Monte Zoncolan climb to return to Giro d’Italia next year
The Monte Zoncolan climb will feature again in the Giro d’Italia next year, following its success this season when Ivan Basso and Cadel Evans battled head-to-head.
Italy’s Basso used the climb to ride away from his Australian rival Evans and gain an advantage of one minute and 19 seconds. At the top, overlooking the 10.1 kilometres climbed from Ovaro, Basso could see a second Giro d’Italia overall victory within reach. He won the race six days later in Verona.
According to Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper, the climb will conclude a stage from Lienz, Austria, on May 22. The three-week race finishes one week later in Milano.
It will only be the fourth time the Giro d’Italia organisers RCS Sport have used Zoncolan. Prior to Basso’s win, Italian Gilberto Simoni ruled the mountaintop finish in 2003 and 2007.
In 2003, the race travelled up the easterly side from Sutrio. From Sutrio, the climb is 13.5 kilometres long and with an average gradient of nine per cent. Next year, as with the last two appearances, the race will travel from the west and up 1200 metres on a 10.1-kilometre long road. The road features gradients of 22 per cent, a mid-section of 15.3 per cent and an average of 11.9 per cent.
Starting in Lienz, the stage may follow a similar route to that of the 2007 edition, using the Passo di Monte Croce di Comelico and the Tualis climbs.
Race organiser RCS Sport will present the full stage details and the entire route of the 94th Giro d’Italia next Saturday in Torino. The race starts on May 7 in Torino with a team time trial and ends on May 30 in Milano with an individual time trial.