Cesena – located in the heart of Romagna, between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennine ridge – is the city of the Malatesta family. Historic and elegant, it offers the intense and tasty flavours of tradition. The last stage of the Giro Next Gen 2024 will start from right here, and will more than likely provide action and spectacle from the first to the last of the 137 kilometres scheduled.
The peloton will first tackle the climbs of Strigara and Formignano, but the big stage, and why not, GC decider will no doubt be the final circuit of Forlimpopoli, 16.8 kilometres long and to be repeated four times. Each lap will feature the Bertinoro climb (about 2.5 km with gradients of 6-8%), located 7 km from the finish.
Founded by the Romans in the 2nd century B.C. along the route of the Via Emilia, Forlimpopoli is located at the intersection between the roads connecting Forlì with Cesena and the Apennines (more precisely, the Casentino Forest National Park) to the Adriatic coast. This is an all-Romagna stage, and if you are lucky enough to be in the area, do not miss the tasty opportunity to try the true and legendary piadina, without forgetting pasta, the real cornerstone of Romagna cuisine: handmade, rolled out with a rolling pin, cut into a myriad of different shapes, enriched with delicious fillings and imaginative sauces, with strong flavours: tagliatelle, tagliolini, pappardelle, lasagne, ravioli, tortelloni, garganelli, strichetti, pasticcio di cappelletti, canoli.
Especially in the new millennium, Cesena has been very welcoming to major cycling events, also in the wake of Marco Pantani, who used to train on these roads. In addition to having often hosted the arrival of the Pantani Memorial, in the last two years Cesena has staged both an arrival of the Giro Donne 2022, with victory for Annemiek Van Vleuten, and a stage of the Giro d’Italia 2023, the time trial starting from Savignano sul Rubicone, won by Remco Evenepoel shortly before his controversial retirement for covid. For Forlimpopoli, on the other hand, this is a first time as the arrival location of a major cycling event.
