Castelli | InsiderNews – Page 27

castelli. giro101, colle delle finestre, finestre, giro, giro d'italia, gruber, jered gruber, Photo, Racing, Team Sky - May 24, 2018

Recon of Colle delle Finestre

STAGE 19, PENULTIMATE DAY OF ACTION IN THE MOUNTAINS. Tomorrow’s Queen Stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia will take in three challenging climbs, including the partially unpaved Colle delle Finestre (Cima Coppi), before a final haul up the insanely steep Monte Jafferau. A day for the happy few who can ride uphill, and a chance for a pure climber to take the stage. The 184-kilometer stage 19 takes in 3,500 vertical meters over four climbs. Two of the climbs, Colle del Lys and Colle Sestriere, are not to fear, but they are compensated by the ferociousness of both the Finestre and the Jafferau. The first real demanding climb is the Colle delle Finestre, which comes after 92 kilometers of racing. The killer on the Finestre is its steadiness combined with its sheer length – an 18.5 kilometer climb with an average gradient of 9.4% and steepest sector of 14%, with asphalt giving way to a dirt road for the final 9 kilometers before the summit, and close to 60 hairpins along the way. At an elevation of 2,178 meters above sea level, the Finestre is the Cima Coppi, the highest point of the Giro d’Italia. Each ...

No women, no Giro

The main colour of the Giro d’Italia is pink, so it’s not surprising that there are so many girls following it as fans or working at the race. For example, you can see them dancing in the publicity caravan, the colourful parade of official sponsors that precedes the riders every day, distributing giveaways to the spectators waiting along the road for the big cycling show. And, of course, during the first three stages in Israel, you couldn’t miss the local beauty Bar Refaeli, godmother of the Giro’s first Grande Partenza outside Europe. On the podium of every stage, you can also meet the wonderful women ready to award the pink jersey for the leader of the general classification, the cyclamen jersey for the points classification leader, the blue jersey for the best climber and the white jersey for the best young rider. A voice very familiar to the riders is that of official announcer Barbara Pedrotti, who welcomes them every morning at the Start Village, while one voice that is heard every day in the team cars is that of Isabella Negri – she translates into English the information that comes from the Italian race radio about the situation ...

2018 Giro d’Italia, Stage 14 Preview

The 14th stage of the Giro d’Italia is arguably the toughest this year. The route takes in four categorized climbs with double-digit gradients before the steep monster finale up Monte Zoncolan. The route climbs up Monte di Ragogna, with gradients consistently over 10 percent for the first 2.5 kilometers and ramps topping out at 16 percent. The steepest stretches on the Avaglio get close to 15 percent. Passo Duron starts out at 18 percent; the climb is short, at 4.4 kilometers, but steep. The route drops down into Sutrio and takes in the Sella Valcalda, the easiest climb of the day, before the horrifying closing climb up the Zoncolan begins. Monte Zoncolan is regarded as the hardest climb in Europe: a steep, winding climb with a nearly 12 percent average gradient and pitches that hit 22 percent over 10.1 kilometers. The climb features 4 grueling kilometers with an average gradient of 15.4 percent. There are three short tunnels along the route in the last kilometer, leading to the final 500 meters with an average 11 percent gradient and pitches reaching 16 percent by the hairpin located 250 meters before the finish. Do you want to know more about Monte ...

Zoncolan Recon With Ryder Hesjedal + Everything you need to know about this epic climb

TAKING ON THE FEARED ZONCOLAN WITH RYDER HESJEDAL Join me as I climb one of the toughest ascents in pro cycling with 2012 Giro d’Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal. I had planned to tackle this epic climb one day myself, but after running into Ryder at the Castelli HQ, after he got back from the Giro d’Italia start in Israel, we decided to ride this monster climb together – it would be the second time for Ryder and the first time for me. Epic is the only word to describe the ride up Monte Zoncolan. “The climb is so hard that every rider is locked in a personal fight against gravity rather than their rivals,” says Ryder. It takes such an effort to accelerate that the wise idea is to measure your effort rather than make a show on the steep pitches. It’s a relentless ramp where even the best climbers ascend at 7 or 8 kilometers an hour. It’s for sure the toughest climb I’ve ever ridden, and it has raised my admiration for the pros who race up the Zoncolan, Mortirolo and Colle delle Finestre. When climbing into the village of Liariis, where the road flattens out, ...

The Giro leaders’ jerseys: A touch of color in the peloton.

All the riders who line up at the start of the Giro d’Italia dream of it, but they’re not the only ones. Every bike racer, from an early age, imagines wearing that color when fantasizing about his moment of glory on two wheels. It’s the pink jersey, the symbol of supremacy, worn for three weeks by the rider who at that moment leads the general classification. In the more than hundred-year history of the Giro, the most sought-after jersey made its appearance for the first time in 1931, when the patron of the race, Armando Cougnet, chose it to make the most deserving rider stand out in the peloton and, at the same time, to pay homage to the color of the pages of the Gazzetta dello Sport, the best-selling newspaper in Italy, which created the Giro back in 1909. The first to pull on the pink jersey, at the finish in Mantua, was Learco Guerra, on May 10, 1931. The “Human Locomotive,” as the Lombard champion was called, did not manage to keep it until Milan, though, and the first to win pink for the final victory was the Piedmontese rider Francesco Camusso, winner of the edition 87 years ...

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Recon of Colle delle Finestre

No women, no Giro

2018 Giro d’Italia, Stage 14 Preview

Zoncolan Recon With Ryder Hesjedal + Everything you need to know about this epic climb

The Giro leaders’ jerseys: A touch of color in the peloton.

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