Monte Zoncolan - tips for spectators?

[skitrek]

Hello.
We are going to watch the conclusion of stage 15 at Monte Zoncolan. Does anyone have any good tips regarding the preferred place to be watching the riders, when to arrive, how far up the road it is possible to drive, etc? We will be driving in from the East on A23/SS52.
Thanks in advance for any response.

 

[Michele]

Probably the road will be closed to cars since the early morning.

 

[skitrek]

Thanks. Do you know of any alternative transportation up the hill? (It is not possible to bring our own bikes.) From the tv footage you can see a lot of spectators that definitely not have climbed the hill by bike.

 

[Michele]

Usually the main climbs are closed to traffic, so many guys goes there with car one day in advance, or so.

I dont think there's many options if not going up by bike or by walk.

 

[dsut4392]

Probably the road will be closed to cars since the early morning.

Not sure about Zoncolan, but when I went to the Giro in 2008 the road was only closed an hour or two before the stage came through (admittedly a larger road through Aprica). Imagine a narrower, minor road would be closed earlier and would plan on walking up.

We had wanted to catch the action on the Mortirolo, but due to some dodgy hotel listing on lastminute.co.uk it turned out that our hotel in "Bergamo city centre" was at Fuipiano Valle Imagna, an hour's drive up a twisty mountain road from Bergamo!
Having already had a busy friday at work, then a shocker of a trip up the M5 to Bristol from Exeter, then an EasyJet flight delayed by 2 hours, then accidentally setting the satnav to "avoid motorways" and touring the outer suburbs of Milan instead of hitting the autostrada, we only arrived at our hotel well after midnight. It turned out to be such a nice place (albergo ristorante moderno, great place to stay if you're in the area) we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and decided "****** driving hell for leather and then running up the mortirolo!"

 

[skitrek]

Back home from Italy after having watched stages 15 and 16. Accessing the end of stage 15 turned out to be quite easy. We drove to Ovaro, and well there we were lead directly under the 10 km signs on the road to Zoncolan! Followed the (steep!) stage route for about 2,5 km, and then parked in a small village nearby.

Two pictures from Zoncolan.
5,8 km from the top at 12:35, some five hours before the riders came:



Basso in front of Evans: