Such is the status of the Blockhaus in Giro d’Italia climbing mythology that no matter what other legendary ascents – Etna, the Stelvio, the Zoncolan – precede or follow it, whenever the peloton begins to tackle the Blockhaus’ 13.8 kilometre slopes deep in the Apennine mountains of central Italy, it’s invariably a red-letter race day.
No other climb, after all, has the honour of being the finish of the first-ever Grand Tour stage won by all-time great Eddy Merckx back in 1967. Or of being one of the handful of scenarios where Merckx was truly put up against the ropes when in his prime, on that occasion in 1972 on the Blockhaus by Spanish climbing genius Jose Manuel Fuente.
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Roll forward 30 years and in 2017 the Blockhaus was where Nairo Quintana, Colombia’s controversial but hugely talented 21st century mountain pioneer, took one of his greatest ever summit triumphs – even while three of his rivals, Adam Yates, Mikel Landa and Geraint Thomas were fighting back from a collision caused by a police motorbike. For Neve Bradbury in 2024, the Blockhaus was the Australian’s biggest victory of her career to date as she soloed away in the Giro d’Italia Women and Elisa Longo Borghini confirmed her first of two overall triumphs on local soil.
But what perhaps gives the Blockhaus its true greatness whenever the Giro visits is not the racing: it’s the mountain itself. Alpe d’Huez or Sestriere, for example, are ski stations which now have their own firmly etched places in the history of the sport thanks to their summit finishes. Yet they remain temporal, man-made affairs all the same.
In contrast the Blockhaus has its own history and heritage and and just like the Mont Ventoux in the Tour de France or the lakes of Covadonga in the Vuelta a España (the latter, like the Blockhaus, also happens to be home to some of the last wolves in western Europe), the Blockhaus is equally if not more famous outside the sport as within it. The cycling connection is just a transient part of…
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