Organisers of the Giro d’Italia have said the 2018 edition of the cycling ‘Grand Tour’ event will receive record coverage as it prepares to commence outside European borders for the first time in its history.
The ‘Big Start’ of the 101st Giro opens on Friday with the first of three stages in Israel, an individual time trial in Jerusalem.
Race organiser RCS Sport said the 2018 Giro will be distributed to a record 198 countries thanks to deals with 18 different broadcasters.
Italian state broadcaster Rai will once again serve as host broadcaster. The international feed will cover entirely the first three Israeli stages, while the stages raced in Italy will be covered with a daily four-and-a-half-hours of programming.
To complete the coverage, there will be three 52-minute weekly highlight programmes with a summary of the best action from the race.
Sport 5, which is operated by the RGE media group, will broadcast the Big Start’s three stages in Israel, as well as the remainder of the Giro when it returns to Italy.