After a year of doping scandals, it looks like the organisers of the Giro D’Italia may have gone slightly off the rails themselves.

Even the most geographically unaware should realise that the coastal town of Groningen in Holland is an odd place for the prologue time trial of the Tour of Italy. Then the 20 stage, 3,333.5km race heads through Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France before finally entering northern Italy for the final two weeks.

For more route information check out www.velonews.com.