Giro d'Italia becomes even tougher - Passo del Mortirolo added to stage 15

The Giro d'Italia route is often having stages cut short due to bad weather, which swoops through the Alps still in May. The riders were also set to make a small detour into Switzerland on stage 15 but that will no longer be, instead the riders will climb up the mythical Mortirolo.

The final day of the second week of the race was already very hard on profile, featuring several ascents and a summit finish at altitude near Livigno - in Mottolino. The summit finish remains in the same spot, however the riders will get there through different roads.

The start of the stage also remains intact, but the riders will not climb to Aprica and then cross the Swiss border. Instead, they will climb up the Mortirolo. Not it's hardest side, this will be a 12.6-kilometer climb at 7.6%, and then the Forcola di Livigno will also not be raced. But a difficult alternative has been presented.

After a long slightly uphill valley run, the peloton will race up the Passo di Foscagno which is 15 kilometers at 6.4% and has it's summit finish at almost 2300 meters of altitude. This climb comes only a few kilometers before the uphill finale then, on a day that is likely to be key for the overall classification.