I think i should be more creative with this stage and i managed to find an interesting concept with Monesi di Triora but i think Pratonevoso is just better as the last 2nd week stage. I'm not sure if it should be harder but considering this week had a hilly sterrato stage (potentially crucial) and Piane di Mocogno (a nightmare for diesel climbers) i didn't want to make this week too hard – keep the difficulty rather spread out.
Previous stage:
link.
Giro d'Italia by railxmig, stage 15. Mondovi - Pratonevoso (Le Due Frabosa), 209km, ~3550m asc
Start: Mondovi, Piazza Monteregale
Km 0: Mondovì, SS28, 4km from the start
Finish: Pratonevoso, Via Galassia, 160m straight
Sprint 1: Albenga, Via Dalmazia, 260m straight
Sprint 2: Garéssio, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, 1,3km straight
Feed zone: Ortovero, SS453
Climbs:
Colle dei Giovetti - 7km, 5,5%, 3 cat. 913m
Colle di Nava - 10km, 6,9%, 2 cat. 939m
Colla di Casotto - 12km, 6,5%, 2 cat. 1381m
San Giácomo de Roburent - 5,5km, 4,8%, 4 cat. 1035m
Frabosa Soprana - 2,8km, 7%, 4 cat. 887m
Pratonevoso (Le Due Frabosa) - 13km, 7,2%, 1 cat. 1615m
Start – km 0:
Piazza Monteregale - Corso Italia - Via 1 Alpini - Piazza Giorgio Mellano - Via delle Ripe - Piazza Ellero - Corso Statuto - Via Giulio Calleri – SS28
Ligurian Alps seems to be seldomly popular in real Giro or within the design community but the neighbors are much more popular – Piemont north and Marittime Alps on the French side. I guess it's because Lugurian Alps doesn't have really hard climb that are not just a random goat tracks. The average seems to be around 10km at 6-7% which is good for a strong 2 cat. but that's all.
Ligurian Alps (Alpi Liguri) with the Maritime Alps (Alpi Marittime) in France is the southernmost alpine range mostly known for being close to the Côte d'Azur. It doesn't have that many winter resorts (they're mostly in Piemont), they have a rather wild appearance with a rather small amount of roads (for Italy standards) and dense vegetation. The highest peak is Punta Marguareis at 2651m.
Ligurian Alps near Valle Tanaro.
This stage starts in
Mondovi – a medium sized city (22 000 inhabitants) located on the border of Alpi Liguri, Langhe and the southernmost tip of the Po valley. It was located in 1198 by the inhabitants of then destroyed village of Bredolo and neighboring Vico (now Vicoforte). A rather hilly placement of the city resulted in certain parts greatly differ in elevation which makes it very picturesque. The old city is on top of a local hill while the new city (zona industriale) is on a plain over Ellero river.
Despite rapid changes of owners the city grew rapidly and was one of the biggest centres it Piemonte in XVII c. At the time it also became the seat of Piemont's first university (now Politecnico di Torino). The biggest sights are Chiesa di San Francesco Saverio from XVII c. with frescoes painted by Andrea Pozzo, Cattedrale di San Donato from XVI c. and a system of medieval walls and towers from XIII c. In the adjacent village of Carassone there are remains of an ancient Roman settlement.
Mondovi from Ponte Luigi Einaudi over the river Ellero. The old city is on top of a hill in the middle.
Cattedrale di San Donato.
Mondovi has a long history with Giro. First time it was a finish of Giro 1910 stage 8 from Genoa won by the overall winner Carlo Galetti. It was quite often used in the '10s and '20s. I think last time it was used as a start in 1995 stage 19 to originally Briançon but because of the snow avalanches on Agnello it was shortened to Chianale (similar to the classic 2003 stage). That stage was won by Pascal Richard from a breakaway consisting of well known Rodolfo Massi, Nelson Rodriguez (the original bandana) and Hernan Buenahora. It's sad it was forced to be shortened because on paper that stage looked quite awesome (add Faunera east at the beginning and you have a perfect Piemonte stage).
Profile of Giro 1995 stage 19.
Start will be on Piazza Monteregale on the west side of river Ellero. At first riders will go north through Corso Italia (a fine and wide straight, maybe it could be good for a Giro finish in the future) and then over Ellero through Via 1 Alpini begore going south through the narrow and quite steep Via delle Ripe to Piazza Ellero in the middle town (older than the west side of Ellero and Zona Industriale but younger than the old city on top of the hill). From there riders will finally leave Mondovi via SS28 where the km 0 is located in between Mondovi and Vicoforte, 4km from the start.
Start in Mondovi.
Vicoforte is an ancient village which was one of the birthplaces of Mondovi. Nowadays it sports a magnificent Santuario di Vicoforte (Santuario Regina Montis Regalis). At first it was a small medieval shrine sanctuary from XV c. which soon gained in size and significance thanks to an accident. Apparently an image of Madonna and Child started to bleed when a huntsman accidentally struck it. Apparently huntsman's "shotgun" is still in the sanctuary. Roughly century later the duke of Savoy Charles Emmanuel the Great commisioned to built here a bloated sanctuary. The duke was later buried here where he is to this day. It's worth mentioning that punchy Giro 1995 stage 18 ended here. It was followed by the mentioned Mondovi stage. This stage was won from a breakaway by Denis Zanette in front of Giuseppe Guerini.
Santuario di Vicoforte.
The first 30km are slightly hilly but not difficult, on wide and nice roads (SS28 Savona – Fossano road, ancient Via Pollentia) so the breakaway shoudn't have much trouble to consolidate. I guess soon after Vicoforte RAI will end their broadcast to show the same clip of Visentini's crisis in Giro '87. It would be more fitting to put the stages from 1996 & 2000 which went here. After Vicoforte peloton will gradually go down to Valle Tanaro where they'll reach the town of Ceva.
I've mentioned
Tanaro on the previous stage but here this stage is partly built upon the river. Tanaro is one of the main tributaries of the Po river. Technically this river is longer than Po (285 vs 230km) so it's a curiosal state of Mississippi-Missouri. It's the main river of Alpi Liguri and partly a border between them and Langhe.
Tanaro near Garéssio.
Ceva is an ancient Ligurian and later Roman town back then known as Ceba. It is suspected that Ceba could be at the time the main municipaty of the Tanaro valley (Via Pollentia). In the middle ages it was ruled by Pallavicino family and later was under the Duchy of Savoy. The main sights are two manor houses built around XIII c. by Pallavicino – Castello Bianco and Castello Rosso.
The bunch will keep going alongside Tanaro for next roughly 10km before turning left in the village of Bagnasco into SP490 to Finale Ligure and the first climb of the day. Just after leaving Bagnasco riders will cross from Piemonte to Liguria. The next roughly 100km of the stage will be the only instance of Liguria in this Giro. Basically from now on it will take a long detour to the Ligurian coast to gain some kms. Normally the road goes further up the Tanaro valley to Garéssio and Colle di Nava which will be roughly 100km further down the stage. The distance between Bagnasco and Garéssio is roughly 12km.
The first climb of the day is
Colle dei Giovetti. It was also the first climb of the 2000 stage. It's not an overally difficult climb but still good enough for a cat. 3. it's
7km at
5,5%. It's on the SP490 Cava – Finale Ligure road which is wide and well maintained. The ascent and descent are regular and not overly steep between 5 and 6% (max 8% on both sides) but the road is twisty. The 5km long descent to a village of Caragna has 8 serpentines and a couple of smaller turns. Soon the bunch will turn into Giogo di Toirano (SP01).
Profile of Colle dei Giovetti.
The next roughly 20km to
Giogo di Toirano are slightly uphill but nothing serious. Last 4km of this "ascent" are at roughly 2,5%. This pass is on the slope of Monte Carmo di Loano (1389m). It's hard to say it's the Mont Ventoux of Alpi Liguri but on a clear day the view extends from Monviso north to the Ligurian coast south. It's known for the nearby Grotte di Toirano – a rather scenic cave system inhabited during the ice age. Because of that it's now an archeological site. The descent to the Ligurian coast is long and difficult but it's thankfully wide and rather shallow (4-5%). There's even a 7km stretch of 13 serpentines. It will lead to Borghetto Santo Spirito through the scenic old towns of Carpe and Toirano.
View of the Ligurian coast from the top of Monte Carmo di Loano.
Grotte di Toirano.
Roma Maxima (now sadly extinct), check. Strade Bianche, check. Tirreno Adriatico (Lanciano and Teramo stage), check. Settimana Coppi e Bartali, check. Giro Lombardia, upcoming. Giro del Trentino, upcoming. Milano-San Remo, now check. I've planned to give a small homage to every bigger Italian race i could think of or i didn't forget of. This time it's Milano-San Remo.
Borghetto Santo Spirito (a rather peculiar name) is one of the towns on the course of Milano-San Remo. Of course being located on the Ligurian coast results in a squish between the sea and Alps. The biggest sights are of course the beaches and a very dramatic, military castle Castello Borelli from XIX c.
Castello Borelli, Borghetto Santo Spirito.
From Borghetto Santo Spirito the race goes alongside Milano-San Remo but after roughly 3km on the national SS01 i've decided to be slightly different and went alongside the renowed Ligurian railway through the village of Pineo. This will help me as when i'll reach Albenga i will have a fine spot for the first intermediate
sprint on Via Dalmazia at the end of a 260m straight.
Albenga is quite rich when it comes to the monuments like a small baptistery from V c. (one of the more important monuments from the early christianity period with well preserved mosaics from VI c.) but my favourite one is propably a small lone island close to the shore – Isola Gallinara, which is now a protected site (Riserva Naturale Regionale Isola Gallinara).
Battistero di Albenga.
Cattedrale di San Michele Arcangelo from XII c. with characteristic towers (Campanile), Albenga.
Isola Gallinara.
Ponte Rosso, Albenga.
After the sprint riders will come back to the Milano-San Remo route for at least a short time. They will go over the Centa river through a very characteristic Ponte Rosso before leaving the Milano-San Remo territory and go back to the Ligurian Alps alongside the
Centa river. Next almost 30km will be going slightly uphill in the Centa valley through small and calm villages like Ortovero, Pogli and Borghetto d'Arroscia. This river is very characteristic as it is very sandy with lots of sand banks and sometimes it can dry out. There will be a
feed zone in the valley near Ortovero. This road (SP453) in the valley will lead to the town of Pieve di Teco and SS28 Imperia – Ceva road. Yes, it will lead to the same road as roughly 100km ago. In Pieve di Teco the next climb of the day starts.
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista from XVIII c. Pieve di Teco.
Colle di Nava isn't particulary difficult but it also isn't easy. It's
10km at roughly
7% which could be a cat. 1 in Tour and is a strong cat. 2 here. It was one of the first mountain passes used in Giro. It was on the next to last stage in the first edition of Giro in 1909 from Genova to Torino. It was won by the legendary Luigi Ganna who later won the whole race. While back then it was just a dirt track nowadays is a nice and wide facility. It's also geographically important as it separates Centa and Tanaro rivers. There's barely any descent to Garéssio – it's more of an easy 20m flase-flat in the Tanaro valley. During this descent riders will cross the border between Liguria and Piemonte.
Profile of Colle di Nava.
The previous stage in 1996 used Colle San Bernardo rather than Colle di Nava and i would use it today but i'm not sure of a couple of tunnels on the descent. As far as i remember they were rather narrow and unlit and i know that Giro became much bigger in recent years so i don't know if it's now good enough for the race. I don't really regret this decision because Colle di Nava is more historically significant and is only slightly easier.
However originally i planned a more difficult climb in place of Colle Nava –
Colle Caprauna. It's one of the hardest climbs of the whole Ligurian Alps with
20km at
5,6% which is not far from the south side of Col du Glandon. Sadly the descent is a bit difficult with a relatively narrow road and particulary a nasty 1km in Prale which is steep (over 10%) with a couple of nasty serpentines so this time i decided to not risk it.
My reasoning for a rather conservative approach to this stage is that i want to give myself more space for creativity in the 3rd week where some roads will be at best barely passable by Giro and to give myself a room for the next two climbs on this stage but maybe i'm too harsh on myself. If i remember correctly in 2013 (i completely missed that edition) Giro rode via Passo di Lanza which is barely a goat track from both sides.
Riders should better enjoy the relatively flat terrain because from
Garéssio (birthplace of Giorgetto Giugiaro – guy behind the Back To The Future DeLorean DMC-12) the last 60km barely have any flat. Before that however there will be the last intermediate sprint of the day. It's on Via Giuseppe Garibaldi at the end of a 1,3km straight. The first climb of these last 60km starts straight from Garéssio. It's
Colla di Casotto which is a cat. 2 climb. It's
12km at a regular
6,5% (max 10%). It's the 2nd hardest climb of the day, only behind the MTF. It should be hard enough to separate the sprinters, who fought their way up Colle di Nava to contest in the sprint and the favourites with their domestiques.
Profile of Colla di Casotto.
View from the top of Colla di Casotto into densly forested Alpi Liguri.
On top of the climb there is a small ski station called
Garéssio 2000. It's not the luckiest of stations with administrative conflicts and a quite sizeable fire in the 80's. Now it seems to just barely stay alive. Still 30km of quite challenging slopes is a pretty big amount for a small winter resort. But i'm not here for Garéssio 2000 as i'm more interested in Colla di Casotto and what's on the descent.
The descent isn't very difficult. The road up and down Colla di Casotto is not the widest in the world but it shouldn't pose any bigger problems (roughly 1,5-lane wide). The descent has a couple of bigger turns but i won't say it's difficult. It will lead to the town of
Pamparato via a small village of
Valcasotto. Close to the village there is i think the southernmost Piemontese royal castle Reggia di Valcasotto. It was built in XVIII c. on top of a previous Carthusian monastery from XI c.
Reggia di Valcasotto.
The next climb to the 2nd ski station in the area starts immediately in Pamparato. This region is propably the richest in Ligurian Alps when it comes to winter stations. This time the station known as
San Giácomo de Roburent is also an actuall village – a quite pretty one as most of small alpine villages (sorry, but i really dislike big resorts like l'Alpe d'Huez, Sestriere or any of the Tarental ones). It also has quite a number of rideable slopes – 35km. Most of them runs down from Monte Alpet (1611m). The road up and down from the village is quite narrow (less than 1,5-lane) but in a quite good condition. It's propably the first road in this Giro which looks like a typical Alpine road (it looks similar to the Galibier one for example).
San Giácomo de Roburent.
San Giácomo de Roburent is an interesting small ascent. It's only
5,5km at
4,8% which is only a cat. 4 but it's irregular. First 2km from Pamparato are quite steep at roughly 7,5% (max 9%) before 2km of false-flat and the last 1km at 6,5% (8% max). Descent to the village of Sant'Anna Collarea isn't particulary difficult – relatively straight with max 6%. Interestingly Sant'Anna Collarea is located only roughly 12km south of Vicoforte (SP35, through Valle Corsaglia).
In Sant'Anna Collarea riders will immediately start the next to last climb of the day up to the village of
Frabosa Soprana. Frabosa Soprana was actually a quite sizeable town in the XVIII and XIX c. but during the XX c. lost roughly half of it's population, partly in favour of lower Frabosa Sottana. It was quite a big winter resort back in the 60s and 70s before the neighboring Artesina and Pratonevoso gained in significance. It came back to prominence when in 2007 it was included to the Mondolè Ski area with mentioned stations.
Frabosa Soprana.
The climb to Frabosa Soprana is short but relatively steep with
2,8km at a rather regular
7% (max 10%). The road is slightly wider than the one to San Giácomo de Roburent but it's imo in slightly worser condition. The descent from Frabosa Soprana to Frabosa Sottana is short but difficult. The road is the same as on the ascent but it's much twistier. The 2km sector close to the bottom is at roughly 8% and has 6 serpentines.
Profile of Frabosa Soprana.
The serpentines on the descent from Frabosa Soprana.
In
Frabosa Sottana the road widens up and immediately start climbing. At first gently with 5,5% alongside the Maudagna river but quite soon it will get steeper. The first tougher stuff begins from the village of Miroglio with 4km at constant 8,5%. After this bit the road splits. First one stays in Valle Maudagna to reach
Artesina after roughly 2,5% (Artesina could be a fine lone MTF stage). Second one goes up the slope of Monte Mondolè to Pratonevoso. From this point the ascent eases up a bit staying in between 7-8% for the next roughly 6km. Last 1km in the station is slightly easier at 6%. Overall it's 13km at a relatively regular 7,2% with a slightly tougher middle section.
Profile of Pratonevoso.
The
finish line is in roughly the same place as in 1996 and 2000 on Via Galassia at the end of a 160m straight. In both cases the finish was named as Le Due Frabosa. I'm not sure why but i better stick with what it seems like an official name. I personally would name it after a col it's on – Colle del Prel (1620m).
Finish line in Pratonevoso.
Pratonevoso (or the international version – Prato Nevoso) is propably the biggest winter resort of Ligurian Alps maybe only behind Limone Piemonte. With Artesina and Frabosa Soprana is the part of Mondolè Ski with 130km of slopes to offer. It's on the slope of Monte Mondolè (2382m). Because of the height (the highest part of the station – Rifugio Malanotte is at 1741m) the terrain has less vegetation which finally opens up to some really good views of Piemonte, normally obscured by trees.
Pratonevoso.
A stunning view from Rifugio Malanotte into the Po valley and Piemonte. I'm not sure if the sticking out summit in the middle is Monviso.
Technically the road goes up as far as Rifugio Malanotte but it's narrower and in a bit worser condition. There is a small parking outside the rifugio but maybe only Vuelta could try to squeeze there. From the finish line to the Rifugio are 2,2km at i guess roughly 8% so the whole ascent would be 15km at roughly 7,5% which would be a borderline Tour de France HC climb.
There is however a much lesser known
2nd side of Pratonevoso. It's from the village of Camperi on the other side of Colle del Prel. The road is narrow, barrely 1-lane but it seems to be entirely asphalted. It seems to be very irregular but i think it's just Google Maps screwing around. The last roughly 3km are on a small plateau.
Alternative side of Pratonevoso.
Shockingly, this finish standing at 1615m is the highest MTF of my Giro and considering that if i took the Tour de France finish at 1440m then the highest MTF would be Passo Lanciano at 1520m. Propably 1615m is one of the lowest highest MTF points of Giro in recent history. I really didn't design it that way, it's a coincidence. Thankfully the height of the finish doesn't have much impact besides lower O2 levels but nowadays everyone is doing the high altitude training so it's impact is reduced.
I know choosing Pratonevoso is kind of lazy but it's basically the only ski station in Ligurian Alpes capable of and hard enough for Giro. For quite a while i was thinking of being more progressive and chosing
Limone Piemonte area – Limonetto, Panice Soprana (like in 2002 or 2005) and Chalet la Marmote (Col de Tende).
While i think Limonetto is too small for a GT, the other two could be good enough. Chalet la Marmote finish would be similar to the classic Blockhaus finishes but i rejected that idea because it would mean a lone MTF Vuelta-esque stage on Sunday. Besides, the ascent still would be slightly easier than Pratonevoso (each of them roughly 13km, but Tende is at around 6,6% compared to 7,2% of Pratonevoso). Of course Panice Soprana is en route to Col de Tende so it would be basically just an uphill finish (6km at 6,5%).
Clearly the spiritual heir of this stage is now overmentioned by me
stage 18 from Giro 2000 from Genova. It went almost the same road but i think there was no San Giácomo de Roburent which i've added. The finish of this stage is basically in the same place as on that stage. This stage wasn't particulary interesting because it was followed by a now well known Briançon stage and the deciding ITT to Sestrière.
Now a forgotten italian punchy climber with an awesome same – Francesco Casagrande (change the name to Ezequiel and awesomeness skyrockets, hail Mosquera!) was going very strong through the Giro despite a terrible TT but he started to fade in the 3rd week and Pratonevoso was the first indication of him loosing the grip. Thanks to his terrible TT he only had 25s on "Puma" Garzelli and 50s on "Gibo" Simoni. On the climb to Pratonevoso Casagrande had difficulties holding the wheel of Simoni and Garzelli and finished without losses only thanks to sheer will to stay in maglia rosa. That stage was won by Garzelli who used his punchy skills to ousprint the rest of the 9-man group.
Almost the same route was on
stage 13 in 1996 Giro from Loano which was once again followed by a Briançon stage but this time through Maddalena and Vars. That stage was won by then dominant Pavel Tonkov in front of Ugrumov and Zaina. In both of the stages Colle San Bernardo was used as the first categorised climb of the day and i changed it because, as mentioned before, i wasn't sure of these narrow tunnels on the road.
Pratonevoso also was an MTF in 2008 Tour de France but it ended way closer at the beginning of the station (1440m compared with 1615m). That stage was abysmally design and placed before Bonette and l'Alpe stages. It did however saw it's share of agression despite Andy Schleck's doing the best he can – killing the race. Shockingly the attacks came from Denis Menchov, who i consider the original apprentice of Haimaru-sensei (Levi was too hated to be a proper ninja while De Greef was barely a top 20 guy, no better than Cataldo 2012).
Judging by the previous results there won't be any bigger time gaps but the history did show us that it's no stranger to agressive riding. It was allways placed as an introduction to Alps and considering it was allways followed by much harder stages the race was shockingly good. I don't expect bigger gaps here either but the the last 10km should be good because of the upcoming rest day and stage after it.
There is one obscure possibility of a potential finish, but it's way too small to handle a GT. I'm thinking of
Monesi di Triora – a small ski station (10km of slopes) on the slope of Monte Saccarello (2201m) on the border of Piedmont and Liguria, close to the French border. Monesi di Triora is in Valle Argentina (extension of Centa river) at roughly 1360m altitude. It's 4,5km beyond
Colle San Bernardo –
13km at
6,7%. Next roughly 3,5km from the pass are relatively flat (slight descent) before the last 1km at roughly 8% to the station. There is a medium sized parking lot available but i doubt it would ever handle a Giro finish. This climb can be approached from the Centa valley and Tanaro valley. It can be nicely linked with Colle Caprauna, Colle San Bartolomeo or Colle San Bernardo di Conio.
Profile of Monesi di Triora via Colle San Bernardo south.
Profile of Monesi di Triora via Colle Caprauna and Colle San Bernardo east.
Below you can see a possible stage to Monesi di Triora. It's not the hardest mountain stage in the world but for a stage before the first rest day it's not that bad. I've placed the start in Pollenzo (Bra) but it can be even further down the Po valley (for example Racconigi) with the previous stage ending in one of the monasteries around Turin (there's more of them than Superga). I've decided to use Colla di Casotto west and both Colli San Bernardo with Colle Caprauna in between.
Possible stage from Pollenzo to Monesi di Triora.
It maybe could work as a final mountain stage with maybe the last stage as a shorter version of Milano-San Remo (Albenga – San Remo?) only if Colle Caprauna was harder. Still maybe after a Fauniera east stage to Borgo San Dalmazzo this one could have more punch in it.
This stage was quite fun even if i ended up with propably the most conservative route but i doubt other routes would be logistically capable of holding Giro. Sorry for the post's length but there are so many hidden roads that i just couldn't hold myself.
The first night should be held in Mondovi and/or Cuneo and the
rest day should be dictated by a long transfer of roughly 200km to Novara in the west Lombardia. Wait... 200km? It could be maybe done the same day so propably the rest day will be held entirely in Novara. I always seem to forgeting how small the Po valley actually is. Riders better burn their legs on their stationary bikes because my "after-rest-day" stages are allways tricky.
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