After having a nice chat with Emma Pooley while descending Yorkshire’s bunting festooned Cragg Vale last night she mentioned she was heading off to race the Giro this Friday. Giro? That must mean hills right? It sure does, and some corkers too. Here are the key climbs for the women’s Giro d’Italia that runs from Friday 4th to Sunday 13th July.
Tag: Giro 2014
Giro d’Italia 2014 – Key Climbs Stages 18, 19 and 20
The 3 weeks of the 2014 Giro d’Italia are almost up and although the snowy high point of the race (Passo dello Stelvio) has been and gone, by far the toughest climb and final showdown of the race is yet to come – Monte Zoncolan. Prior to that though are 2 more days of climbing including an individual, mountain time trial. Will Rigoberto Uran be able to turn around his deficit to Nairo Quintana? Here are all the details of the climbs of these last three mountain stages.
Giro d’Italia 2014 – Key Climbs Stages 14, 15 and 16
The Giro d’Italia is about to get serious! The sprinters will now be fighting to make the time limits as the roads shoot skywards with the next three stages tackling 6 category 1 or above climbs including the Passo Dello Stelvio which at 2,758m is the high point of the race. Fingers crossed the poor weather continuing to plague this year’s Giro (similar to last year) will abate to avoid the cancelling or rerouteing of any of these stages.
Giro d’Italia 2014 – Key Climbs of Stages 5 to 9
Now that the Giro has left Ireland things should well hot up on the GC (General Classification) front and apart from the two individual timetrials the biggest moves will be made on the many spectacular climbs that will need to be conquered. There were a few climbs in Ireland but as we all knew, they were never going to cause even the sprinters any concerns but for the remainder of this first week there are many climbs that will cause some serious time splits.
The Climbs of the Giro d’Italia – Stage 3
Following stage 2’s scenic trip down coastline of Northern Ireland, stage 3 will take the peloton south from Armagh to the finish in the heart of Dublin. Similar to stage 2 this stage is one for the sprinters with only a couple of early climbs to allow an escape to get clear, scoop up the King Of the Mountain points, grab some TV time for their sponsors before being caught by the sprinters teams within sight of the finish. Although you’ll probably see little of these stage 3 climbs on the television coverage, you might fancy heading out to watch the race or to try them for yourself so here’s all you need to know.
The Climbs of the Giro d’Italia – Stage 2
The UK and Ireland are in for a real treat this year for cycling fans with the two most iconic races of the calendar hosting their first stages on our shores. The perhaps better known Tour de France is starting in Yorkshire this July (see the climbs of stage 1 and stage 2 parts one and two!) but the arguably more glamorous and exciting Grand Tour will be travelling around the beautiful countryside of Northern Ireland and down to Dublin. The first stage is a 22km team time trial where each 9-man squad will attempt to make a choreographed blur of carbon and lycra through the streets of Belfast with the time being taken on the 5th rider across the line, but as always, it’s the hills which interest me the most as it is the key aspect of professional cycling that is open for all of us to easily try for ourselves on the roads used by the professionals themselves. Continue reading