- Sep 20, 2017
- 13,654
- 25,666
- 28,180
The Marche hilly stage, sadly with a very limited amount of muri. Even so, the GC riders would do well to be wary of this one.
Map and profile
Start
A lot of the peloton will be happy to put the Blockhaus in the rearview mirror, and overnight, they have done just that, as the mountain is easily visible from today’s start in Chieti. Local legend has it that the city was founded by Achilles in the 12th century BC. This is obviously wrong, but it also understates the age of the place, which was permanently settled possibly as early as 5000 BC. By the end of the 3rd century BC at the latest, this hilltop settlement had developed into a proper town that was known as Teate. The Roman influence was large by this point, with the Via Tiburtina being extended to the Adriatic coast just outside the town in the mid-2nd century BC, but Teate remained one of the many towns throughout the peninsula that were nominally autonomous allies (socii).
By the early 1st century BC, that autonomy had been heavily encroached on without the full rights of Roman citizenship being granted in return. Historians disagree on whether they did so to restore their autonomy or to gain citizenship, but in any case, Rome’s Italian allies rose in revolt in 91 BC. This is nowadays referred to as the Social War (a mistranslation of socii). With some difficulty, Rome managed to regain military control, but did give way on the issue of citizenship in 87 BC. The effects on the next half century were significant: not only had the Italian peninsula been reintroduced to large-scale war for the first time in a century, but the amount of power that would be given to the socii was a major source of dispute in years to come. Both of these were among the reasons for Sulla’s civil war in 83-82 BC and his subsequent dictatorship – and of course, Sulla himself owed his standing to his military successes in the Social War.
Whatever the case, Teate now entered an era of prosperity, possibly surpassing 50000 inhabitants at its peak. As was the case throughout Italy, the waves of invading tribes throughout the 5th century, the brutal Gothic War between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines in the mid-6th century and finally the Lombard invasion at the end of the century caused severe devastation. Chieti was a shell of itself by the end, but had survived well enough to become a significant centre within the new feudal system. The Lombards gained control of most of the peninsula, eating further and further into Byzantine territory over the course of the 7th and early 8th century, but it is their hegemony that marks the definitive end of any sort of centralised Italian state (until Risorgimento). In the late 8th century, the bulk of the Lombard-held areas were conquered by Charlemagne, but the region remained unstable and in 801, Chieti was destroyed by Charlemagne’s son Pepin. Recovery was slow until the arrival of the Normans in the 11th century, who amongst other things reestablished its cathedral. Chieti continued to grow, and in the late 13th century, by which time it was firmly embedded within the Kingdom of Sicily (soon to be split in two), it became the capital of the coastal half of the Abruzzo.
The remainder of Chieti’s history is surprisingly uninteresting. By the standards of the time, it consistently did well for itself until the Spanish Empire, and with it the Kingdom of Naples, went into decline in the 17th century. Just like in Naples itself, the plague epidemic of 1656 severely aggravated the process. Moreover, after Italian unification, Chieti was eclipsed by nearby Pescara, which is nowadays more than double its size. In 1926, it was the stage for the sham trial of the assassins of Giacomo Matteotti. Matteotti had led the Italian socialists during the 1924 elections, and afterwards gave a speech in parliament declaring the elections as illegitimate (this is entirely true – by this time, the March on Rome was eighteen months in the past, the electoral laws had been rigged to benefit the Fascists, and the election itself had been dominated by blackshirt squad intimidation and violence). In response to this, Matteotti was kidnapped in broad daylight and assassinated by Mussolini’s secret police. Mussolini’s involvement was obviously suspected, but never proven.
The assassination was a key step in Italy’s slide into fascist dictatorship. By the time the ‘trials’ were held, a one-party state had been established. The sentences handed out were minimal, and soon scrapped entirely under an amnesty law. A real trial would not be carried out until after the Second World War. After the restoration of democracy, Matteotti was officially martyred. Many things were named in his honour, and his name lives on in cycling, too – the Trofeo Matteotti in nearby Pescara. It is perhaps a sign of the times that the monument at the place where Matteotti was kidnapped in Rome was vandalised last year.
On the subject of Pescara, the city was mostly levelled by Allied bombing during WWII, and the refugees from that city in particular caused Chieti’s population to temporarily quadruple. Chieti itself, which was the site of an internment camp until 1943, was also bombed shortly before liberation in 1944, but not to the same extent. The postwar period saw rapid urban growth as in most of Italy and the establishment of a university which now has 21000 students. However, from the 1980s onwards, the population started to shrink, and Chieti has struggled economically ever since. Combined with rampant corruption, this led to the bankruptcy of the municipality in 2023. This helps explain why the Giro has visited very little in more recent times – while Chieti was a stage host in the first Giro, only two of its fourteen previous appearances have come after 1984, and the most recent of those was the start of the Blockhaus stage in 2009. With the Tirreno having last visited in 2013, that means this will be the first time during Giulio Ciccone’s career that he will start or finish a stage in his home city.
(picture by maury3001 at Panoramio, reuploaded to Wikimedia Commons)
The route
The start of the stage is a slightly rolling detour to avoid Pescara. After 31 kilometres, the riders reach the Adriatic coast for the first time this race in Montesilvano. The next 65 kilometres are a straight, pan-flat shot north, passing into Le Marche just south of San Benedetto del Tronto, the annual finish of Tirreno-Adriatico. This coastal section comes to an end in Cupra Marittima, where there is an intermediate sprint immediately before the riders turn west to take on the first climb of the day. Montefiore dell’Aso is the day’s sole cat. 3, albeit more of an ASO cat.3 than a RCS one. The overall statistics are 10.0k at 3.6%, although those are brought down by 1.2k at 0.8% in the middle. I can’t find a profile of the whole thing, it’s the first of the profiles below, then that almost-flat section, then the second of the profiles below.
The descent backs directly into the next KOM, to Monterubbiano.
By the time the next descent ends, we are on the outskirts of Fermo. There is a good murito (2.3k at an irregular 8.2%) from this valley that was used in the 2017 and 2022 Tirreno stages into Fermo, so naturally RCS have opted to take a much easier parallel route, averaging just 4.7%.
There is only the briefest of descents after this climb, into a short, but nasty little wall (500m at 13.3%) that was also used in both Tirreno stages. The bonus sprint is at its summit.
In 2017, this little murito backed directly into the HTF (as it did in 2022, but the finish was partially different that year). On this occasion, we are heading towards the coast via the most direct route possible. This means that we have a little over 10 kilometres of valley to break the rhythm the stage had going. To make it back towards Fermo, the riders need to climb through Capodarco. RCS have called it the Muro di Capodarco, but the wall part is perhaps 300 metres in length and the rest of the climb is not that hard. This climb is used annually in the GP Capodarco, a U23 race that has been held since 1977. It was the only UCI win of Fabio Casartelli before his untimely death and has also been won by three riders in this field: Jai Hindley, Einer Rubio and Filippo Zana.
Finish
From Capodarco, there are 6.9 kilometres left to race, the final 5.4 of which were also the finish in the aforementioned Tirreno stage. I’m using the profile from that year as it’s much more detailed. The shallow descent from Capodarco ends with 4.1k to go, and after the briefest of flats, it’s on to easily the hardest challenge of the day, the Muro di Via Reputolo. 800 metres at 14.3% should do some real damage, but the climbing isn’t over yet. The antepenultimate and penultimate kilometres are flattish (the route rejoins the 2022 version at 2.4k from the line), but the road ramps up towards the finish, with a final kilometre at 6.5%. The section from 1.4k to 350m to go are on urban cobbles, with some very narrow parts, but this stretch giving way to asphalt is not much of a respite: the final 350 metres average 8.9%. There is a final, sweeping 90-degree right-hander at 100 metres to go. When this HTF was used in 2017 after a significantly harder route, it was one of the more impressive wins of Peter Sagan’s career, sprinting to the win from a nine-rider group that otherwise contained nothing but GC riders.
Fermo was founded as a Roman colony in 264, and served mainly to help keep nearby Asculum (modern Ascoli Piceno) in check. This function would remain significant for quite a while, as Asculum was the first town to rise against Rome during the aforementioned Social War, almost two centuries later. During the Middle Ages, Fermo was a regional centre of power. The Lombards established a duchy here in 727, which survived the Frankish invasion later that century. It is not clear whether the duchy was downgraded or whether it was abolished and later replaced, but in any case, the region was converted to the March of Fermo in the late 10th century. This is one of the marches to which the Marche region owes its name. The Marche were at this time contested by the Holy Roman Emperor and the pope, with the latter gaining full control at the end of the 12th century. By this point, the March of Fermo had been merged into the March of Ancona. However, Ancona itself had developed into an autonomous maritime republic, and thus Fermo was established as the capital of the March in 1210.
These, then, were the centuries where the standing of Fermo was at its highest. The town had surpassed 10000 inhabitants and was one of the largest in what is now Le Marche. It is not clear whether its gradual decline into the provincial town it is today precedes or starts with this, but a key factor was the revolt against the pope in the 15th century for which Fermo was punished by the loss of its status as the regional capital. By the time of Italian unification, it was no longer considered important enough to be made the capital of one of the newly created provinces – the current Province of Fermo was only established in 2004. And even in the interlying years, it has declined in relative terms – while many Italian towns and cities boomed after the Second World War in particular, Fermo’s population has ‘only’ doubled to 37000 since unification. The Giro has scarcely touched it either – the only previous visit was in 1972, when 1966 Giro winner Gianni Motta took one of the last wins of his career.
(picture by lastquest at Flickr, reuploaded to Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
In both recent Tirreno stages, the main favourites finished together (although it helped that Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel went the wrong way in the latter), so on this easier route I’m not convinced we should expect much from the GC riders. The break has a chance here, but I imagine both Pellizzari (who is from Le Marche) and Ciccone will really want this stage.
Map and profile
Start
A lot of the peloton will be happy to put the Blockhaus in the rearview mirror, and overnight, they have done just that, as the mountain is easily visible from today’s start in Chieti. Local legend has it that the city was founded by Achilles in the 12th century BC. This is obviously wrong, but it also understates the age of the place, which was permanently settled possibly as early as 5000 BC. By the end of the 3rd century BC at the latest, this hilltop settlement had developed into a proper town that was known as Teate. The Roman influence was large by this point, with the Via Tiburtina being extended to the Adriatic coast just outside the town in the mid-2nd century BC, but Teate remained one of the many towns throughout the peninsula that were nominally autonomous allies (socii).
By the early 1st century BC, that autonomy had been heavily encroached on without the full rights of Roman citizenship being granted in return. Historians disagree on whether they did so to restore their autonomy or to gain citizenship, but in any case, Rome’s Italian allies rose in revolt in 91 BC. This is nowadays referred to as the Social War (a mistranslation of socii). With some difficulty, Rome managed to regain military control, but did give way on the issue of citizenship in 87 BC. The effects on the next half century were significant: not only had the Italian peninsula been reintroduced to large-scale war for the first time in a century, but the amount of power that would be given to the socii was a major source of dispute in years to come. Both of these were among the reasons for Sulla’s civil war in 83-82 BC and his subsequent dictatorship – and of course, Sulla himself owed his standing to his military successes in the Social War.
Whatever the case, Teate now entered an era of prosperity, possibly surpassing 50000 inhabitants at its peak. As was the case throughout Italy, the waves of invading tribes throughout the 5th century, the brutal Gothic War between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines in the mid-6th century and finally the Lombard invasion at the end of the century caused severe devastation. Chieti was a shell of itself by the end, but had survived well enough to become a significant centre within the new feudal system. The Lombards gained control of most of the peninsula, eating further and further into Byzantine territory over the course of the 7th and early 8th century, but it is their hegemony that marks the definitive end of any sort of centralised Italian state (until Risorgimento). In the late 8th century, the bulk of the Lombard-held areas were conquered by Charlemagne, but the region remained unstable and in 801, Chieti was destroyed by Charlemagne’s son Pepin. Recovery was slow until the arrival of the Normans in the 11th century, who amongst other things reestablished its cathedral. Chieti continued to grow, and in the late 13th century, by which time it was firmly embedded within the Kingdom of Sicily (soon to be split in two), it became the capital of the coastal half of the Abruzzo.
The remainder of Chieti’s history is surprisingly uninteresting. By the standards of the time, it consistently did well for itself until the Spanish Empire, and with it the Kingdom of Naples, went into decline in the 17th century. Just like in Naples itself, the plague epidemic of 1656 severely aggravated the process. Moreover, after Italian unification, Chieti was eclipsed by nearby Pescara, which is nowadays more than double its size. In 1926, it was the stage for the sham trial of the assassins of Giacomo Matteotti. Matteotti had led the Italian socialists during the 1924 elections, and afterwards gave a speech in parliament declaring the elections as illegitimate (this is entirely true – by this time, the March on Rome was eighteen months in the past, the electoral laws had been rigged to benefit the Fascists, and the election itself had been dominated by blackshirt squad intimidation and violence). In response to this, Matteotti was kidnapped in broad daylight and assassinated by Mussolini’s secret police. Mussolini’s involvement was obviously suspected, but never proven.
The assassination was a key step in Italy’s slide into fascist dictatorship. By the time the ‘trials’ were held, a one-party state had been established. The sentences handed out were minimal, and soon scrapped entirely under an amnesty law. A real trial would not be carried out until after the Second World War. After the restoration of democracy, Matteotti was officially martyred. Many things were named in his honour, and his name lives on in cycling, too – the Trofeo Matteotti in nearby Pescara. It is perhaps a sign of the times that the monument at the place where Matteotti was kidnapped in Rome was vandalised last year.
On the subject of Pescara, the city was mostly levelled by Allied bombing during WWII, and the refugees from that city in particular caused Chieti’s population to temporarily quadruple. Chieti itself, which was the site of an internment camp until 1943, was also bombed shortly before liberation in 1944, but not to the same extent. The postwar period saw rapid urban growth as in most of Italy and the establishment of a university which now has 21000 students. However, from the 1980s onwards, the population started to shrink, and Chieti has struggled economically ever since. Combined with rampant corruption, this led to the bankruptcy of the municipality in 2023. This helps explain why the Giro has visited very little in more recent times – while Chieti was a stage host in the first Giro, only two of its fourteen previous appearances have come after 1984, and the most recent of those was the start of the Blockhaus stage in 2009. With the Tirreno having last visited in 2013, that means this will be the first time during Giulio Ciccone’s career that he will start or finish a stage in his home city.
(picture by maury3001 at Panoramio, reuploaded to Wikimedia Commons)
The route
The start of the stage is a slightly rolling detour to avoid Pescara. After 31 kilometres, the riders reach the Adriatic coast for the first time this race in Montesilvano. The next 65 kilometres are a straight, pan-flat shot north, passing into Le Marche just south of San Benedetto del Tronto, the annual finish of Tirreno-Adriatico. This coastal section comes to an end in Cupra Marittima, where there is an intermediate sprint immediately before the riders turn west to take on the first climb of the day. Montefiore dell’Aso is the day’s sole cat. 3, albeit more of an ASO cat.3 than a RCS one. The overall statistics are 10.0k at 3.6%, although those are brought down by 1.2k at 0.8% in the middle. I can’t find a profile of the whole thing, it’s the first of the profiles below, then that almost-flat section, then the second of the profiles below.
The descent backs directly into the next KOM, to Monterubbiano.
By the time the next descent ends, we are on the outskirts of Fermo. There is a good murito (2.3k at an irregular 8.2%) from this valley that was used in the 2017 and 2022 Tirreno stages into Fermo, so naturally RCS have opted to take a much easier parallel route, averaging just 4.7%.
There is only the briefest of descents after this climb, into a short, but nasty little wall (500m at 13.3%) that was also used in both Tirreno stages. The bonus sprint is at its summit.
In 2017, this little murito backed directly into the HTF (as it did in 2022, but the finish was partially different that year). On this occasion, we are heading towards the coast via the most direct route possible. This means that we have a little over 10 kilometres of valley to break the rhythm the stage had going. To make it back towards Fermo, the riders need to climb through Capodarco. RCS have called it the Muro di Capodarco, but the wall part is perhaps 300 metres in length and the rest of the climb is not that hard. This climb is used annually in the GP Capodarco, a U23 race that has been held since 1977. It was the only UCI win of Fabio Casartelli before his untimely death and has also been won by three riders in this field: Jai Hindley, Einer Rubio and Filippo Zana.
Finish
From Capodarco, there are 6.9 kilometres left to race, the final 5.4 of which were also the finish in the aforementioned Tirreno stage. I’m using the profile from that year as it’s much more detailed. The shallow descent from Capodarco ends with 4.1k to go, and after the briefest of flats, it’s on to easily the hardest challenge of the day, the Muro di Via Reputolo. 800 metres at 14.3% should do some real damage, but the climbing isn’t over yet. The antepenultimate and penultimate kilometres are flattish (the route rejoins the 2022 version at 2.4k from the line), but the road ramps up towards the finish, with a final kilometre at 6.5%. The section from 1.4k to 350m to go are on urban cobbles, with some very narrow parts, but this stretch giving way to asphalt is not much of a respite: the final 350 metres average 8.9%. There is a final, sweeping 90-degree right-hander at 100 metres to go. When this HTF was used in 2017 after a significantly harder route, it was one of the more impressive wins of Peter Sagan’s career, sprinting to the win from a nine-rider group that otherwise contained nothing but GC riders.
Fermo was founded as a Roman colony in 264, and served mainly to help keep nearby Asculum (modern Ascoli Piceno) in check. This function would remain significant for quite a while, as Asculum was the first town to rise against Rome during the aforementioned Social War, almost two centuries later. During the Middle Ages, Fermo was a regional centre of power. The Lombards established a duchy here in 727, which survived the Frankish invasion later that century. It is not clear whether the duchy was downgraded or whether it was abolished and later replaced, but in any case, the region was converted to the March of Fermo in the late 10th century. This is one of the marches to which the Marche region owes its name. The Marche were at this time contested by the Holy Roman Emperor and the pope, with the latter gaining full control at the end of the 12th century. By this point, the March of Fermo had been merged into the March of Ancona. However, Ancona itself had developed into an autonomous maritime republic, and thus Fermo was established as the capital of the March in 1210.
These, then, were the centuries where the standing of Fermo was at its highest. The town had surpassed 10000 inhabitants and was one of the largest in what is now Le Marche. It is not clear whether its gradual decline into the provincial town it is today precedes or starts with this, but a key factor was the revolt against the pope in the 15th century for which Fermo was punished by the loss of its status as the regional capital. By the time of Italian unification, it was no longer considered important enough to be made the capital of one of the newly created provinces – the current Province of Fermo was only established in 2004. And even in the interlying years, it has declined in relative terms – while many Italian towns and cities boomed after the Second World War in particular, Fermo’s population has ‘only’ doubled to 37000 since unification. The Giro has scarcely touched it either – the only previous visit was in 1972, when 1966 Giro winner Gianni Motta took one of the last wins of his career.
(picture by lastquest at Flickr, reuploaded to Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
In both recent Tirreno stages, the main favourites finished together (although it helped that Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel went the wrong way in the latter), so on this easier route I’m not convinced we should expect much from the GC riders. The break has a chance here, but I imagine both Pellizzari (who is from Le Marche) and Ciccone will really want this stage.
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