On Monday the 5th of October, the route of the 2016 Giro d’Italia was revealed at the Expo 2015 in Milan. On the 6th of May, the Grande Partenza will take place in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. The next two days, the riders stay in the Netherlands before heading to Italy. The route includes seven sprint stages, three time trials and seven mountain stages. On the 29th of May, the Giro ends in Turin. A total of 3.383 kilometres will be covered with six stages that are longer than 200 kilometres.
  
“The new route offers more opportunities for our riders," Lotto Soudal sports director Bart Leysen said. "In the first part of this Giro, there are six sprint stages where we can have successes with André Greipel. We still have to make the planning for 2016 and look if André will ride the Giro, but the fact that there are that many sprint opportunities in the first week means that there is a great chance that he will ride.

"In the second week, there are some stages where the breakaway can make it to the end. Only in the last week, the real mountain stages take place. In the previous stages, both attackers and GC-riders can go for stage wins.

“The past years, the Giro deterred the riders from participating because of the cruel stages. This year, these stages are no longer there. The organization probably understood that it can still be a great race with less tough stages. Most of the riders just had a busy spring campaign and don’t have the motivation to ride in the mountains for three weeks. Therefore, the change in the route is good. More riders will be motivated especially because there are more opportunities for non-climbers. Also the general classification will be decided in the last week. In previous editions the GC was already made after one week. This only makes it more interesting for the spectators.

“The amount of time trials probably won’t make the difference as everyone expects. Last year, the Giro started with a team time trial and afterwards they had to do a long individual time trial. This year the time trials are not that long.

"The guys who battle for the GC will decide who loses time and who takes time. But a time trialist who wants to go for the GC will suffer in the last week. The three stages in the Alps and the mountain time trial will decide who’ll win the Maglia Rosa.”

Last year Greipel won a stage in the Giro while Lotto Soudal had Maxime Monfort and Jurgen Van den Broeck finish just outside the top 10. It is still unclear whether the team will bring a GC rider to the race but it is likely that either Bart De Clercq or Maxime Monfort will be given a leadership role.