries of architecture, religious history and regional culture behind one of the most distinctive finishes in professional cycling.
For the first time, the Giro dell’Emilia begins in Ferrara, nearly fifty kilometres north-east of Bologna and deep inside the immense plain created by the River Po and its tributaries. The riders begin on land so flat that water has…
