The second stage of the Giro Next Gen 2023 is still held in Piedmont, taking the riders from San Francesco al Campo to Cherasco, for a total of 151 km. This stage is a rather difficult one to interpret but should smile on fast riders capable of getting over the hilly stages too.

The route is relatively flat in the first part but begins to get tougher from the middle onwards. The peloton will skirt a few towns in the hinterland of Turin, such as Settimo Torinese and Chieri, then continue south all the way to the hills of Albese, where the climbs of La Morra (6.4 km at 4.8%) and Novello (4.1 km at 5.7%) will be tackled. At that point, the final 18-kilometre circuit (1 lap) will begin, crossing Narzole and the Tanaro valley floor before the grand finale in Cherasco, a beautiful town standing on a plateau surrounded by the hills of the Langhe region, with the last 1500 metres climbing at 4-5%. On this same finish line, back in 2010, Philippe Gilbert won the Gran Piemonte with one of his trademark attacks.

Such an explosive finale would seem to suit a rider like Francesco Busatto (Circus-ReUz-Technord), whose change of pace on steeper roads should allow him to try and fight for stage win. Alongside the Italian, however, there are plenty of other athletes potentially suited for a finish like this, definitely worth mentioning are Gil Gelders (Soudal-QuickStep Development), Tijl De Decker and Alec Segaert (Lotto Dstny Development), Luke Lamperti (Trinity Racing), Joshua Gudnitz (Team ColoQuick), Anders Foldager (Biesse-Carrera) and Max Van der Meulen (Devo Team DSM).