Video: Colle delle Finestre

Colle delle Finestre will be the feature climb in Saturday’s Giro stage 20. It’s a gigantic climb that I’ve dreamed of cycling. Before watching it on TV, I thought I’d explore while the roads were deserted (in fact closed to cars).

A quick thanks to all the people who have asked if all was well due to the lack of posts recently. I’ve been nursing a sore knee.

Anyway, here’s a brief video of the climb:

A few random thoughts:

• The steepest ramps seemed to be in the first two kilometres. The rest of the climb is very steadily steep.
• The first 10 kms are beautifully paved – and narrow – with loads of hairpins
• The 8 unpaved kilometres were clearly just smoothed over for the Giro.
• At the top are two monuments to Danilo Di Luca that was first over Finestre in 2005, it’s only other Giro appearance
• ABOVE, the Colle is an interesting “garden” with monuments celebrating the most famous cycling climbs (Stelvio, Mortirolo, Gavia, Ventoux, Tourmalet, Izoard, Galibier, and Alpe d’Huez)

For some pics taken on a sunnier day, see here.



Take a 3D Tour of the Route – courtesy cyclingthealps (requires Google Earth).

Cycle Route 1003329 – via Bikemap.net
9.6 Awesome
A quiet, beautiful, gigantic climb. Note, the top half is not paved.
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• Difficulty 10
• Quiet / No Traffic 10
• Fun Factor 9.5
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