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albano marcarini
25
May

Izoard

Izoard by Albano Marcarini Of the two sides of the Izoard, the southern one is the most challenging. The average gradient is 7.2%, with a peak of 14%, versus 5.9% and a peak of 9.9% on the north side. We set the starting point at the junction of L’Esteyre (elev. 1,353 m), at the junction between the road for Queyras (D 947) and the road to the top (D 902), which is 14.2 km away. You can approach the Arvieux valley with impetus, but it’s wiser not to overdo it. The signs inform you, every kilometer, about the gradients to tackle. We go up the slope between meadows and woods. At elev. 1,400 m, after reaching the few houses of...
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25
May

Laghi di Cancano

Laghi di Cancano by Albano Marcarini The climb to the Cancano lakes is a novelty for the Giro d’Italia. It is not a demanding ascent, but the fact that the top will be the finish line of today’s stage will make the race intense and exciting. The average gradient, along the 10 km track starting from the bridge over the Adda river, under Premadio, is estimated at 6.9%, the maximum at 9.5% with an elevation gain of 692 meters up to elev. 1,941 m of the Fraele towers. The road is 5-6 m wide, with rough asphalt, no mileage markers. Being exposed to the south it enjoys a good exposure to the sun – there are no sections in the...
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25
May

Monte Bondone

Monte Bondone by Albano Marcarini Gee! Monte Bondone, how big it was in the history of the Giro. Who doesn’t remember that stage? To review the highlights, one needs to rummage in YouTube. The sound commentary of the Settimana Incom was “One night on the Bald Mount” just to keep a low profile. In a flickering black and white, under the rain and snow, one can see Fantini, Magni, Fornara and the “giant” Gaul, who crosses the finish line in a state of “trance”. This time the Bondone is climbed from the back side, like in a betrayal, as a late revenge of that distant day of 1956. One goes up from Aldeno, in the Adige Valley. However, the main...
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25
May

Piancavallo

Piancavallo di Albano Marcarini The climb to Piancavallo comes at the end of a four-star, very demanding, stage. Before reaching the finish line (elev. 1290 m) among the compounds of one of the first new generation ski resorts in Friuli, the riders will have to face the Sella Chianzutan (elev. 955), the Forcella di Monte Rest (elev. 1060), the Forcella di Priuso (elev. 664) and the Forcella di Pala Barzana (elev. 840). After 168 km, in Aviano, there begins the final ramp on the pre-Alpine balcony dominating the Friuli plain. The ascent of Piancavallo was awarded the title of ‘Mountain Pantani’, in memory of the “Pirate” who in the 14th stage of the 1998 Giro, from Schio to Piancavallo, left...
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21
May

Barbotto

Barbotto by Albano Marcarini How much cursing does it take to climb the Barbotto? How many swears to the Madonnas and all the Saints? Not even Strava can tell you. I have seen things … I have seen CEOs get off the bike and cry on the roadside. I have seen Veterans (or Veterinarians) of the road regret the Mortirolo. I have seen people leave sweat lines on the asphalt like a pierced radiator. I have seen a friend of mine and then I have never him again. Yes, because this climb for tramps, miserable and ragged, comes unexpected to everybody. With the exception of those who, wisely, still look at the maps of the Touring Club Italiano (and not...
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15
May

Montescuro Pass

MONTESCURO PASS Edited by Albano Marcarini It is the ascent of those who were used to struggling, not on the bike, but on foot or accompanied by a mule. Those who would come down from the Sila at the beginning of the cold season to return to the villages on the side of Crati, those who would chop wood and drag it down the slope, those who would go up in the summer and return with the sheeps in autumn. The road, once state road 107 ‘Silana-Crotonese’, then downgraded to provincial, is the main access to the Sila Grande from Cosenza. But the climb that cyclists will face during the seventh stage rolls out on the track of the old...
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