The 2016 Giro d’Italia round Italy cycling race will start in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn next year, the race organisers have confirmed.

Earlier this month, a local cycling expert said Nijmegen would host the start of the race, but that city is the destination of the second stage and start of the third, officials said.

The event will start with an 8-kilometre time trial in Apeldoorn on Friday, May 6. The next day, the riders will race from Apeldoorn to Nijmegen via a 180-kilometre route and on Sunday back from Nijmegen to the start in a route covering 190 kilometres.

‘The province of Gelderland showed how intensely it wanted the Corsa Rosa and beat the competition of other important candidates,’ Giro organiser Mauro Vegni is quoted as saying by website Cycling Weekly.

After Gelderland, the event will move on to southern Italy.

The Giro d’Italia started in Groningen in 2002 and in Amsterdam in 2010. The Tour de France starts in Utrecht this year.