Mitchelton-Scott's Matt White described the final week of the 2020 Giro d'Italia as a brutal race, but the sport director also predicted that GC riders will have to be at their best as the first few days will be crucial stages. The route for the 2020 Giro d'Italia was announced Thursday in Milan, with the 103rd Corsa Rosa starting in Budapest on May 9 and ending in Milan on May 31. The race will include a 58.8-km individual time trial, while the last seven days will feature five mountain stages, three of which include climbs to 5,000 meters. The queen stage from Pinzolo to Laghi di Cancano includes climbs on the Campo Carlo Magno and Castolin passes, followed by the Stelvio pass, a descent and the final climb to Laghi di Cancano.

"Last week was a filthy Giro with five mountain stages, three of them over 200km, plus a TT," White said in a statement released by Mitchelton Scott.

"It's not a soft landing. The only easy stages in the race are stages 8, 9, and 11, and while the second week is certainly the easiest, the final week is brutal."

"The first thing that stands out is the length of the stages, there are 10 stages over 200 kilometers, there is only one stage over 200 kilometers in the Tour de France and 10 in the Giro, the average daily mileage is around 170 kilometers and there are three short time trials."

The opening week opens with an 8.6-km time trial, but a tricky fourth stage to Argigento is followed by a finish atop Mount Enta. In other words, the riders aiming for the maglia rosa will not be able to set the tone in the first week of racing.

"You can't afford to lose time on stage 1, and on stages 4 and 5 in Sicily, there is a 4-kilometer hilltop finish and a climb up Mount Etna.

White did not say which GC candidates would target the Giro d'Italia, but with Simon and Adam Yates and Esteban Chaves, who has been on the podium at the Giro, in the running, the Australian team manager has time to ponder his options The Australian team manager has time to consider his options. The next few months will determine Mitchelton-Scott's race plan.

"Besides Hungary, we will be scouting 12 stages. There are a lot of new ones that we haven't used before and a lot of tricky finals that are definitely worth checking out. So we're going to spend the next four or five months checking out most of the Giro among the sporting directors."