After three tense days, the sprinters will finally have their chance on the fourth day. The 139 km Pertusio – Borgomanero, in fact, does not present any altimetrical difficulties, except for the short and rather simple KOM of Traversagna, 34 km from the finish. The finale, in the town of Borgomanero, will feature a circuit of around 11 km to be repeated twice will decide the winner of stage four.
Pertusio, a few kilometres from Turin, lies on the first hilly slopes south of the Sacro Monte di Belmonte, where the Sanctuary of the same name, a Unesco heritage site since 2003, rises imposingly. It is a territory of rural tradition, dedicated to vines, apples and cereals, with strong ties to religion. The festival of San Firmino, which takes place every year at the beginning of October, gathers thousands of believers. On those days, there is no shortage of bagna caoda (literally “hot sauce”), a traditional dish prepared with anchovies, oil and garlic and used as a dip for the fresh vegetables of the autumn season.
The centre of Borgomanero, on the other hand, was built on the late medieval model of the road cross- It was precisely the fact that it was a natural crossroads of the routes leading from Novara to the Orta Riviera and Simplon, and from Turin and Valsesia to Lake Maggiore, that was the main reason for the construction of the village, destined to become a point of reference for trade.
While this is a premiere in great cycling for Pertusio, Borgomanero hosted the finish and start of a stage of the 1997 Giro d’Italia. More recently, the town has organised for a few years the GP Nobili Rubinetterie and the special time trial Trofeo Città di Borgomanero, which counts among its winners riders such as Ivan Basso, Vincenzo Nibali and Thor Hushovd.
