After the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the race made its return in 2021, though it was forced to downscale to three stages from the usual five.[3][4]
The first stage, in
Friuli-Venezia Giulia, headed west from Trieste, with a slightly undulating route and one categorized climb on the way to Aviano.[10]
The second and queen stage sees the race continue heading west, from Vittorio Veneto in the
Veneto region, with a summit finish atop the Cima Grappa at 1,712 metres (5,617 ft) above sea level.[15]
With the third and final stage, the race heads south into
Emilia-Romagna: starting in Ferrara, riders will race towards the
Adriatic coast and finish in Comacchio. Though this stage lacks much elevation gain, it does feature two laps of a 34-kilometre (21 mi) circuit in the second half of the stage that includes three sectors of dirt roads per lap.[20]
On stage 2,
Matteo Donegà, who was third in the points classification, wore the red jersey, because first placed
Elia Viviani wore the blue jersey as the leader of the general classification and second placed
Davide Persico wore the white jersey as the leader of the young rider classification.
On stage 3,
Merhawi Kudus, who was second in the mountains classification, wore the green jersey, because first placed
Lorenzo Fortunato wore the blue jersey as the leader of the general classification.