Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia 2025, Stage 11: Viareggio > Castelnovo ne’ Monti (186 km)

[Gigs_98]

As others said San Pellegrino is wasted in the middle of the stage. 13.7km @ 8.8% is similar to Alpe D'Huez (13.8km @ 8.3%). But there is a small descent which masks the true difficulty.

No doubt this stage will be contested by the break.

I know you mention that this climb is harder than Alpe d'Huez but I still think by comparing the two you are selling Pelllegrino short massively. It's easily the 2nd hardest climb of this Giro and would probably be the hardest climb in a lot of GT routes.

 

[Cycling111]

It might rain today. There could be accidents on the descent.

 

[Red Rick]

I know you mention that this climb is harder than Alpe d'Huez but I still think by comparing the two you are selling Pelllegrino short massively. It's easily the 2nd hardest climb of this Giro and would probably be the hardest climb in a lot of GT routes.

The only way to officially know is to find that list of 150 climbs harder than Alpe d'Huez that @Libertine Seguros once posted just because I made a throwaway comment complaining about Alpe d'Huez, but I can never seen to find it.

And yes, it's a beast. But when you think about what the 3rd (Santa Barbara is okay I guess) and 4th hardest climb this Giro is the route looks so mid.

 

[Gigs_98]

The only way to officially know is to find that list of 150 climbs harder than Alpe d'Huez that @Libertine Seguros once posted just because I made a throwaway comment complaining about Alpe d'Huez, but I can never seen to find it.

And yes, it's a beast. But when you think about what the 3rd (Santa Barbara is okay I guess) and 4th hardest climb this Giro is the route looks so mid.

Yeah that's why I added the "wouldn't be unusual if this was the hardest climb of a GT" part because I realized just the first bit wasnt making it look very impressive.

 

[Lequack]

I know you mention that this climb is harder than Alpe d'Huez but I still think by comparing the two you are selling Pelllegrino short massively. It's easily the 2nd hardest climb of this Giro and would probably be the hardest climb in a lot of GT routes.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Ok, I gotta choose my words carefully here..

I'm quite sceptical about how routes get so thouroughly trashed by a lot of people here so often. I'm not saying there aren't times I agree. But that's mostly about there being a better route to climb up a particular mountain.

My 20-ish years of watching this have made me learn that the route, in the end is just a canvas (horrible clichés are just that for a reason, sorry).
It's the combination of the field of riders, the way they ride it, and just pure luck and happenstance shuffling the GC that decide if a GT was great or not.
I know its fun to pick apart a course and how it could be better, but really, the route overall isn't such an enormous factor as some people make it out to be.

All true, but there are still routes that offer more and routes that offer less opportunities for the riders to try something, and for the race to develop in an interesting way. I think the biggest complaint about this years route is the lack of opportunities it offers to the riders to do something, especially in the GC.

That being said: this seems like a possible raid stage to me, which does not mean anything will happen at all. but San Pellegrino is so hard, that someone might struggle, others might notice and things could get fast. Or for someone to try their luck and ride away, like Carapaz or Bernal and then things get interesting at some point, because UAE is reluctant to waste McNulty or something like that. It wouldn't hurt to try to poke if someones in a bad place on San Pellegrino (okay it literally would hurt, but you know what I mean), and if someone struggles things might go wild.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

The only way to officially know is to find that list of 150 climbs harder than Alpe d'Huez that @Libertine Seguros once posted just because I made a throwaway comment complaining about Alpe d'Huez, but I can never seen to find it.

And yes, it's a beast. But when you think about what the 3rd (Santa Barbara is okay I guess) and 4th hardest climb this Giro is the route looks so mid.

Here you go.

 

[Boehmand]

After a rest day and then an ITT in the rain, some GC riders are bound to hit a wall today - and thus those that feel good are sure to test everyone on San Pellegrino.

Might amount to nothing but might also be very dramatic.

Also despite the stage starting in sunny weather, there is a more than 50 % chance of showers on the 2nd half of the stage, which has an obvious effect on a mountain stage.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Here you go.

How did you even know where to look for it? That's almost exactly 10 years ago, just one month is missing.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

How did you even know where to look for it? That's almost exactly 10 years ago, just one month is missing.

You can search for posts, you know. I did that once and since then I have the post bookmarked so I‘ll never have to search for it again.

 

[gregrowlerson]

FEDAIA!

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

You can search for posts, you know. I did that once and since then I have the post bookmarked so I‘ll never have to search for it again.

I know you can search for posts, just has never worked for me when I wanted to find one.

Edit: To find out if I am competent enough to actually search for it, I did search for the list, and voila, it worked, spilled out only a few posts with two search words. But maybe, just maybe, Devil's Elbow is an Elephant?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The GC is just too tight and deep for my liking. Action which would shed some wannabies would be beneficial to the race. Ideally 2 riders from UAE should also drop out of the top 20, but that probably too much to ask for.

 

[topcat]

Today is the day. If I could, I'd fly back to Italy to be on the slopes of the Alpe today. This ain't no country for old men.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

How did you even know where to look for it? That's almost exactly 10 years ago, just one month is missing.

I just searched for '150' with the poster set to Libertine, that only threw up about 50 results so from there I found it fairly easily.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Simon Yates, Adam yates carapaz and storrer surely all gonna attack on san pellegrino

 

[solo80k]

A great climb in the middle of the stage. Maybe the first Italian stage winner this Giro? Hard to say anything about GC hopes.

 

[dazaau]

Simon Yates, Adam yates carapaz and storrer surely all gonna attack on san pellegrino

And Egan Bernal!

 

[Red Rick]

Van Aert already showing off, will finish 25 minutes down today

 

[Cycling111]

Tudor should also do something. They haven't been seen during the Giro.

 

[AnotherArmChair]

Yes.......Tom Pidcock time to put your money where your mouth is........or whatever that saying is ??

 

[SafeBet]

Bahrein keen on having a man in the break, nice.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

How could I miss this stage design? Almost identical to my vacation ride back in '09. And room for taking several sips of Pellegrinos after climbing it from the right side, just as here.

Have to say that I'm disappointed with the weather of yesterday, Lucca and Pisa deserved all the sunlight, I hope it returns today, it's one of the most beautiful stages in this edition in sunny conditions.

 

[Boehmand]

Hate that got shut down - a break of JUST Pedersen and Van Aert, over 160K, would have been quite fun

 

[Netserk]

V$ne still the very last man in the peloton, no stress. When all the other fools are tired and they hit the climb, he will come to the front and smash!