The Climbs of the 2014 Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile

GhisalloAfter 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.

Note: A bit of guesswork with finding these climbs due to low quality maps. Let me know if you see any errors/omissions.

Stage 3 (Monday 7th July) – San Donato Val di Comino

After a few flat stages the first of the climbs appears on the 3rd stage to San Donato Val di Comino. The 1st actual categorised climb comes earlier in the stage but it will most likely this small climb to the finish that will have the bigger impact on any GC action.A fairly steady 4.7% climb over 4.5 km.

Stage 4 (Tuesday 8th July) – Torre di Jesi

Around 15 km from the finish in Jesi the riders will tackle this 2.3 km climb of just over 4.5% before an equally short descent and run to the line. Might not sound like much but think of it as a slightly shorter version of the Poggio.

Stage 6 (Thursday 10th July) – Samede La Crossetta

There is a single climb midway through stage 5 but unlikely to cause any upset, the climb up to Samede la Crossetta on stage 6 however will be upsetting as many riders as possible climbing nearly 700 m in just over 8 km averaging just over 8%. No doubt about it, this is a tough climb but with just under 30 km to the finish from the summit, 10 km of which on the flat, it might be tough to hold onto any gains made on the climb.

Stage 8 (Saturday 12th July) – San Domenico di Varzo

Two consecutive mountain summit finishes look set to decide this year’s race, the first of which is the 11km climb (almost 8% average) up to San Domenico di Varzo.  A few variances in the gradient over the first half of the climb but ramping up all the way to the finish. But remember to save some legs for Sunday’s stage!

Stage 9 (Sunday 13th July) -Madonna del Ghisallo

The final day culminates with a mountain top finish up a cracking looking climb from the lake shores of Bellagio up to Madonna del Ghisallo. An undulating climb set to break the rhythm of the non-climbers with gradients into the teens in a number of places.  The average gradient of just over 5% over the 10 km is very misleading with the flatter sections and small descents just after the half way point skewing the stats. This will certainly be a great show down.


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