It is the hardest day of the Giro, with an altitude difference of 5250 meters. Starting immediately uphill in Valsabbia, the area where Sonny Colbrelli grew up, up to the first ascent: Crocedomini, 19.9 km with 1228 meters in altitude, average 62% and max 12%. The Pantani-Tonkov duel has not been faced since the 1998 Giro. Then descend into Val Camonica, pass by Edolo and then in Monno face the Mortirolo from the Monno side: it is the first of the six sides of Mortirolo to have been climbed at the Giro, 1990, first the Venezuelan Leonardo Sierra. The climb measures 12.6 km at an average 7.6%, and peaks of 16% at 2 km from the summit, when you cross the slope that rises from Mazzo. Mortirolo is the peak of the dead, of blood, of fighting. This area of Valtellina, over the centuries, has always been strategic in the passage from Italy to Switzerland. Which meant from the Duchy of Milan to the Grisons, from the Republic of Venice to the German Empire, from the Habsburg Empire to the Kingdom of Italy. Or the brigandage to the detriment of the stagecoaches moving north. Here Charlemagne and the Lombards, Napoleon, the Garibaldians fought.
Discea su Grosio, then the whole valley from Tirano to Aprica along the Sforzato vineyards, the red wine pride of this land: there are 2500 km of dry stone walls in the vineyards, it is heroic agriculture because it is still done entirely by hand, we work on foot, in the vineyards the tractors do not pass. The stage is dedicated to this Italian food and wine excellence: it is called Sforzato Wine Stage.
Before Aprica, the last difficulty: the Santa Cristina pass, 13.5 km with 1078 meters of difference in altitude, an average gradient of 8% and peaks of 13%, which connects the two valleys. From the summit, 7 km to get to Aprica, a noble ski resort that welcomes the Giro for the tenth time. The first exactly 60 years ago: it was June 3, 1962 when Vittorio Adorni won the Moena-Aprica. Expect fireworks. Those who are in the Aprica squad will most likely also be in the squad on Sunday 29th at the Verona Arena.
17th stage: 25 May ****
A mountain stage with an altitude difference of 3730 meters divided into two parts. Departure upwards towards Passo del Tonale, followed by a stretch of over 70 km always downhill through the valleys of Sole and Non. After passing the Adige, you climb the climb to Palù di Giovo, the town of the Moser family, passing through the Mocheni Valley to reach Pergine Valsugana. The two final climbs are Valico del Vetriolo (11.8 km at 7.7%) and Menador (7.9 km at 9.9%, max 15%), with narrow sections, carved tunnels and slopes always beyond the 10%. From the summit there will be 8 km to go to the finish.
18th stage: 26 May *
The last sprint for the surviving sprinters. The stage connects the Valsugana with the Venetian plain through the passage of the Primolano Stairs, the only roughness together with the Muro di Ca ‘del Poggio. You then arrive in Treviso through generally wide straight roads. In Treviso the race faces a circuit of about 11 km to be repeated once: the last corner is 1200 m from the finish.
19th Stage: May 27 ****
Friuli gives the Giro two other unpublished locations, in this journey that has led the Region to use the platform of the pink race for the tourist enhancement of the territory. Just consider what Monte Zoncolan in Carnia has become since its first ascent in 2003. Here we start from the Marano Lagunare huts to go up all the Friuli lower down to the Udine moraine hills between Fagagna and Majano. After crossing Buja, you reach the Julian Prealps with the Villanova Caves (short and demanding climb) followed by the Tanamea Pass. Border crossing into Slovenia from the Uccea pass, which leads directly to Kobarid (Caporetto). Mount Kolovrat begins there, 10.3 km at 9.2% average, with peaks of 15%: an unprecedented, very hard climb. Attention. Return to Italy entirely inside the forest, characterized by an uninterrupted succession of curves. From Cividale del Friuli starts the final climb that leads to the Sanctuary of Castelmonte: 7.1 km at 7.8%, with peaks of 14% just before the halfway point.
20th stage: May 28th *****
Last hard uphill arrival of the Giro after a day of 4490 meters in altitude. Departure from Belluno with a short detour along the Piave valley between Sedico, Santa Giustina and Sospirolo. You then enter the Cordevole valley which climbs up through Agordo and Cencenighe. There begins the triptych of final climbs with the San Pellegrino Pass (10 km at 6.6%), the Belluno side of Falcade, followed by the Pordoi Pass (Cima Coppi) at 2239 meters (11.8 km at 6.8%) , and finally from the Marmolada-Passo Fedaia: they are 14 km at an average 7.6% and peaks of 18% after Malga Ciapela. The finish line is at an altitude of 2057 just before the lakes and the tunnel that leads to Canazei.
Marmolada is another place of suffering. When cyclists approach this giant between Trentino and Alto Adige, the trenches of the First World War emerge from the ground. Dug into the rock, an inhospitable environment, the border between the two armies: Italian and Austrian. Those 2800 meters between Malga Ciapela and Capanna Bill have an average of 11.8% and are the hardest stretch of the entire Giro, with gradients of 18%. Also because the road is straight, without curves, you look up and the mountain is there, dominating you. The last 6 km seem endless, as does the final straight that runs alongside the ski slope. The stage will be the sincere homage of a very popular sport to this area of the Veneto in love with the bicycle and devastated three and a half years ago by the storm Vaia. The last time, in 2008, the Giro caravan passed through the Serrai di Sottoguda, an enchanted and fairytale place, with stone walls overlooking the road: unfortunately, they no longer exist since 2018, swept away by the water. and from the mud.
21st stage: 29 May ***
For the fifth time, the Verona Arena will host the grand finale of the Giro d’Italia. After Giovanni Battaglin 1981, Francesco Moser 1984, Ivan Basso 2010 and Richard Carapaz 2019, the king of the pink race will slip on the Gazzetta color jersey in the Roman amphitheater of the city of Romeo and Juliet. The time trial follows the Circuito delle Torricelle (that of the Verona World Cup, but in an anti-clockwise direction) with straight and very wide avenues; then it goes up for 4.5 km to 5%. Then 4 km of descent and the last 3 km along the city streets. The final time is taken in Piazza Bra before entering the Arena.
2 maggio – 23:05
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