- Sep 20, 2017
- 11,338
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- 28,180
Stage 15: Fiume Veneto – Asiago
The Giro’s tribute to Jean-François Pescheux. It’s quite literally the worst possible stage design that climbs Monte Grappa and finishes in Asiago.Map and profile
Start
The stage starts in Fiume Veneto, a small town just outside Pordenone in western Friuli. It dates back to the twelfth century, becoming part of the Republic of Venice in 1420, and has been of little significance throughout its history. The most interesting thing I have to say about it is that its name is a holdover from the irredentist era: the much larger city of Rijeka is also known as Fiume in Italian, and thus an epithet was needed to distinguish the two.
And yes, that’s really it for the stage description. When even the regional tourist board doesn’t list a single distinct location, fact or event and resorts to empty platitudes instead, you know you’ve hit rock bottom as far as noteworthiness is concerned.
(picture by intoinside at Italian Wikipedia)
Route
The first thing the riders do on this stage is go through Pordenone anyway, and as this is the westernmost of the main cities and towns in Friuli and the stage heads west, it should come as no surprise that we soon re-enter the Veneto. The first intermediate sprint, in San Martino Colle Umberto, is just past the border. As with any stage in this part of Italy, the memory of World War I is everywhere, starting with the passage through Vittorio Veneto. The outskirts of this town were the site of the decisive battle on the Southern Front in late 1918. Defeat here did not just force the Austro-Hungarian army to surrender on November 4th (one week before the German capitulation ended the war altogether), it directly caused their Empire to disintegrate.
Up next is the greatest love of Mauro Vegni. The Giro has averaged more than one visit to Muro di Ca’ del Poggio every two years under his auspices, and like every other time this visit, too, will serve no purpose.
However, that gripe is only a footnote compared to what is in store. The next part of the stage is spent traversing the bottom of Monte Grappa, studiously avoiding the ten or so opportunities to turn right and take on a brutal climb. The best option of all would have been in Possagno, which hosts the intermediate sprint instead. And after ignoring all those options, RCS have picked by far the easiest way to climb the southern face of the mountain, the one from Romano d’Ezzelino. Now, considering the almost 100000 soldiers who lost their lives in to either one of three bloody battles or the bitter cold on this mountain in 1917 and 1918, I’ll refrain from the analogy that would come to mind otherwise, but… this is an impressively bad choice.
Now, if you remember the 2017 stage into Asiago, you might recall that Monte Grappa came at 65 kilometres from the line. This time, it’s ninety kilometres, and the main reason is that we descend away from Asiago. The original rumours suggested that this was to have an intermediate sprint in Seren del Grappa, at the bottom of the descent, but I don’t see any, and considering the other decisions made in this stage I honestly just think RCS didn’t want a GC day here for whatever idiotic reason. The other problem with descending to the north is that there’s only one possible climb towards Asiago, and it’s a tempogrinder. This is the climb to Dori, with the bonification sprint two-thirds of the way up the climb in Enego.
The other problem with finding Dori is that it’s still a way’s away from Asiago, and there’s no real descent. However, the remainder of the stage is quite rolling, with a short climb to Lazzaretti providing some slightly steeper stuff.
Finish
The final kilometres are spent on a pointless detour from Gallio to Asiago, padding the stage by a full six or seven kilometres. Just to make sure no GC action accidentally happens.
Asiago is the historic centre of and largest town on the expansive Altopiano dei Sette Comuni, which for this reason is known as the Plateau of Asiago in English. The Sette Comuni, translating to seven municipalities or communities, were established by the Cimbrians, an ethnically German group who most probably settled the area around the year 1000. Their language (technically an upper German dialect, but not mutually intelligible with modern German) kept them distinct from the rest of Italy, and they were historically self-governed, with fourteen regents (two from each comune) running the federated plateau. In 1405, the region came under Venetian control, but the Republic mostly allowed the system of self-government to be maintained in exchange for heavy military reinforcements (I have seen a peak of 4000 soldiers be quoted) in times of war. The Sette Comuni’s autonomy was finally ended after the Napoleonic conquest and would not be revived. In part because of this, the Cimbrian language has been driven to near extinction. However, the old system of government lives on in some ways: about 90% of the land on the plateau remains under the joint ownership (not just jurisdiction) of the Sette Comuni, which now form seven municipalities.
Sadly, this is one of very few things predating the First World War to survive in the Asiago plateau, because the Italian Front ran directly through it. The worst came in 1916, when the Austro-Hungarians attempted (and failed) to force a breakthrough by capturing the plateau. In just four weeks of fighting, there were over 25000 confirmed casualties, over 112000 wounded and over 80000 soldiers missing or captured. And even that does not cover the horrors of three years of war and suffering in the region: the crypt at the Asiago War Memorial contains the remains of over 50000 soldiers, all killed on the plateau, and we can only guess as to how many bodies were either buried elsewhere or never recovered. And when the local population could finally return home, they found a plateau where almost every house had been reduced to rubble and destruction everywhere in the meadows and forests.
The postwar Asiago plateau relies mainly on tourism and the production of the eponymous cheese. The town’s main sporting exploits have come on ice, with the local hockey team being one of the most successful in the country and its most famous son, Enrico Fabris, winning Italy its first and only Olympic gold medals in speed skating (the 1500 metres and the team pursuit) at their home Games in Turin in 2006. The Giro has been here on five previous occasions, most recently for the final mountain stage in 2017. It also hosted the European gravel championships last year.
Asiago as seen from the war memorial (picture by Vajotwo at Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
An almost certain breakaway victory and an almost equally certain day off in the GC battle.
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