Getting Ready for Plan de Corones

Enrico Pengo, Lampre-Farnese Vini team mechanic, talks about the bike preparations for today at the individual time trial at Plan de Corones:

"Our riders will be using the Wilier Superleggera road bike weight of 6.800 kg as required by UCI rules. Regarding the wheels we will be using low-profile carbon wheels with tubular tires to take advantage of the lightest weight.

The special aspect of today are the chainrings and rear sprockets. We have installed a front chainring of 39x34 that will work with 12x29 sprockets. This choice is dictated by the fact that after careful observation by the riders and mechanincs we concluded that on the asphalt part of the road, until Furcia, a 39 is more suitable (ed. note: the final five kilometers from the Furcia Pass is all dirt roads, with an average incline of 20% and a maximum of 24%)."

The ITT today is 12.9 kilometres of constant climbing.



Photo: Enrico Pengo with Gilberto Simoni (3rd in 2008 at the ITT here)

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Reconnaissance of Plan de Corones

The final week of the 2010 Giro d'Italia is going to be brutal. In a seven day period there are six days of climbing as the Giro heads to the conclusion in Verona.

One of those very difficult days will be the Stage 16 San Vigilio di Marebbe to Plan de Corones individual TT of 12.85 km. The average grade is 8.5% and reaches a maximum grade of 24%; the summit is at 2,273 meters. To make things more interesting it just happens that the final kilometers are unpaved.

Yesterday, Cadel Evans and several Liquigas team members were at Plan de Corones doing their final reconnaissance.

Photos: by Bettini

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are very welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,300 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog and there is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.

World Champion Cadel Evans Targets Giro Victory

For the first time in eight years, Australian Cadel Evans will contest the Giro d'Italia, and he's going there to get results. Racing this season with the Professional Continental team BMC Racing Team, Evans is still awaiting word that the team has gained an invitation to any Grand Tour, but is planning his season around both the Giro and the Tour de France.

Speaking at the team's camp in Agoura Hills, California, Evans said that racing back-to-back Grand Tours has served him well in the past - in 2007 he took second in the Tour de France to Alberto Contador then turned around and just missed the podium at the Vuelta a Espana by a slim 10 seconds.

Last year, he had his "worst Tour de France ever", but then placed third in the Vuelta and followed that up with a win in the International Cycling Union (UCI) World Road Championships. The Giro-Tour double, Evans said, is not "completely unconventional thinking in an approach to the Tour. It fits in well with the new team and fits in well with what I'd like to do this year".

Evans has carried his strong late-season form through the winter, and has already come out swinging in the Tour Down Under. His ferocious attack on the Willunga stage not only put the rainbow bands center stage, but also showed a new Cadel Evans: one who seems more relaxed, confident and ready to race more aggressively than ever before. He credits the change more to his new team than his success in Mendrisio, Switzerland last fall.

"Everything has fallen into place in the off-season, the season started off well, and I hope it's a sign of things to come. A new team, no motivation - it puts me in a good mindset for sure. I'm really looking forward to 2010," he said.

His preparation for the Giro d'Italia is still contingent on the team being invited to certain races, but he hopes to race Tirreno-Adriatico, Criterium International and the Ardennes Classics La Flèche Wallonne and Liège - Bastogne - Liège.

"I brought everything forward a bit compared to the past when I've been going for the Tour de France,” he said. “I've always tried to be good for April so in that respect it's not going to change that much."

This year's Giro d'Italia features several daunting mountain stages: stage 15 finishes atop the monstrously steep Zoncolan, stage 16 is a time trial up Plan de Corones, and stage 19 to Aprica over the Mortirolo is a mere warm-up for the epic penultimate stage finishing on Passa del Tonale which passes over the famed Passo di Gavia. (See related related articles, Hardest Climbs of the 2010 Giro d'Italia , Climbing the Zoncolan, Pietro on the Gavia)

Coming right before the final stage, a time trial in Verona, the Gavia stage is certain to be decisive. "I'm going to ride it in training first just to find out how hard it's going to be,” he said. “There are a few mammoth stages in the Giro, but that's OK. I don't mind those."

Source: www.cyclingnews.com

Photo: Evans going on to win the 2009 World Championship

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondo, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are very welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,200 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog and there is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.

Hardest Climbs of the 2010 Giro d'Italia

Hardest climbs of the 2010 Giro d'Italia:


Stage 8: Chianciano-Terme-Terminillo 189 km 189: Terminillo max height 1672 meters, 16.1 long, 1172 meters of altitude gain, average grade 7.3%, max grade 12%


Stage 14: Ferrara-Asolo km 201: Monte Grappa, (max height 1675 meters, 18.9 Km long, 1501 meters of elevation gain, average grade 7.9%, max grade 14%


Stage 15: Mestre-Monte Zoncolan km 218: Monte Zoncolan max height 1730 meters, 10.1 Km long, 1200 meters of elevation gain, average grade 11.9%, max grade 22%. Read a ride story of the Zoncolan here.


Stage 16: San Vigilio di Marebbe-Plan de Corones, individual TT of 12.9 km; Plan de Corones max height 2273 meters, 12.85 km long, 1086 meters of elevation gain, average grade 8.5%, max grade 24%


Stage 17: Brunico-Peio Terme km 173: Passo delle Palade max height 1523 meters, 18.9 km long, 1242 meters of elevation gain, average grade 6.6%, max grade 16%


Stage 19: Brescia-Aprica km 195: Aprica max height 1173 meters, km 13.95 km long, 503 m of elevation gain, average grade 3.6%, max grade 15); Trivigno max height 1608 meters, 11 km long, 838 m of elevation gain, average grade 7.6%, max grade 14%; Passo del Mortirolo max height 1854 meters, 12.8 km long, 1317 m of elevation gain, average grade 10.3%, max grade 18%


Stage 20: Bormio-Ponte di Legno Tonale km 178: Forcola di Livigno max height 2315 meters, 18 km long, 1278 m of elevation gain, average grade 7,1%, max grade 13%); Passo di Gavia (Cima Coppi) (max height 2618 meters, 24,9 km long, 1399 meters of elevation gain, average grade 5,6%, max grade 14%); Passo del Tonale max height 1883 meters, 11 km long, 631 meters of elevation gain, avergae grade 5.7%, max grade 10%. Gavia ride story here.


Note: some of the above stages also include lesser climbs(!).


Photo: on the Zoncolan


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