Giro d’Italia: Growing a Global Community

The Giro d’Italia, a legendary three-week cycling event held annually in May since 1909 and the second most important global cycling event, has long captivated a global audience of 775 million viewers globally with its iconic Maglia Rosa and the breathtaking roads of Italy. This year, the Giro d’Italia, alongside RCS—the leading Italian sports event organizer—sought to further enhance community engagement and storytelling through strategic activations on Strava. This initiative aimed to leverage route embeds, segments, club activation, and maintain engagement from core cyclists on the platform.

Objectives and Strategies

The primary goal for the Giro d’Italia on Strava was to drive community growth and engage the core cyclists by leveraging Strava’s unique features.

The strategies included:

1. Community Growth: Leverage Strava as a key social and content platform (route embeds, segments, club), developing a significant audience on the platform.

2. Core Cyclist Engagement: Providing detailed route information and encouraging interaction through the Giro Club on Strava to maintain and increase engagement among dedicated cyclists.

Route Embeds

Strava created detailed routes for all 21 stages of the 2024 Giro, which were embedded on the Giro’s official website. These routes were featuring official Giro segments, allowing the cycling enthusiast to measure themselves against the pros.This strategic move yielded significant interaction:

• 56,000 clicks: A substantial number of users engaged with the route embeds.

• 8.7% engagement rate: Demonstrating a high level of user interaction with the embedded routes.

How to Embed a Strava Route

Giro Club Growth and Engagement

The Giro Club on Strava experienced remarkable growth and engagement during the event thanks to regular posting in the Club:

• +51,000 members: Achieving a 129% increase in members during the event month.

• 62 Club posts: Posted before, during, and after the event, keeping the community engaged.

• 6.6M impressions: Generated over the month of the event, showcasing widespread reach.

• 216,000 Kudos: Reflecting strong user engagement and appreciation.

• 1,241 comments: Demonstrating active community participation and discussion.

Star Athlete: Tadej Pogačar

One of the unique ways of engaging community participation used by the Giro d'Italia was by fostering pro-athlete engagement in its Strava Club and across the Strava experience. Among the many active riders on Strava, Tadej Pogačar significantly drove engagement of the members by regularly uploading his daily activities on the platform to inspire the community. Some of his contributions included:

• 2.5M Kudos on his activities: Indicating strong community appreciation and interaction.

• 48,000 new followers: Gained during the Giro, showcasing his influence and popularity.

Other notable riders also played a crucial role in enhancing engagement by sharing their daily activities. Those riders included Romain Bardet, Thymen Arensman, Ben O’Connor, Damiano Caruso, Michael Woods, Filippo Ganna, and Aurélien Paret-Peintre.

Strava Editorial Team Efforts

Finally, Strava’s editorial team actively supported the Giro by telling the story of the event through the Strava Club and Strava Stories. A total of five posts dedicated to the Giro or with the Giro as a dominant topic were published, including The Beginner’s Guide to the Giro d’Italia / 2024 Giro d’Italia Preview / Climbs to Watch at the 2024 Giro d’Italia, generating the following data resulting in significant engagement:

• 724 comments: Indicating active user participation and discussion.

• 63,000 Kudos: Reflecting strong community engagement and appreciation.

The 2024 Giro d’Italia's activations on Strava were highly successful, exceeding the set objectives and significantly enhancing community engagement and growth. By leveraging route embeds, posting on the Strava Club, fostering athlete participation, and utilizing Strava’s editorial reach, the Giro d’Italia not only engaged core cyclists but also expanded its community, setting a new benchmark for sports events on digital platforms. These efforts demonstrate the power of strategic digital engagement in amplifying the reach and impact of traditional sports events.