Burgas welcomes Giro d’Italia teams ahead of historic race start

The riders and teams taking part in the Giro d’Italia arrived in the Black Sea city of Burgas ahead of the start of the famous cycling race, with an official presentation ceremony held at the Summer Theatre.

For the first time in the 109-year history of the Giro d’Italia, Bulgaria will host the opening three stages of the competition. The ceremony is being broadcast live on Eurosport 1 to millions of viewers around the world. Performers include the Strandzha Folk Ensemble, the Deja Vu Trio and acrobatics clubs from Burgas.

At around 1 p.m. local time on May 8, television viewers in about 200 countries are expected to hear the words: “Hello from Bulgaria and from the Black Sea town of Nessebar.” The race will officially begin from Nessebar’s Old Town shortly before 2 p.m. Giro d’Italia is one of the world’s three biggest cycling tours.

More than 100 million viewers are expected to watch the Bulgarian stages and promotional videos featuring Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Plovdiv and Sofia, according to the Tourism Ministry. More than 100,000 foreign tourists are also expected to travel to Bulgaria for the event.

Bulgaria is the 16th country to host stages of the Giro d’Italia. The race most recently passed through Albania. Previous international hosts have included the Netherlands, Belgium, San Marino, Monaco, the Vatican, Greece, Denmark, Britain, Israel and Hungary.

Editor: Ivo Ivanov