(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, SEPTEMBER 18 - The 2018 cycling Giro di Italia will kick off in Israel on May 4 with the first 10-km leg in Jerusalem. It is the first time that a major European cycling event will start outside of the Old Continent.
The first three stages of the tour will take place in Israel.
In Jerusalem, the race will cross some of the city's landmarks, including the Israeli parliament Knesset with the point of arrival right next to the walls of the old city. The last part of the stage will be uphill.
The day after, on May 5, the race will move from Haifa to Tel Aviv along 167 kilometers. The first part of the journey will include parts uphill and downhill and touch Zikhron Ya'akov, among others, while the second plat will be mainly flat. The last kilometers will be inside Tel Aviv and the arrival will be right on the seafront. The last 226-km-long stage in Israel will go from Be'er Sheva to Eilat on the Red Sea.
To launch the Israeli stages, the cycling race's organizers have recalled that late Italian champion Gino Bartali on October 10, 2013, was recognized as Righteous among Nations and his name was engraved on the wall of honor of the Garden of the Righteous in Yad Vashem. During Germany's occupation in Italy, Bartali was an active member of a network that helped persecuted Jews thus contributing to save almost 1,000 people. Bartali hid fake documents in his bike and took them to different cities with the excuse that he was training. The presentation was attended by two cycling champions who both won the tour twice, Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso.
(ANSAmed).
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