Northern Ireland's biggest closed-roads sportive, the Gran Fondo Giro d'Italia, will move from Belfast's Titanic Quarter to a new venue for 2017. This year the start/finish, rider registration and event expo will take place at Stormont Estate, which featured in the iconic opening team time trial of the 2014 Giro d'Italia Big Start.
Taking place on Sunday 4 June, the gran fondo is a legacy event from the 2014 Giro d'Italia when the opening three stages took place in Ireland. Now in its third year, the sportive offers a choice of two challenging routes with thousands of cyclists enjoying traffic-free roads and spectacular scenery.
Darach McQuaid of Shadetree Sports, the event organisers said: "We have really enjoyed our two years of having the event based at Titanic Belfast.
"The route changes are minimal and the overall length of both the Mourne and Strangford routes will not see much of a change.
"We are excited to move to Stormont Estate which saw such big crowds during the 2014 Giro d'Italia Big Start opening stage. In particular, the estate will offer our riders and their families a beautiful setting throughout the weekend to relax and enjoy the grounds."
There will be free parking within the grounds on Saturday and Sunday for Gran Fondo participants. Further details of the registration and Gran Fondo Expo will be released on the event website in the coming days.
Tourism Northern Ireland's Director of Business Support and Events, Aine Kearney, said: "The Gran Fondo is a major legacy event following 2014's hugely successful Giro d'Italia Big Start, with a growing economic impact on Northern Ireland. It showcases our beautiful landscape to riders and international media, increasing awareness of Northern Ireland as a premium cycling and tourism destination.
"Almost a quarter of participants in the 2016 Gran Fondo were from out-of-state and the economic impact was immediate, with riders and their families filling local hotels and restaurants."
2017 will see the biggest field yet line up for the gran fondo, with riders registered from Russia, USA, Canada, Australia, all over Europe and Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Sportive.com will be there too - look out for a full report in June.
For more information and to enter the Gran Fondo Giro d'Italia Northern Ireland, visit the event website at www.granfondogiroditaliani.com.
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