The Road (Gravel) Ahead

For those of you who weren't lucky enough to have watched the 88th Giro d'Italia, it produced one of the most exciting stages in not only Giro history, but in Grand Tour history with the penultimate Stage 19 and the climb up the unpaved, gravelly Colle della Finestre, an 18.5km monster, with an average gradient of 9.2%.

The organizers (sadists) of this year Giro have dug into their bag of tricks and unearthed something seemingly as (or more) insidious as the Finestre with the mountain top finish on the Plan de Corones (Stage 17, Wednesday May 24th). How could it possibly be worse than the Finestre? The last 5.5kms of the climb are unpaved and some sections are graded out at 24%. Presently, the organizers are having the gravel refurbished (not paved) with a cement-like mixture and packed down so that these sections will be passable come next Wednesday, at least after they've been cleared of snow. (For the most recent album of the last 7kms of the Corones, Click Here)

Nice Switchback!

(Is this a NORBA Event?)

Just What The Pure Climber Requested - A Climbing Wall

So mark your calendar, set your VCR or TiVO, fork over the $19.99 for the LIVE internet broadcast on Cycling.tv, or just wait anxiously like a kid 4 days away from Christmas for the OLN Cyclysm coverage the following Sunday, because this is one stage that shouldn't disappoint.