This will be by far the longest post by me to date – we're in
Tuscany so i hope you'll forgive me. From the ancient Latium and mountainous Abruzzo to the renaissance frescoes of Tuscany. Sunny, calm, hilly landscapes full of wineyards are begging for laziness... Yuck! That's corny and cheesy. I'm definitely not a poet. As for cycling it does have tons of hills to practice on propably the biggest amount of "easy-to-ride" sterrato roads in Italy.
Previous stage:
link.
Giro d'Italia by railxmig, stage 10. Cortona - San Gimignano, 213km, ~1750m asc
Start: Cortona, Piazzale del Mercato
Km 0: Camucia, Mencaglia, SP10, 4,4km from the start
Finish: San Gimignano, Piazzale Martiri di Montemaggio, 55m straight
Sprint 1: Monteaperti, SP111, 310m straight
Sprint 2: Poggibonsi, Via Luigi Galvani, 190m straight
Feed zone: Monteroni D'arbia, SP12
Climbs:
Montepulciano - 5,5km, 4,5%, 4 cat. 560m
Poggio del Crocione - 2km, 5,3%, 4 cat. 313m
Ama - 3,8km, 6,3%, 3 cat. 520m
Badiola - 3,3km, 6,8%, 3 cat. 560m
Poggio di Villore - 2,2km, 5,4%, 4 cat. 270m
Ulignano - 1,4km, 5,7%, 4 cat. 156m
San Gimignano - 2,3km, 7,7%, 3 cat. 307m
Strade bianche:
1. Pieve a Salti - 8km - 63,8-71,8km
2. San Martino in Grania - 9,4km - 105,4-114,8km
3. Badiola - 10km - 150,5-160,5km
4. Poggio di Villore - 3,8km - 172,6-176,4km
5. Montefalconi - 5,5km - 196,9-202,4km
6. San Gimignano - 1,8km – 211,3-213,1km
Start - km 0:
Piazzale del Mercato - Viale del Mercato - Piazzale Porta Guelfa - SP34 - Camucia, Via Italo Scotoni -
Camucia, Via Luca Signorelli - Camucia, Viale Antonio Gramsci - Camucia, Via Alberto Sandrelli -
Camucia, SP10
As you can see by the list above this time i'm paying a tribute to Strade Bianche... how innovative. It does feature Pieve a Salti and San Martino in Grania from the race. I think other sections are new. I've seen a lot of copies of Montalcino finish in 2010 so i decided to go with a bit different route through the heart of Chianti (north of Siena) to finish in San Gimignano – start of last year's Strade Bianche.
I was trying to remember the 2010 stage which i sadly didn't watched. It was after i've designed the stage when i checked out the profile of it and i was shocked it featured only one sterrato section. I guess if the weather will be awful then first two sections can be easily omitted (via SP60 Torrenieri – Asciano). Last 4 however... i think they will manage somehow. Additionaly, this stage is the longest of the whole Giro and the amount of kms with difficult terrain will require a bit more stamina than usual.
The
rest day and start to this stage are in
Cortona – one of the culturally most important cities of Tuscany located in the southeastern Val di Chiana – a valley from Arezzo to Orvieto, close to Valle di Nestore and Lago Trasimeno. The stage's direction is at first west to Torrenieri, then switches between east and north as it goes through Crete Senesi and when reaches Chianti turns east to San Gimignano. Of course Tuscany is one of the biggest Italian province so i will need more than just one stage to cover it in greater detail.
Cortona is a medieval hilltop city (Colle San Margherita 654m, named after a native to Cortona saint from XIII c. ) overlooking Lago Trasimeno and Val di Chiana. Practically all of the architecture is from the middle ages so it's hard to distinguish any monuments as almost all of the sights have rich history. I'm not even sure if most or even the whole city is an UNESCO site. The history of Cortona reaches beyond the first millenium BC when it was an important Umbrian settlement later captured by Etruscans and them Romans. In the middle ages it was under the rule of Medici family (no need for any further introduction). Most of the sights remained from this period.
Main sights are the Etruscan museum Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca inside Palazzo Casali with important
etruscan and umbrian artefacts, Etruscan tombs between the city and nearby Camucia (Grotta di Pitagora), Museo Diocesano inside a former church Chiesa di Gesù, Chiesa d Santa Maria Nuova form XVII c. which houses a miraculous image of the Virgin, Fortezza Medicea di Girifalco with adjacent Basilica di Santa Margherita on top of the eponymous hill. Of course it's not Rome, Venezia or Siena but you could write a quite sizeable master thesis on the subject of Cortona. I will end here to try and keep the post reasonably short.
Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca inside Palazzo Casali, Cortona.
Basilica di Santa Margherita, Cortona.
Fortezza Medicea di Girifalco with Val di Chiana in the background.
Panoramic view of Cortona with Val di Chiana in the background.
There's plenty of good roads and hills in Cortona to train on. The top of Santa Margherita, where the fortezza and monastery are could even feature a HTF in Tirreno-Adriatico. There's some space for a smaller race (maybe even Giro would manage to handle it) and the ascent is very scenic. From Camucia using Via Italo Scotoni it would be 5,8km at 6% while using the regular ascent via SP34 it would be 7km at 5%. Of course there are more sides to reach Cortona with two very narrow but steep variants (Località Piazzanella and Strada del Sodo).
Last time Cortona hosted a Giro stage was propably in
1982 stage 2 from Viareggio with an uphill finish won by Michael Wilson edging out a certain Laurent Fignon. Tommy Prim, Mario Beccia, Saronni, Moser, Hinault and Silvano Contini also did participate in the sprint. Viareggio will be featured on the next stage.
The stage
starts in propably the only big enough place to rather comfortably host the peloton – a parking under the city walls known as Piazzale del Mercato. Riders will almost immediately go downhill to the adjacent city of Camucia through Via Luca Signorelli. After going through Camucia the km 0 will be on SP10 just outside the city.
Start in Cortona.
View of Val di Chiana from the start on Piazzale del Mercato, Cortona.
For the first 20km the stage will go through flat and wide Val di Chiana very close to
Lago Trasimeno and the monumental city of Castiglione del Lago. Lago Trasimeno was the place where a major battle occured in 217 BC between the Romans and a certain hiker known as Hannibal who won it. This battle is considered as one of the greatest ambushes in military history. Nowadays it's a natural park surrounded by numerous castles or their ruins (Castello Zocco, Castello Guglielmi).
Castiglione del Lago is a city located on a peninsula (former island) of Lago Trasimeno. It was strategically important since the ancient times. Similary to Cortona it's mostly intact since the medieval times. The biggest sight is propably Rocca del Leone from XIII c. commisioned by the Holy Emperor Frederick II (hello... again).
Rocca del Leone, Castiglione del Lago.
Lago Trasimeno.
The flat part ends after roughly 20km followed by a quite long and shallow ascent to
Montepulciano. It's
5,5km at
4,5% which is cat. 4 but there is a short section in the middle which is steeper (even reaches 10%). On top of this climb is yet another very scenic medieval city of Montepulciano. Last time it hosted Giro as the start to 1992 stage 11 to Imola won by Roberto Pagnin from a breakaway. A certain Franco Chioccioli and Sean Yates were respectably 3rd and 4th.
Montepulciano is home to a rich history reaching Etruscans, food and wine (Vino Nobile). It's biggest prime was in the XVI c. under Del Pecora family. Nowadays it's quite popular amongs movie crews (some quite big but very awful movies featured the city). Biggest sights are a very characteristic Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta from XVII c featuring frescos of Taddeo di Bartolo, Chiesa di San Biagio built by Antonio da Sangallo il Vecchio in XVI c. Palazzo Comunale from XVI c. designed by Michelozzo. Piazza Grande on top of the climb is most prominent with the Cathedral on the south side, Palazzo Comunale west and Palazzo Nobili-Tarugi northeast. Of course i barely scratched the surface of this town's history.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Montepulciano.
Palazzo Comunale, Montepulciano.
Of course riders won't go through the city as all roads there are very narrow. As an ascent it could maybe be barely passable but not as a descent. That's why the KOM will be just outside the city walls on Via dell'Oriolo. The descent is very short (roughly 1km) but quite steep (even up to 8%) and will lead to Val d'Orcia through a couple of towns.
Apparently even the smallest villages in Tuscany are under the UNESCO list. This time it's a small town of
Pienza 10km from Montepulciano. Rebuilt in the middle ages from an ancient Roman village of Corsignano it was the birthplace of Pope Pius II (from the Piccolomini family). He tried to relocate Pienza as a
perfect Reinassance town in the XVI c. Apparently this sort of urban planning managed to be a thing and was even sometimes adopted across the entire Europe. Interesting such a small and forgotten place can have so much impact.
The central Piazza Pio II with Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta and Palazzo Piccolomini.
Pienza.
In the meantime the stage goes gradually down to Val d'Orcia. 10km after Pienza is San Quirico d'Orcia. Once located on the ancient Roman Via Francigena (mostly alongside the modern SR02) – one of the most important ancient roads linking Rome with France. Later it was under the rule of Salimbeni family. The main sight is Collegiata dei Santi Quirico e Giulitta from XII c.
Collegiata dei Santi Quirico e Giulitta, San Quirico d'Orcia.
From San Quirico d'Orcia the stage goes parallel to SR02 through local SP137 to Torrenieri. Before Torrenieri there's a small hill up to the village of Bellaria. It's 1,5km at roughly 5,1%. i don't think it's enough for a categorisation, at least not on this stage. The next categorised climb is just a bit harder. From Torrenieri the stage goes north through the river Asso to San Giovanni d'Asso entering Crete Senesi.
San Giovanni d'Asso is known for it's white truffles, a dedicated to them festival and museum inside the
monumental Castello di Montisi from XIII c. on top of Monte Ghisi. Because of it's placement near Via Francigena it was quite an important road hub in the ancient times. The castle is propably of military origin built on top of an ancient Etruscan fort.
Castello di Montisi overlooking San Giovanni d'Asso.
This little town should be known from Strade Bianche as riders enter the first
sterrato sector of the day. This sector is called
Pieve a Salti and goes on SP75 from San Giovanni d'Asso to Buonconvento. It's
8km long and it's not overally difficult but i guess it's better to use it asap because in some time i guess it should be resurfaced. It's the first of two sectors featured on Strade Bianche. During this section there's categorised
Poggio del Crocione –
2km at
5,3% which is cat. 4. This hill just edged out Bellaria for the KOM. It's not a well profiled hill so it's a bit irregular and the sterrato won't help either. This section ends 141km from the finish line so don't expect anything happening here.
Sterrato on top of Poggio del Crocione.
The asphalt returns a couple of kms before Buonconvento when the descent steepens up but it's mostly straight so it shouldn't pose any bigger problems. Buonconvento in Val d'Arbia is yet another small town with a serious history. Known since XII c. it was the death place of Holy Emperor Henry VII (malaria) in 1313 just after conquering Siena. Today it's surrounded by smaller or bigger medieval or reinassance castles like Castello di Bibiano.
The stage now will head back to the hills via SP451 Buonconvento – Asciano road. This road is very bumpy, twisty and can be slightly narrower at certain points. It will pass close to
Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore. This monastery is one of the biggest in Italy. It's the mother-house of Olivetans (a sidegroup of Benedictines) founded in 1313 by Bernardo Tolomei, a jurist from a prominent aristocratic family of Siena. It's beautified by the frescoes of Luca Signorelli and Giovanni Antonio Bazzi.
Panorama of Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore with Crete Senesi.
Part of the Life of St. Benedict by Luca Signorelli.
Riders will then gradually go down to Asciano and then through the hilly terrain via SP12 back to Val d'Arbia to Monteroni d'Arbia. In the meantime there will be a
feed zone before Monteroni d'Arbia.
From Monteroni d'Arbia the stage goes back yet again to the hills but this time on a
sterrato. It's the same section used in the Strade Bianche. This very long section is
San Martino in Grania. It lasts
9,4km and ends roughly 100km from the finish line. It has mostly a slightly uphill tendency peaking at the end in Vescona (330m). This sector is more difficult than the first one as the road has some stones in the surface and at the end it does get steep.
Sterrato in San Martino in Grania.
These hills are known as
Crete Senesi which are characterised by a quite sparse vegetation for European standards (EU won't be happy) – at times it feels like prairies or even a desert. It's built by a clay known as mattaione, a remnant of a Pliocene sea. The highest hill is Piazza di Siena (645m) east of San Giovanni d'Asso. The area is known for white truffles. The most deserted area between Aciano and Arbia is known as
Deserto di Accona (Accona Desert). Of course riders didn't had enough of sand (i hope so) so they will go straight through the desert via SP438 to Arbia.
Accona Desert, SP438 Asciano – Arbia, before Arbia.
From Arbia the next 20km just east of Siena will be flatter as riders will go alongside the river Arbia (Val d'Arbia) and will continue as far as Lecchi in Chianti. In the meantime there will be the last intermediate
sprint in
Monteapietri. It is mostly known for a battle that took place nearby in 1260 between Florence and Siena. These two cities at the time could be considered as even more important than Rome itself and at the time one was favouring the Papacy, other one – Holy Empire so there were big tensions. It's supposed to be the bloodiest battle fought in medieval Italy with more than 10000 casualties. It was even depicted in the Divine Comedy. This intermediate sprint will be on SP111 at the end of a 310m straight on top of a small hill. The roads are wide and well maintained but it will change soon enough.
A pyramid-like monument commemorating the battle of Montaperti on top of Montapertaccio.
Lecchi in Chianti is part of a comune Gaiole in Chianti. It's the entrance to, as i call it, the main
Chianti so expect more excessive amount of narrower roads, sterrato, vineyards and hills. From Lecchi the first bigger climb of the day starts. It's up to a small village of
Ama and it's
3,8km at
6,3% (max 10%) which makes it a cat. 3. It's mostly a regular ascent but it gets a bit easier towards the summit. On the top is a small manor house
Castello di Ama with a vineyard known for various art installations (some of them explicit, no wonder it's called castle of love; it could be a fine place for an exclusive brothel). There's even a place called Casanova d'Ama nearby... somebody had a specific sense of humour or just couldn't get laid enough.
Profile of Ama.
Castello di Ama.
While the whole ascent and descent is asphalted the road width and quality vary a bit. There are some portions of a normal 2-lane road mixed with some small narrowings. While the descent is not particulary long or steep it's a bit twisty. It will lead to San Giusto in Salcio just south of Radda in Chianti (Giro 2016) where riders will turn back to sterrato into SP102. This
sterrato seems to be smooth and well maintained. I'm not sure if it's still a sterrato (as of 2012). Soon they will turn into a smaller and bit narrower road with slightly rougher surface and will enter the hardest climb of the day.
This ascent goes up to a small village called
Badiola. It's irregular and at times it can be steep. It consist of two very steep sections (even a whole 1km at 12%) separated by a roughly 1km long false flat. I don't know how steep it can go but it looks like definitely over 15%, maybe even reaching
20%. Overall it's
3,3km at
6,8% which is cat. 3. This climb combined with sterrato definitely makes the hardest part of the stage. The top is located almost 55km from the finish line so there shouldn't be much going on unless the surface will be dewed.
Profile of the hardest parts of Badiola.
A very steep section close to the summit of Badiola.
After the summit there is a small 5km long plateau to
Castellina in Chianti. First 2,5km is on sterrato, rest is on a wide SP51. The descent starts in Castellina in Chianti and will lead to Poggibonsi but with a small interruption in the form of the last climb of this Chianti combo. The descent is quite long – roughly 10km – and at times it can get quite steep but it's not as irregular and steep as the last ascent was. The road is slightly narrower and at times twisty but well maintained.
The last climb of this combo –
Poggio di Villore is not particulary long or steep but it has by far the roughest surface and with a combination of the last two climbs some riders can suffer a bit. I doubt anyone GC important will have trouble but with a worser weather it can be nightmarish. The climb is only
2,2km at
5,4% which makes it a cat. 4. The surface however is more resembling of a northern cobblestone classic rather than
sterrato but it is mixed with some short asphalt bits here and there (without any logic). The stones however are only in the middle so riders will be forced to go on the sides. The positioning will be very important and considering that the last 30km to this point hardly had any flat or straight it can be more tricky than usual. Crashes can be a possibility. Still the top is 40km before the finish line so i doubt the main bunch will be panicking.
Profile of Poggio di Villore.
A very rocky sterrato up to Poggio di Villore.
I've decided to place the KOM line in the village rather than 3km onwards in Gaggiano as it's mostly a false flat. The sterrato ends in Gaggiano as riders will head down this time on a normal road to Poggibonsi and Val d'Elsa. The last intermediate
sprint is located in
Poggibonsi on Via Luigi Galvani at the end of 190m straight. This sprint is not accidental as the bonus seconds just after the descent from Poggio di Villore may attract some additional movement if the weather is bad. If not then i guess it should be for the breakaway.
Palazzo Pretorio from XIII c. Poggibonsi.
From there's finally a place to calm down with a 10km long flat across Val d'Elsa to Vico d'Elsa before turning right into
Ulignano. This village is located on a hill on the other side of Elsa river. This hill is only
1,4km at
5,7% but i decided to categorise it as cat. 4 against Bellaria. It can be quite steep at times though (8-10%).
The steepest part of Ulignano.
There's hardly any descent as the road goes through a small, roughly 10km long plateau. During it there is the next to last
sterrato stretch to
Montefalconi. It's a very hilly part littered with small but steep bumps. This part is
5,5km long and it ends in the village 10km from the finish line. The descent down to Val d'Elsa is short (1,5km) but quite steep, twisty (3 sort of serpentines) and on a quite narrow but this time asphalted road. From there the stage goes straight to San Gimignano via SP01. It's mostly a straight and flat road so it should be fine as a run-in to the last hill.
Sterrato to Montefalconi.
San Gimignano or "the Town of Fine Towers" or "Medieval Manhattan" is mostly known for it's towers which were the mark of wealth and status of local families. It's best years were in XIII-XV c. when it was a major stop on the very turbulent Siena – Florence trade route. The route changed at the dawn of the middle ages and the city wasn't as rich as before. The historical centre is in the UNESCO list but it does need some rework. Let's say nowadays it looks rather ugly.
Towers of San Gimignano.
View into Piazza della Cisterna in San Gimignano.
Main sights are the romanesque Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta from XII c. Palazzo del Podestà which has the highest (Torre Grossa, 54m) tower from XIV c. Piazza della Cisterna – the central square, city walls with Porta delle Fonti and Bastione San Francesco, various museums like Museo d'Arte Sacra or very interesting San Gimignano 1300 which houses a model of San Gimignano in the middle ages. The local vine is Vernaccia.
Bastione San Francesco with the city walls and Porta San Giovanni in far right, San Gimignano.
The climb up to San Gimignano is
2,3km at a stable
7,7% which is cat. 3. It has slightly easier parts in the middle of the ascent, steeper last 500m (10-12% max) and flattish last 100m. Even standalone it's a quite major hilltop finish but the last
1,8km without last 100m are on
sterrato which will up the difficulty a bit. For most of the climb the sterrato is rather easy but there are some rocky parts near the top.
Profile of San Gimignano.
Last 2km of San Gimignano.
The ascent to San Gimignano just outside of the city.
Finish is on Piazzale Martiri di Montemaggio (southern tip of San Gimignano) 55m after a 90deg right turn, in front of Bastione San Francesco. Combined with an obviously narrower sterrato road it means positioning is everything. The guy who will be first at the end of sterrato will win the stage.
Finish line in San Gimignano with Bastione San Francesco and the city walls just behind.
As you can see maybe this stage doesn't cross 600m mark (590m is the highest it gets after Badiola) but it's very hilly, long (213km) and has only a very small amount of flat. Most of the flat is culminated in the last 30km. The climb aren't very challenging but they have a tendency to be irregular and with combination of sterrato they can nurse a little venom in them. The Chianti part in between 140km and 185km is the hardest one on paper but the last hill to the finish line cannot be disregarded either. The overall amount of sterrato on this stage is
38,5km – a decent TT size.
The
outcome depends heavily on the weather. If it will be sunny all day then it might get awkward during the Chianti sectors but it should be just reduced to an uphill sprint. If somebody important will be dropped on one of the sectors or/and the weather will play tricks then it can be nervous from even as far as 70km to go. These flat sections close to the finish might not even be enough to limit the loses. The time splits can get very big and this stage can be the most important of this Giro so better be sure of the weather.
Favourites? I don't know, Moreno Moser, Ulissi, Brambila, Pantano, some random Quick-Step guy or someone from the breakaway? Maybe even a GT guy? I doubt Sagan, Stybar and Kwiatkowski will be in the Giro so maybe a certain Peter Vakoc will try to shine on. Considering the previous stages to Vieste, Salerno, Avezzano and maybe even Teramo it could be a very good week for the puncheurs and local pro-conti Italian fighters.
You will propably ask me,
why is this stage not on Sunday? I think that the placing of such tricky and potentialy crucial stage after a rest day can be difficult for some guys to deal with. Yes, such stage should be on the weekend because it can generate a lot of action from far away and it has tons of goodies to offer but i hope this time the rest day will add to the challenge rather than help them. Still the transfer is not overly long as it could potentialy be made the day before leaving a whole day to train and/or rest. If i will ever made a Tirreno-Adriatico then i'm already taking the Basilica di Cortona HTF.
) and somewhat balanced, then why not be adventurous? 
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