- Sep 20, 2017
- 11,945
- 22,561
- 28,180
I totally forgot I don’t already have 21 stage posts up pre-race this time - oops.
The first MTF of the race, although the climb is scarcely worth being described as such.
Map and profile
Start
The second leg of this Gran Salida starts in Alba, in the southern part of Piemonte. It is an ancient town, dating back to pre-Roman times. Alba grew to be a decent-sized town in the Roman era, as evidenced by its most famous son: Emperor Pertinax, the victim of one of the most ignominious episodes in Roman history. After a long and storied career as an army officer, governor and senator, he was proclaimed emperor in 193, aged 66, after the assassination of the walking disaster that was Commodus (the one you might know as the main antagonist in Gladiator). The by then deeply corrupt Praetorian Guard, who were supposed to serve as the imperial bodyguard, expected a large bribe in exchange for their acquiescence to Pertinax’ ascension. When Pertinax only paid half of their demanded bribe and attempted to impose a greater level of military discipline, the Guard killed him and – here comes the especially ignoble part – sold the imperial title to the highest bidder. The zenith of Roman power occurred during Pertinax’ adult life, which goes to show just how steep the decline was.
Inevitably, Alba was one of the victims of this decline. Although it was never abandoned, the town was repeatedly sacked and lost its function as an administrative centre because its location was deemed insufficiently defensible. As Italy started to recover, so too did Alba, as evidenced by its period as a city-state and the extensive fortifications it boasted at the time. As in most of northern Italy, the 16th century was especially tumultuous, with the town repeatedly changing hands until it permanently became part of Savoy in 1628. Alba also had a revolutionary streak, briefly declaring itself an independent republic in 1796 in the hopes of aligning itself with revolutionary France and again in 1944 by the Italian antifascist resistance, however both attempts were swiftly suppressed.
Modern Alba is mainly known for its food and drink. It sits at the heart of one of the most important wine-making regions in Italy, is known for its white truffles, and serves as the headquarters of the chocolate-producing behemoth Ferrero (the company behind the likes of Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder and Tic Tac). It last hosted a cycling race in 2020 – the start of the final mountain stage of that year’s Giro, to Sestrière. It also boasts the distinction of having one of its sons racing this very Vuelta: Matteo Sobrero was born here.
(picture by AlessioMela at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
Not a whole lot going on here for most of the day. The first quarter of the stage is spent heading east, towards the Alps. The riders pass through the town of Savigliano, where the legendary Finestre stage of the 2005 Giro started, before turning south at the foot of the mountains in Saluzzo. Just like on the previous stage, the route then remains on the very edge of the Po floodplain, only briefly leaving it to take in the really easy Colletto di Rossana.
The first town after the descent of this climb is Busca, the location of the intermediate sprint. From there, it’s only a short distance to Cuneo, the regional centre of southwestern Piemonte. At this point, we are barely 80 kilometres into the stage, yet the shortest route to the finish is only about 35 kilometres. Given that we are still at the edge of the Alps, the logical thing to do would be to detour to take in some additional climbing. Unipublic decided that the additional climbing part was superfluous, and so the main feature of this section is the uncategorised Colle del Morte.
After some more valley roads, the route reaches the bottom of the final climb. Here, Unipublic once again had two options: climb all the way to the summit of Col de Tende/Colle di Tenda like in the excellent 2005 Giro, or finish halfway up the climb in Panice Soprana like in the awful 2002 Giro. And not only did they go for the latter option, the stage is actually a lot easier than in 2002, as both of those Giro stages featured the short, but brutally steep (even by Vuelta standards) Colletto del Moro fairly close to the final climb. For reference: that 2002 Giro stage had the first 17 riders within 17 seconds of each other. In other words, there should be little to no gaps between the handful of GC riders, who could easily have the Pidcock, Fisher-Black and Langellotti types for company.
Also, fun fact: the entire top-5 of that 2002 stage failed to finish the race. Garzelli and Simoni got ejected for clinic issues, Casagrande was booted for - of all things - riding a nobody in John Freddy Garcia (who had to abandon and required 30 stitches) into the barriers during a cat. 3 KOM sprint, Pérez (still two years away from going berserk at the Vuelta) crashed out, and Belli had to abandon with bronchitis. Let’s hope that this crop has a happier remainder of the race.
Finish
Limone Piemonte sits at the bottom of the Col de Tende/Colle di Tenda, historically the main route between Nice and Piemonte, and therefore historically mainly had a trading and military function. In 1882, the road tunnel below the pass, at the time the longest tunnel in the world, was opened, followed in 1897 by the rail tunnel. This made it one of the most easily accessible Alpine towns for anyone coming from the French and Italian Rivieras, and the ski resort was established as early as 1907. Today, the resort ranks among the largest in Piemonte. In spite of these developments, the population of Limone has actually fallen by 60% since the tunnel was opened, which may or may not have to do with the number of second homes.
(picture by Julien Sanine at Flickr)
The first MTF of the race, although the climb is scarcely worth being described as such.
Map and profile
Start
The second leg of this Gran Salida starts in Alba, in the southern part of Piemonte. It is an ancient town, dating back to pre-Roman times. Alba grew to be a decent-sized town in the Roman era, as evidenced by its most famous son: Emperor Pertinax, the victim of one of the most ignominious episodes in Roman history. After a long and storied career as an army officer, governor and senator, he was proclaimed emperor in 193, aged 66, after the assassination of the walking disaster that was Commodus (the one you might know as the main antagonist in Gladiator). The by then deeply corrupt Praetorian Guard, who were supposed to serve as the imperial bodyguard, expected a large bribe in exchange for their acquiescence to Pertinax’ ascension. When Pertinax only paid half of their demanded bribe and attempted to impose a greater level of military discipline, the Guard killed him and – here comes the especially ignoble part – sold the imperial title to the highest bidder. The zenith of Roman power occurred during Pertinax’ adult life, which goes to show just how steep the decline was.
Inevitably, Alba was one of the victims of this decline. Although it was never abandoned, the town was repeatedly sacked and lost its function as an administrative centre because its location was deemed insufficiently defensible. As Italy started to recover, so too did Alba, as evidenced by its period as a city-state and the extensive fortifications it boasted at the time. As in most of northern Italy, the 16th century was especially tumultuous, with the town repeatedly changing hands until it permanently became part of Savoy in 1628. Alba also had a revolutionary streak, briefly declaring itself an independent republic in 1796 in the hopes of aligning itself with revolutionary France and again in 1944 by the Italian antifascist resistance, however both attempts were swiftly suppressed.
Modern Alba is mainly known for its food and drink. It sits at the heart of one of the most important wine-making regions in Italy, is known for its white truffles, and serves as the headquarters of the chocolate-producing behemoth Ferrero (the company behind the likes of Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder and Tic Tac). It last hosted a cycling race in 2020 – the start of the final mountain stage of that year’s Giro, to Sestrière. It also boasts the distinction of having one of its sons racing this very Vuelta: Matteo Sobrero was born here.
(picture by AlessioMela at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
Not a whole lot going on here for most of the day. The first quarter of the stage is spent heading east, towards the Alps. The riders pass through the town of Savigliano, where the legendary Finestre stage of the 2005 Giro started, before turning south at the foot of the mountains in Saluzzo. Just like on the previous stage, the route then remains on the very edge of the Po floodplain, only briefly leaving it to take in the really easy Colletto di Rossana.
The first town after the descent of this climb is Busca, the location of the intermediate sprint. From there, it’s only a short distance to Cuneo, the regional centre of southwestern Piemonte. At this point, we are barely 80 kilometres into the stage, yet the shortest route to the finish is only about 35 kilometres. Given that we are still at the edge of the Alps, the logical thing to do would be to detour to take in some additional climbing. Unipublic decided that the additional climbing part was superfluous, and so the main feature of this section is the uncategorised Colle del Morte.
After some more valley roads, the route reaches the bottom of the final climb. Here, Unipublic once again had two options: climb all the way to the summit of Col de Tende/Colle di Tenda like in the excellent 2005 Giro, or finish halfway up the climb in Panice Soprana like in the awful 2002 Giro. And not only did they go for the latter option, the stage is actually a lot easier than in 2002, as both of those Giro stages featured the short, but brutally steep (even by Vuelta standards) Colletto del Moro fairly close to the final climb. For reference: that 2002 Giro stage had the first 17 riders within 17 seconds of each other. In other words, there should be little to no gaps between the handful of GC riders, who could easily have the Pidcock, Fisher-Black and Langellotti types for company.
Also, fun fact: the entire top-5 of that 2002 stage failed to finish the race. Garzelli and Simoni got ejected for clinic issues, Casagrande was booted for - of all things - riding a nobody in John Freddy Garcia (who had to abandon and required 30 stitches) into the barriers during a cat. 3 KOM sprint, Pérez (still two years away from going berserk at the Vuelta) crashed out, and Belli had to abandon with bronchitis. Let’s hope that this crop has a happier remainder of the race.
Finish
Limone Piemonte sits at the bottom of the Col de Tende/Colle di Tenda, historically the main route between Nice and Piemonte, and therefore historically mainly had a trading and military function. In 1882, the road tunnel below the pass, at the time the longest tunnel in the world, was opened, followed in 1897 by the rail tunnel. This made it one of the most easily accessible Alpine towns for anyone coming from the French and Italian Rivieras, and the ski resort was established as early as 1907. Today, the resort ranks among the largest in Piemonte. In spite of these developments, the population of Limone has actually fallen by 60% since the tunnel was opened, which may or may not have to do with the number of second homes.
(picture by Julien Sanine at Flickr)
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