The Giro d’Italia next year will begin on Saturday, May 4, in Torino. The opening stage will be dedicated to the 1949 Superga airplane disaster, in which all the members of the AC Torino football club perished.
The race organizers released details of the initial stages on Monday, which will start with a 136-kilometer route from Venaria Reale, on the outskirts of Torino, to the city center.
The route will pass through the Superga hill, where the plane crashed, killing all 31 people on board, including the team of the reigning Italian champions. The “Grande Torino” had triumphed continuously in Serie A from 1946 to 1949. The crash marked a historic turning point in the club’s development. Before that, AC Turin had won six titles, but since then, only one.
The stage will take place on the 75th anniversary of the tragedy. The stage winner will also receive a special “maglia rosa,” the pink leader’s jersey, with the inscription “Solo il Fato li vinse” on the inside of the collar, which means “Only fate defeated them” in Turin’s colors.
