Race Design Challenge

[Brullnux]

LA CENTESIMA RIFUGIO MONTI PALLIDI - CANAZEI ITT 54km

At first this may seem to be a problem logistically, but I assure it is not. Riders will sleep in a hotel in Canazei, before driving up to this rifugio (which is really a hotel) and preparing here for the ITT. Some riders may wish to rider up here as a warm up. When they reach here at circa 9:30-10am, they will have 3 hours to prepare for the start of the day at 1:30pm. The car park is large and can fit 20 coaches and their rollers, as well as 20 or so cars in a different car park, or if they so wish, on the grass too. If a team wishes for more space they can use the 500m of road behind them not being used in the race. The reason for this being that I wanted to include all the climbs of the Sellaronda and have a finish in Canazei. In an ITT it is impossible to go one way and come back the same way if the roads are like they are in the Dolomites. Everything will be prepared the night before by RCS and the start ramp put in place, on the road.

You may have noticed this is a Sellaronda ITT. And it is on a Sunday. This is probably my most umm... interesting stage. However, I believe it will be a spectacle to remember. The Sella Group is very, very beautiful.

The day starts off going up Passo Sella. The first time check and GPM points at the top. Passo Sella is one of the most scenic passes in all of Europe, steeped in Giro history. Today riders will have to conserve energy but simultaneously avoid losing too much time on this climb. On the right the riders will see the Piz Boe and the whle Sella Group, and on the left the Sassolungo massif with Sassopiatto too.

Then after a short descent we hit the two part Passo Gardena, the first bit is fairly easy, 1.5km at over 6%, then a long flat section, then an easier 1.5km section at 6%. Also another beautiful climb steeped in history

A long descent to Corvara in Badia, where our third time check (the first not on top of a mountain) awaits the riders. Then it is Passo Campolongo. Second time in 2 days, this time though second category for its importance in the stage.

The comes the crowning moment of the day. Riders will race this climb very hard in order to provide a cushion for the descent, where good descenders can take another 15-20 seconds. Passo Pordoi is the hardest climb of the day in what is a very hard ITT, possibly one the hardest in recent years. The climb keeps about 6.4-7.8 percent for all of it, and only reaches 10%. But it is 9km long and will really start to hurt the riders at the top, after 43km of hard riding.

The descent to the finish will allow us to see definitively who is the best descender, and have us on tenterhooks for the whole finish, wondering whether the GPS gaps are correct, if the time checks at the top of Pordoi will cahnge by the bottom of the descent in Canazei, and who ends up in the Maglia Rosa and favourite for the Giro by the end of the day. Another pre race bonus: the heated discussion on whether it is better to go full TT bike fot all the race, have it for none of it, switch bikes, have the normal bike with TT bars, (which is probably the best idea IMO) or just spend your time on your normal bike.

Riders will be sick of seeing this massif by the end of the day

 

[May0maniac]

Barmaher, no Casunzei all'ampezzana?

 

[Gigs_98]

100th GIRO D'ITALIA stage 15: Genova - Sanremo (195 km)

Sorry, but I don't have time to write a lot about the stage so I have to keep it really really short (maybe I can write more, tomorrow).
I know that such a hilly/flat stage isnt perfect for the 15th stage, and actually I am not really satisfied, but I decided to pay tribute to the big italian classics and this is my tribute to Milano-Sanremo, the earliest cycling monument each year. The last two climbs, the Cipressa and the Poggio, normally are the crucial points of the race so I used them in this stage too. The start is in Genova, once again a city which hosted a stage in the giro 1909, and if I remember correctly it also was the finish of the first mass start stage of this years giro. The route is challenging, but its still possible that a sprinter takes this, although it would be extremely hard to control the stage. Unluckily not the mountain stage one would expect on stage 15, but I think the scenic coast and the cultural aspect combined with lots of hills all over the day, we still might get an interesting stage.

 

[Stromeon]

Giro di Stromeon Stage 15: Cortina d'Ampezzo - Tre Cime di Lavaredo ITT 21km

After a mammoth stage in the Dolomites yesterday, another serious test awaits the riders on this, the third Sunday of the race. After a 13km prologue time-trial in Rome and a 56km time-trial on stage 10 in Tuscany, this is the final time-trial of the race, and what a time-trial it should be! Whereas the other two were pretty much flat, this is quite the opposite, with lots of climbing at very steep gradients (as well as a tiny bit of descending), as we set out from Cortina and climb up the harsh incline to the dramatic Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

Cortina d'Ampezzo is a beautiful and very famous ski resort town in the Dolomites, having hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics and been used as a film location in famous films like The Pink Panther and For Your Eyes Only. The climbing starts in earnest almost immediately, as we ascend the 2nd category Passo Tre Croci - it is the one-two punch of this straight before the climb up to the Tre Cime that makes this ascent so hard as a summit finish in a road stage - and even harder in a MTT. Although not quite as spectacular as the Tre Cime, the Tre Croci also offers some mighty fine views. After tackling what is not an insubstantial climb, the riders will have a bit of time to recover as we have about four kilometres of gradual descent, but it's a time-trial so they should still be pushing on as hard as possible whenever they can. The road starts to rise again, but only gradually as we arrive at the stunning Lago di Misurina (picture below). Here is the second time-check (the first being at the top of the Passo Tre Croci). The riders don't have to wait long to approach the third time-check, as after some more fairly benign uphill the road starts to kick up viciously at the Col Sant'Angelo, an intermediate point on the road up. Here we have about a kilometre at 13%, with a small section of 18%, and this is where the real pure climbers will start to show themselves. There is the briefest of donwhills afterwards, and then the road kicks back up once more, never letting up until we reach the summit in all of its magnificence. The final 4km are at a brutal 11.3%, and there is another section at 18% to be tackled as well. Once the riders are at the top, however, they can bathe in the splendour that is the Tre Cime, one of the world's beauty spots, with its iconic three peaks (the highest at an OCD-aggravating 2999m) and beautiful views of the surrounding Dolomites.

That is, there will be beautiful views if the weather holds up. The Tre Cime have featured in the Giro seven times before: 1967, 1968, 1974, 1981, 1989, 2007 and 2013, and over the course of these appearances seems to have been adept at bringing out the worst (or best, depending on how you want to look at it) in the weather. The first time, in 1967, saw appalling weather - rain, snow, fog, everything, and the result was annulled after many riders grabbed onto their team cars and allowed themselves to be pushed up the climb. The snow was back a year later when Eddy Merckx produced a storming ride that set him on his way to his first Grand Tour victory ever, (his best-ever day in the mountains, according to himself, as he took over 6 minutes on Gimondi on what was effectively a Unipuerto stage). 1974 saw the return of the Tre Cime, and the return of Merckx, who went on to win that Giro as well, but not at Tre Cime this time, instead the honours went to the great Spanish climber José-Manuel Fuente, and Gianbattista Baronchelli produced a storming ride to better the cannibal and move up to within just 12 seconds of him overall (the gap was maintained over the last two stages). The bad weather was back in 1989, when Lucho Herrera took the win, and of course more recently it returned with a vengeance in 2013, as Vincenzo Nibali did his best impression of a blancmange, covered in snow, as he won the stage and the overall title.

So, if history is anything to go by, we could have a mountain time-trial in the snow, which would be quite a spectacle. A spectacle that the 100th Giro deserves, perhaps? At any rate, it will still be a great stage regardless of the weather, as the top contenders battle it out on a vicious, but beautiful climb steeped in Giro history.

Here's a very convenient profile detailing the exact stage with gradients, which was produced for the 2013 stage:

Cortina d'Ampezzo:

Lago di Misurina:

Tre Cime di Lavaredo:

 

[Billie]

Giro d'Italia - Stage 15: Brixen - Passo Fedaia (178 km)

Unfortunately University starts tomorrow so everything is a bit hectic and thus I have little time to present this stage. Luckily I'm not the only one using these roads/climbs so I'm not going to bother with posting al the profiles of the different climbs again.

Like everyone else I knew it was impossible to create a Giro without having an epic over these roads. Main goal was to have the Giau somewhere in the finale cause it's such a great climb where something happens each time it's used. (Even when it's early in the stage like in 2008 when Contador got dropped before we had images.) Had a couple of options for the stage finish (Tre Cime, Cortina, Zoldo Alto, Pordoi...) but ultimately chose for Fedaia!!!!

Start is in Brixen where we immediately start climbing the Passo delle Erbe/Würzjoch. After that we make a tour around the Sella Ronda before doing Valparola, Giau and Fedaia. 'Only' 178 km but over 6000 metres in altitude gain!

 

[BigMac]

Many terrific stages in this page. Well done.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 15: Bolzano/Bozen - Aprica, 210km

The penultimate weekend, with its triple-header of mountain monoliths, ends with the 3rd - and final - full-sized MTF of the race (whether you want to count San Luca or San Marino in the TTs is another question). And of course, it's a classic, and the MTF itself isn't especially difficult. The stage is long and difficult and off the back of the Zoncolan's brutal gradients and the slow-burning Dolomite breakdown yesterday, today it's time for what's left of those tired legs to explode once and for all. After all, there's a rest day tomorrow.

As the capital of the Südtirol region, Bolzano wasn't even in Italy at the time of the first ever Giro d'Italia, as though it had briefly been part of the Italian kingdom in the Napoleonic era it was also a Hapsburg possession, which passed to Italy as part of the Treaty of London arrangements that led to Italy's entering of WWI on the side of the Entente. Aggressive Italianization followed under Mussolini although a sizable German minority remains to this day (of course much of the population retains some German heritage and many of the smaller settlements in the region retain their Germanophone identity). It is home to a great many sportspeople, mostly wintersports although its current cycling heritage includes CX and MTB specialist Eva Lechner and experienced classics specialist Manuel Quinziato.

The stage begins climbing straight away, with the Mendelpass/Passo della Mendola. This is a serious climb but not a monster; however it should encourage a strong breakaway.

The fact that the stage begins with a cat.1 climb is also an opportunity for the big guns to send somebody up the road in case they feel like an exploratory expedition later, but that's a story for later in the day. A long undulating stretch ensues before we arrive at a time-honoured Giro combination, beginning with the Passo del Tonale.

As the main alternative to the iconic mythical Stelvio in traversing this part of the country, connecting the Südtirol climbs with the megaliths of Lombardia, this has seen more Giri than you could care to mention, including the mountaintop finish in 2010, but most commonly travelling, as today, from east to west to link up with the legendary Gavia. At over 2600m altitude, the Gavia has been known to be subject to the weather, with high snowbanks part of the scenery in 2008, 2004 and many other times with of course the most legendary being the almost incomparable 1988 stage.

High snowbanks are of course inevitable but the Gavia is generally ridable; if it is not, my contingency plan is to continue in the valley past Ponte di Legno, climb Monte Padrio, descend through Trivigno and then do the end of the stage as planned. If it is, we tackle 16,5km at 8% of doom as shown here. Sure, we're a long way from the finish, but a technical descent past the skiing site of Santa Caterina Valfurva leads to an intermediate sprint in the ski town of Bormio.

We now have a long stretch through the valley, as the Gavia-Mortirolo combination is time-honoured and though it doesn't map perfectly it has enough Giro history to justify continuing with. Though many stages have used one or both of these climbs recently, the most alike my stage is the 2006 stage won by RoboBasso which you can watch here:

Just like that day I have elected to go by the particularly brutal and most famous Mazzo side of Mortirolo, but I have gone with the newer version of Aprica with the steeper ramps in the early going. The Passo di Mortirolo was introduced to the Giro comparatively recently - 1990 - but was an instant classic, as with 12,8km at 10,3% by RCS' official stats, but being unable to host a finish it's almost a guarantee of action due to sheer attrition.

The first man to crest the climb also won that stage - as is typical for genuine Mortirolo stages (so not like the 2004 travesty) they finished on Aprica that day - and was Venezuela's Leonardo Sierra. Subsequent leaders over the summit have included Chiocciolo, Pantani, Gotti (twice) and Basso (also twice). This brute is followed by a technical descent and then the long but not particularly steep climb to Aprica; the Aprica climb on its own is unthreatening, but the pain of going uphill again after the suffering of Mortirolo means it often creates gaps that it wouldn't ordinarily merit; also its relative ease makes attacking on the Mortirolo a better option as it crests 32km out - especially on the back of such a tough three days of climbing as we've had here.

You know what? We all know what greatness the Mortirolo-Aprica combo is. We all know the descent is technical and impressive. We know what happens. So what better way to make my case than to turn to the greatest race of our most modern era, the 2010 Giro, to make my point? Relive the greatest stage of the greatest recent GT here; watch grown men suffer like dogs, watch Nibali sigh audibly as he guides Ivan Basso down a technical descent. Watch David Arroyo be possessed by the ghost of the not-even-dead-yet Paolo Savoldelli in pursuit of an unexpected dream that is to be cruelly yanked away from him. Will his fate await another unfortunate soul, or will the Mortirolo-Aprica combination decide people's fate and underline the climbing supremacy in the race once more?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stromeon, I feel that you need to pay more honour to Fuente's amazing 1974 win there. That was his final roll of the dice to get back the Giro he should have won but lost due to a hunger knock to Sanremo, and was his third super-long-distance solo mountain raid - not a stylistic choice, but his only choice. He was away all day repeatedly in that Giro trying to win his time back. Fuente is the king.

 

[barmaher]

Re:

Barmaher, no Casunzei all'ampezzana?

I found it hard to link with other climbs.

 

[Gigs_98]

Holy ***, are you all completely mad
I tried as hard as possible to not use too many hard climbs in one stage while you post dolomite stages which make the giro 2011 look like a juniors race. But probably thats just me as a 17 year old "child" seeing the revival of the monsters of the past.
Ps: I guess I am the only one who doesnt have a dolomite stage, but thats not because I didnt want to, I just had the example of the giro 1909 I wanted to follow...
pps: just to prevent anger, the first line was meant sarcastic

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Holy ****, are you all completely mad
I tried as hard as possible to not use too many hard climbs in one stage while you post dolomite stages which make the giro 2011 look like a juniors race. But probably thats just me as a 17 year old "child" seeing the revival of the monsters of the past.
Ps: I guess I am the only one who doesnt have a dolomite stage, but thats not because I didnt want to, I just had the example of the giro 1909 I wanted to follow...
pps: just to prevent anger, the first line was meant sarcastic

This IS my attempt to not use too many hard climbs in one stage while still paying enough tribute to the great Giro climbs. Pure Zomegnan-porn is possible, but only really for one or two stages otherwise the riders are just going to protest.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Barmaher, no Casunzei all'ampezzana?

I found it hard to link with other climbs.

It would have been a great Munch for the Bunch

Ravioli filled with mashed beetroot with Poppy seeds, smoked Ricotta and clarified butter, it's delicious.

 

[Stromeon]

Re:

Stromeon, I feel that you need to pay more honour to Fuente's amazing 1974 win there. That was his final roll of the dice to get back the Giro he should have won but lost due to a hunger knock to Sanremo, and was his third super-long-distance solo mountain raid - not a stylistic choice, but his only choice. He was away all day repeatedly in that Giro trying to win his time back. Fuente is the king.

Sorry Libertine

I quite like looking at the history of cycling but I'm no expert and I didn't really know much about that stage other than the Merckx v Baronchelli battle. Thanks for telling me though, I'll bear that in mind for next time!

 

[Eshnar]

Judge 1:
Brullnux T: 4/5 C: 2/5 (wow, that's one hell of an ITT)
Barmaher T: 3/5 C: 3/5 (a great stage, maybe a little bit short, stage 15 could be a little bit longer)
Gigs_98 T: 2/5 C: 4/5 (A nice stage, but you could have Pompeiana, that would make the stage even better)
Billie T: 3/5 C: 3/5 (I'd prefer Pordoi after Fedaia, but it's still a great stage)
Finn84 T: 2/5 C: 2/5 (it's still a great stage, well done!)
Libertine: T: 4/5 C: 4/5 (A great Mortirolo stage)
Stromeon T: 5/5 C: 5/5 (A MTT on my favoutite climb, awesome!)

Judge 2:
Brullnux T:2/5 C:2/5 (find this iTT far too tough)
Barmaher T:4/5 C:3/5 (great mountain stage)
Gigs98 T:3/5 C:5/5 (nice tribute to Milan-San Remo)
Billie T:5/5 C:3/5 (love this stage)
Finn84 T:2/5 C:2/5 (nice transition stage)
Libertine T:4:5 C:4/5 (really like the Mortirolo/Aprica stage)
Stromeon T:3/5 C:4/5 (good iTT)

Judge 3:
Brullnux T: 2/5 C: 2/5 (The ITT is nice, but it's so hard it kills everything that comes before it, and in your case that's a dolomitic stage...)
Barmaher T: 4/5 C: 2/5
Gigs_98 T: 1/5 C: 5/5 (for a Sunday it's disappointing... would have been better to give it a proper lenght to really honour the MSR)
Billie T: 4/5 C: 3/5
Finn84 T: 3/5 C: 3/5 (it's a bit underwhelming as a stage 15, but still, it's a good hilly stage)
Libertine: T: 5/5 C: 4/5 (you can't really improve that)
Stromeon T: 2/5 C: 4/5 (same consideration as Brullnux...)


GC after stage 15:

Barmaher 377
Gigs 374
Libertine 372
Stromeon 363
Brullnux 352
Billie 321
Finn 266

 

[fauniera]

This IS my attempt to not use too many hard climbs in one stage while still paying enough tribute to the great Giro climbs. Pure Zomegnan-porn is possible, but only really for one or two stages otherwise the riders are just going to protest.

It is NOT Zomegnan-porn to have a weekend Crostis/Zoncolan - Dolomiti - Gavia/Mortirolo?

 

[barmaher]

Re: Re:

Barmaher, no Casunzei all'ampezzana?

I found it hard to link with other climbs.

It would have been a great Munch for the Bunch

Ravioli filled with mashed beetroot with Poppy seeds, smoked Ricotta and clarified butter, it's delicious.

I know, I was just being a smart arse. That dish looks really good. You can't go wrong with clarified butter.

To be honest, I am spending way too much time on this issue. Sometimes I spend over an hour researching candidates for Person of the Stage.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

This IS my attempt to not use too many hard climbs in one stage while still paying enough tribute to the great Giro climbs. Pure Zomegnan-porn is possible, but only really for one or two stages otherwise the riders are just going to protest.

It is NOT Zomegnan-porn to have a weekend Crostis/Zoncolan - Dolomiti - Gavia/Mortirolo?

That is the main body of my Giro's mountain odyssey though, the last week is not quite so brutal - the riders will have to search to find time in the mountains to come, rather than being handed a super hard MTF or anything. The chances are still there, mark my words, but those stages are the mountain focus of the race.

 

[barmaher]

Giro di Barmaher

Stage 16 Daone to Madonna di Ghisallo 239km

Another rest day is followed by another tribute to an Italian classic. And just like the Strade Bianche stage, this stage has the potential to trip up a few GC contenders. The day is long and features over 3500m of climbing. We start in an absolutely gorgeous village in the Valli Guidicare in Trentino. And then travel westwards towards Lombardy and ride on roads very familiar to classics fans.



Once the gauntlet was thrown by Eshnar, a finish on Madonna di Ghisallo was always going to be part of my Giro. I decided to go with a version of the Giro di Lombardia, and I have also decided to put in two important climbs from the race. The climb to Sormano, including the Muro is placed strategically close to the finish. And I have also made it my business to include the Valcava, which I think really shapes the Giro di Lombardia when it is on the menu. A long climb like that hits the fast men very hard. Even if they stay with the group, they will likely pay for it later.



Climbs
Cat. 3 Lodrino 733m altitude. 8km @ 5%.
Cat. 3 Passo Tre Termini 676m altitude. 7km @ 5.2%.
Cat. 1 Valico di Valcava 1327m altitude. 18.9km @ 5.2%.
Cat. 2 Sormano 1106m altitude. 8km @ 7.9% (error in profile above).
Cat. 2 Colle Ghisallo 753m altitude. 9km @ 5.8%.

So basically, I could have started this stage in a number of different villages near Lake Garda. But Daone really took my breath away when I saw its pictures. Daone is located in a rather sheltered position and boasts vast areas covered by chestnut forests. Daone is located in the homonymous valley taking from Val di Fumo to the Adamello. The landscape that prevails in this area is more than impressive and could be described as wild-romantic. Alpine pastures and lakes alternate and compose a great scenery.

Riders will travel southwestwards through the Valli Guidicare, and take in the many pretty villages. The Giudicarie Valleys are actually a small network of idyllic valleys and side valleys and across them flow the pristine rivers Sarca and Chiese.

In the first half of the stage, riders will be faced with a couple of category 3 climbs as they move into Lombardia. These stages in the third week of grand tours are important, so we will see stage hunters and domestiques of GC hopes making up the breakaway. Quite a few points for the KOM competition are available, too.

Around half way through the stage, we will reach Bergamo, where we will have a TV sprint outside the mausoleum of the man of the stage, Enrico Rastelli. Aside from the usual painters and statesmen that make up the history of such towns in Lombardy, Bergamo is notable as a centre of music history. The large Romanesque church of Santa Maria Maggiore, begun in 1137, had a continuous and well-documented tradition of music teaching and singing for more than eight hundred years. In particular, a large instrumental ensemble grew up to support the choral singing. Composers such as Gasparo Alberti produced music with polyphony using two organs, brass and viols, a style usually associated with Venice, but which flourished in the fine acoustic environment of Santa Maria Maggiore.

The city lent its name to a style of folk dance known as bergamask peculiar to the peoples of that region. Known as bergomasci and renowned for their buffoonery, the fool Bottom in Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night's Dream refers to their Bergomask dance. This unconventional form gave Debussy a vehicle for the dissonances and irregular intervals of his "Suite bergamasque"

Rather than make a bee-line for the environs of Lake Como, we are going via the Valico di Valcava, which is a famous climb in many Giri d’Italia and Giri di Lombardia of the past. This climb has been used by the Tour of Lombardy from 1986 to 2011, and its wall made "victims" illustrious including Laurent Fignon, detached from Gianbattista Baronchelli. We are approaching the climb from the easier side, but it is still tough, and will be felt in the legs come munch-time.

And besides, the descent will be fun coming down the other side.

After a TV sprint in Lecco, we now go westwards toward Lake Como. But first we must tackle the climb of Sormano, including the Muro. Overall, this is a category 2 climb, but it can be broken into two. The easy bit (5km at 6.4%) and the hard bit (the muro!).

There was great excitement when this was added to the Lombardia route a few years ago. This climb is famous, with an average gradient of 17% and a maximum of 25%. The road up the climb, though famous in cycling folklore, fell out of use from 1963 to 2006. After pressure from local cyclists it was restored, and now features split-times and soundbites from the riders of the climb in the 1960s era stencilled on the road. The current record time for the short but painful climb is 7 minutes 36 seconds, achieved by local rider Matteo Cappè.

The Muro is famously associated with the Giro di Lombardia, which featured the climb three times from 1960−1962. However, after complaints that the climb was so steep that riders were either falling off or being pushed up by fans, the climb was taken off the route. The rider Ercole Baldini dominated the climb during this period, although he later admitted that he was "ashamed to hold the record" because of this.

After its restoration, the climb returned to the route during the 2012 edition, about 80 km from the finish of the race. Expect it to be more pivotal in today’s stage.

After the descent to Lake Como, and ride northwards, riders will hit Bellagio. We then have our final climb.

Let’s get one thing straight right now – this is a hard climb. In total, it gains about 550 meters and is 9km from Bellagio to the Madonna del Ghisallo church. It levels out a bit in the middle, but barely long enough for you to catch your breath.

This is a very famous climb but it’s not always decisive. The Tour of Lombardy, now branded Il Lombardia, has often changed its start and finish point but the Colle Ghisallo has been a fixture since 1919. These days it is not a strategic climb but one that help eliminate weaker riders and sets things up for later attacks. However, with the race finishing here today, expect fireworks.

The climb has also been used in the Giro but its fame comes from extra-sporting rides. In 1949 Pope Pius XII ordered that the Madonna del Ghisallo become the patron saint of cyclists and soon a torch was carried by bicycle from the Vatican to the chapel with famous riders taking part in the relay.

You don’t need to be a devout Catholic to enjoy the chapel and venerate the sports history. The walls of the chapel are insulated with cycling jerseys and various bikes hang there, from a tired looking Bianchi belonging to Fausto Coppi to the twisted frame crashed by Fabio Casartelli when he died during the 1995 Tour de France.

Munch for the Bunch
Lots of choice here in Lombardy, but I don’t think we can realistically dine so close to Lake Como without trying some of the pesce di lago.

Here, we will order some fishermen to catch us a haul of 198 lavarello, which is a type of whitefish commonly found in Lake Como. They are very easy to catch, as they are greedy beggars and will nibble on any old tackle. As you can see below, the fish will be fried with with butter and sage and dished up with potatoes and rice. A side order of salad will be made available, too.

Man of the Stage
Enrico Rastelli was the most famous and, in the opinion of many, the greatest juggler who ever lived. He was one of variety's most celebrated celebrities at a time when variety was the main form of entertainment. His audiences as well as the press loved him as much for his personality as for his act, which was the standard to which his contemporaries were compared.

He was born into a second generation circus family in Samara, Russia, Dec. 19, 1896. His father was a juggler on horseback earning near-starvation wages. His mother was a trapeze artist. Against his father's wishes that he become an acrobat, Rastelli secretly practiced juggling. He soon overtook his father's skill, and could do seven balls after six years.

In 1915 he took his first job as a solo juggler in Circus Truzzi. Half-a-year later his father started his on circus. It employed Rastelli as a juggler and, with his mother, a perch pole artist. But World War I broke up the show and the family fled Russia and increasing fame for anonymity in Italy. He picked up there where he left off in Russia. Married now to Stella-Henriette Price, Rastelli became an overnight sensation in Circus Gatti.

Rastelli was not only a rare artist, but also an intelligent and fine human being. He had the reputation of remarkably grand person and friend, and it was said that he had no enemies - a rare thing in such a competitive profession as show business. For example, when Rastelli fled Russia in 1919 due to the revolution there, he came to Italy virtually unknown. He initially went to work with the Circus Gatti and was an overnight sensation. But despite many great offers to appear in bigger and more spectacular shows, he remained with Gatti for a few years out of friendly loyalty. Finally he did leave Gatti, and in 1923 he visited the United States where he performed at the Hippodrome in New York. He returned to Europe and in Bergamo, Italy, in 1931, he cut his mouth very slightly with the mouthpiece that he used in his act. This cut became infected and he died. He was only thirty-five years old and in his prime. The world will never see his equal.

 

[Gigs_98]

@Barmaher:
I don't know if you know that or not, but the climb we can see on the profile doesnt include the Muro di Sormano. There are two different streets up the climb, from the south side. The normal street and the narrow Muro which starts in the middle of the normal climb. I just wanted to mention that, and ofc I want that your route gets rated as if the Muro would be part of it. I just know that there are some people not knowing this so I wanted to clarify it .

 

[Gigs_98]

100th GIRO D'ITALIA stage 16: Cuneo - Sestriere (167 km)
First stage of the last week, so IMO the perfect moment to include the last 1st category mtf in the route. Moreover we finally arrive in the most important italian mountain range in terms of cycling. These are the alps and now the crucial part of the race finally starts. And I know that there were already some very very gc relevant stages (long ITT, Blockhaus, Vesuvio, MTT, sterrato) but this final week is on a whole new level. However don't fear that everybody is too afraid to attack before, because the first two weeks create time gaps on a very different way. None of the final 6 stages has its hardest mountain on the end so if riders want to create really big time gaps, an attack from far out might be necessary. Meanwhile the first two weeks only had two very hard downhill finishes but two 1st cat. mtf's, two TT's and sterrato (actually this was also a stage were you should try a long range attack if you want to get big time, but its a completely different way of getting time which the riders wont have in the last week. So if someone knows he is better on gravel, than someone else, he will attack there, no matter how hard the last week is)



The last week starts in Cuneo. The moutains in the west of this city are known for some great passes which already have caused numerous iconic giro stages. The col de larche and the the col de la lombarde can be used to get into france, while the Colle Fauniera and the Colle di Sampeyre combination is probalby one of the best ones, in cycling. However, surprisingly the recent giro history of these climbs isnt that big, and although a stage on these climbs would be as good as the stage I created, I think this one is the better one in terms of cycling history. First up is the Colle dell' Agnello the third highest pass of the alps (cime de la bonette is still no pass) and the highest one between two countries. Yes this is my first (and last) stage which goes into a foreign country. I thought about this for quite some time because I wasnt sure if its a good idea to use any climbs outside italy, but at the end I decided that if I my giro goes over the border, it should happen here, because of 3 reasons. Firstly, the Agnello is the second highest street of italy so it obviously is an important climb for the italy. Secondly the Agnello - Izoard combo is very famous also because of giro stages, so these slopes are a part of the giro history and thirdly, Agnello - Izoard is just epic so it actually should never be necessary to justify its usage . At this point you also might say that I should have put Sampeyre before the Agnello but IMO it would be too much. 3 HC one 1st category and 1 2nd category climb in one stage is already on the edge of being too hard and if you condider that the riders will need something left for the next stages Sampeyre just would have been this one climb too much.


After the descent we arrive on the bottom of the next legendary alps pass, the Col d' Izoard. This, one of the most scenic passes of Europe, is the only climb of my giro completely in a foreign country, but as already mentioned the Izoard also is part of the giro history, so it shouldnt be a problem. After the descent the riders arrive in Briancon, a city which has already hosted giro stages like in 2007 (also the last time we have seen the Agnello - Izoard - Briancon combo). The great thing about Briancon as a finish is that it is uphill so you even so the finish is always intense. In this case there is only a TV in briancon but maybe the fight for the points sill is entertaining. Hopefully there aren't many spectators in the town because they should better wait for the riders on one of the next two climbs.


First up there is the Passo del Montginevro, the easiest climb of the day but still 2nd category and with a rich racing history. This pass is probably the road which was used the most to come from italy to france or the other way around, in cycling races. Although it is a very wide pass with lots of traffic it still pretty scenic.


And now, last but not least, Sestriere. Sestriere is one of my favorite climbs of italy, because it works kind of like Aprica. From one side its easy and you can put a monster (finestre) before it so you get the classical "hard-easy" climb combination. From the other one its a difficult mtf although it isnt difficult enough to take away every action from the penultimate climb. And if that wouldnt already be enough there is a third rather unknown approach to the climb from the south-west which is a little bit steeper but shorter. However, in this stage I use the classic, difficult west side. Its hard to say how big the time gaps will be in Sestriere because it mostly depends on the facts if the riders are already more or less isolated after Montginevro, and if someone goes rather early on the way up to Sestriere. Well, IMO if you have a disadvantage you really should, because as already mentioned, it is the last 1st category mtf. Speaking about the categorization. Normally I'd rather say this is a 2nd category climb, because the giro always tends to undercategorize its climbs, but in this case Sestriere always was a 1st category climb (at least I think so) and I didnt want to change this "tradition" in the 100th giro. The giro history of sestriere is extremely big. There have been 7 giro mtf's on this famous climb, and also 4 mtf's in the tour de france (that statistic doesn't include the stages in which sestriere was included but the finish was somewhere else). The tour de france stage to sestriere in 1992 is known to be one of the best cycling stages ever. I haven't seen it but Eshnar often writes about it, and that has to mean something . Besides cycling, Sestriere also often hosts alpine skiing races like the olympic skiing races of 2006 or the world cup final of 2004 when Herman Maier won his last overall world cup title.



Cuneo:


edit: If agnello and Izoard can't be passed because of the weather I would use Larche and Vars instead of Agnello and Izoard

 

[barmaher]

Hi yes, I did notice that. The actual route definitely includes the Muro, and I intended to redraw the route, but I didn't have time this morning.

I spent most of my time researching Italo-Siberian jugglers, so I didn't get round to the minor task of getting the profile right!

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Hi yes, I did notice that. The actual route definitely includes the Muro, and I intended to redraw the route, but I didn't have time this morning.

I spent most of my time researching Italo-Siberian jugglers, so I didn't get round to the minor task of getting the profile right!

Good, then just forget my comment.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

My actual stage will follow, but for the moment, I just want to have a bit of a rant about how much I *** hate google maps now. They seem to be hell-bent on ruining everything that utilises their client. First they turned tracks4bikers, at the time the best tracking software there was, into an unusable mess thanks to their ridiculously convoluted, "new and improved" New Maps, which turned out to not have the functionality of the old maps, look crap, be a complete mess of buttons all over the corners with no rhyme and reason and have menus that covered up half the freaking map when moused over, and moved us away from the long-running format we were all familiar and happy with.

But of course, the New Maps allow us to link to more local businesses in the form of pretentious coffee shops and hipster paradises for idiots who take their tablets to wi-fi hotspots so that they can be seen in their aching coolness, and has a flashy scrolling picture thing notwithstanding that we don't know WHERE THOSE GODDAMN THINGS ARE like we could from the OLD google maps. Some of us type too many words, or just simply aren't big enough poseurs, to do all of our browsing on a tablet, and some of us can't afford the latest machinery and don't appreciate the lack of functionality that comes from being forced onto "Lite Mode" instead of being able to use the old google maps which used far less memory, worked far more smoothly, and actually DID WHAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO.

So for a while I've been trying workarounds, and then ended up on the Classic Google Maps clone at gokml.net/maps . But today, Google's decided they need to tweak things further to go and ruin what faith people had left from the little functionality their crappy new version actually had. So I go to Cronoescalada, I go to zoom in on something and... the zoom slider's disappeared. No, now you have to have buttons so you must click over and over rather than the much more convenient slidebar, and now they've put it - and streetview - in the bottom right hand corner, meaning when you look at the profile... the zoom can't be adjusted because the profile overlays it. Unless you delete your profile and start again. Maybe it's a Cronoescalada thing? Nope, since the same layout has now not only infected the cyclingcols.com map (where it is not as problematic) but also the gokml maps... whose very raison d'être was to preserve the functionalities and layout that people actually liked and could use! Sure, the impact is nothing like as drastic as the almost total destruction of Tracks4bikers' functionality with the original New Maps update, but seriously, *** Google, they seem intent on becoming every industry monolith they decried as evil when proclaiming how different and great they are. But as usual, some high paid exec probably had New Maps as his baby and so Old Maps had to go once his baby wasn't beloved even though it was clear that compared to the old one it was bloated and useless.

 

[Finn84]

Stage 16, San Maurizio Canavese - Pian del Tivano, 236.5 km

The stage begins from the hometown of three-time Giro winner Giovanni Brunero. Overall it's a long stage and flat for most of the time. However, tough climb awaits the riders in the closing stages.

Regarding the race, this seems a fair chance for the breakaway to win. Group of favourites will make some gaps between them at the finale.

The stage includes also a intermediate sprint at Novara. Giuseppe Saronni will probably pay a hefty bonus if Lampre rider manages to win it.

The final climb is here (not going to the end though, finish at Pian del Tivano).

 

[Brullnux]

Idem Libertine, o'Google really like to **** up everything with their stupid new ideas, including a new logo(!?) and terrible maps, and be proud of them all. However they seem to be less proud of their tax receipt...

Anyway:

LA CENTESIMA SILANDRO-APRICA 205km

(note the typo in the profile)

The second queen stage of this Giro. It exceeds 2000m by a long way twice, and features even more climbing than the dolomitic stage. Climbing over: Stelvio (hard side), Gavia, Aprica, Mortirolo and Aprica again. Becuase of the severe weather risks involved, the stage will be officialised the day before (during the rest day), and Stelvio/Gavia could be skipped in favour for a stage which is also very hard, but is much safer weather-wise, starting in Merano.

The day starts off nice and easily in Silandro, a lovely town, before we head on a 20km long flat to Prato dello Stelvio, home to alpine skier Gustav Thoni. Here we head up the most beautiful road in Europe: Passo Stelvio. 48 hairpin of history, hard work, and beauty. First used in 1953, where Coppi beat Koblet. Too much history to simply sum it up in a paragraph, so I will instead post some pictures, as they say a picture paints a thousand words.

Coppi in 1953

My picture spree is over, but to restart straight away. Now it is time for Gavia. We are going up the easier side, but it is by no means easy. At 2500+, nothing is easy. Splits may have been already formed by now, and the Grupetto also. Though i doubt any Gc action as of yet. gavia is a climb immortalized by andy hampsten in the 1988 attacking during a blizzard. This side is however, very irregular. It will tire out some legs before the long descent to Edolo.

Now it is time for the first passage of Aprica, a famous climb because of the classic Mortirolo-Aprica combo. and because Mortirolo is next, I won't speak too much about Aprica. Mortirolo literally means death, and it will be the death of some riders' chances for GC. Used 12 times in 25 years, it is already a classic. All but one of those times it was from the Mazzo della Valtellina side. Lance armstong called it the hardest climb he had ever done. It is one of the hardest climbs in Europe and has been the home of many famous imprese from riders. In 1994, pantani crushed everyone, and in 1999 where a group of 3 riders (Gotti, Simoni and Heras) put 5 minutes into every other competitor after an attack on the Mortirolo, and countless others since. The road at the top is too narrow to finish on, and meno male! The stories would not have happened without Aprica too. After the descent, we reach the ascent of Aprica. Here it is possible, as we saw this year with Landa, to put a minute or two into competitor if you are feeling fresh. It is a real strongman's finish, the climb is a long false flat. Gaps today could decide the gc until stage 20.