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Favorite climbs in Grand Tours

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Favorite climb in Grand Tours

  • Mortirolo

    Votes: 10 12.5%
  • Finestre

    Votes: 25 31.3%
  • Stelvio

    Votes: 14 17.5%
  • Giau

    Votes: 3 3.8%
  • Angliru

    Votes: 6 7.5%
  • Ancares

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Zoncolan

    Votes: 3 3.8%
  • Alpe d'Huez

    Votes: 7 8.8%
  • Ventoux

    Votes: 3 3.8%
  • Other

    Votes: 9 11.3%

  • Total voters
    80
Surprised with 0 votes for Mont Ventoux, most legendary climb in cycling.

Cyclists don't f*ck with the Ventoux. Simpson died there, the GOAT was given oxygen at the top and even the new Cannibal almost cracked there this year.

The Ventoux is only nice in the lower slopes, the top is just ugly. I know many people have a thing for this "moonlike landscape" and I think on the German cycling website radsport-news it was recently voted the best cycling climb, but I think it's ugly and depressing. :(
 
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For me, Andy Schleck's ride up Galibier on stage 18 of the 2011 TDF was my favorite stage in grand tour racing. The audacity of his attack that began on the penultimate climb, and both his effort and that of Cadel Evans, who eventually had to drag the chasing GC group by himself, stayed with me through the years. A great sideshow on that day was also Tommy Voeckler's defense of the yellow jersey--and he actually succeeded in holding onto it by a few precious seconds. The faces that Voeckler pulled that day became legend. This was also the last year that the GC in the TDF was really competitive before Sky/Ineos put the stomp on the competition for the better part of a decade. So, for me it is the Col du Galibier. Other great ones include the usual suspects: Ventoux, Angliru, Zoncolan, Stelvio, Alpe d'Huez, etc.
 
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Top 2 are clear to me (good to see they are top 2 in the poll) and I descibed then earlier. As for the remaining climbs it was difficult: I had to somehow discount various factors: impact on races, legendary status, beauty and my personal sentiment.

1. Stelvio
2. Finestre
(Grossglockner)



3. Ventoux
(legendary status, most feared climb in France, dramatic scenery)
4. Gavia (beautiful scenery, narrow and steep road, history)
5. Fedaia (beauty and difficulty)
6. Mortirolo (can explode races, rich history, steep and relentless, nicely hidden in a forest)
7. Alpe (its history is so rich that I couldn't ignore it)
8. Sella (most beautiful climb I've seen live)
9. Angliru (super steep and narrow, nice Asturian scenery, legendary races)
10. Tourmalet (most misused climb but I'm a sucker for old cycling stories and this one is a legend)

I can't omit Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse again. I believe it was used only once in the Giro in 1971 (I mean the road to the very top of Hochtor via Fuschertorl + optionally Frantz Joseph Hoche). Therefore I can't classify it but if they used it nowadays (or it was about climbs in pro-cycling) it would be undoubtedly in top3 with Stelvio and Finestre. The climb is a beast and the scenery is breathtaking. The profile from 1971 is a recipe for great action:

grossglockner_85bee3f5.jpg


Early morning at Hochalpenstrasse, overlooking Fuscherntal and Grosses Wiessbachhorn (I took the photo just a few weeks ago)

 
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Not much love for Zoncolan here and it was probably as assumed that Finestre, Stelvio and Mortirolo tops the poll. In addition Italy dominates in both the poll and the number of climbs mentioned in the thread (the four mentioned above, Gavia, Fauniera, Giau, Fedaia, Sella, etc).
 
Not much love for Zoncolan here and it was probably as assumed that Finestre, Stelvio and Mortirolo tops the poll. In addition Italy dominates in both the poll and the number of climbs mentioned in the thread (the four mentioned above, Gavia, Fauniera, Giau, Fedaia, Sella, etc).
I fully expected those 3 to dominate and Italian clibms in general to dominate.

I'm slightly surprised about Angliru getting votes while Zoncolan doesn't, but I guess it largely has to do with Spain not having passes as mythical as the Italian ones.
 
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Yeah fondness and potential get a bit convoluted I guess, but this is about favorites.

I guess for some climbs it does make sense when you have to find people to pay for a finish but then I wonder who the hell pays when finishing on the Angliru or Gamoniteiru .

I think very much the same thing wrt passes vs MTFs, and it annoys me to no end that race organisers seem to do 95% of their novelties by just finding "new" MTFs.
Who pays for Angliru? Keep in mind Angliru is 15 minutes from Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, every year the Government of Asturias pays 200,000 euros for 2 stages in Asturias in that central area where the majority of the population (and voters) is concentrated,

And the western area of Asturias is the great forgotten, an area with more than 50 first-category mountain passes, which have never been climbed in competition, with colossi such as La Marta, La Bobia, Pozo de Nieve, Bustellan, Pelliceira, El Palo, Valvaler. ..........


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La Bobia

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La Marta

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