As the 2023 Giro d’Italia lurches towards the high mountains, organizers are being forced to adapt. Among the other challenges, a stormy forecast threatens to blanket several key mountain stages in a deep blanket of snow. On Tuesday, Giro organizers confirmed that Friday’s 13th stage would not go all the way up the 2,469-m Col du Grand Saint-Bernard, which was to be this year’s cima coppi.
But this is far from the first year snow has caused minor – or major chaos at the Giro d’Italia. The first Grand Tour of the year often flirts with a winter season that lingers just a little longer at high elevations. From race leaders crashing into snowbanks to epic solo quests through blizzard conditions, here are a few of the more recent times the Giro has clashed with Old Man Winter.
2016: Steven Kruijswijk crashes on Coll dell’Agnello (Stage 19)
The 2016 Giro was well into the third week Steven Kruijswick had a spectacular crash while trying to follow Vincenzo Nibali off of the Coll dell’Agnello. As the Italian carved through a wet corner, LottoNL-Jumbo’s Dutch rider drifted towards the road’s shoulder which, in this case, was a massive wall of snow. The Maglia Rosa collided with the wall and was set somersaulting off of his bike.
Kruijswick was lucky, in that he was able to stand up, adjust his bike and keep riding mostly uninjured after the sensational crash. He was less lucky in terms of his place in the race. The Dutchman lost 4:05 and the pink jersey to Esteban Chaves by the finish of Stage 19. Nibali would win the stage and, eventually, take over the lead from Chaves to win his second Giro. It was Nibali’s fourth and final Grand Tour win.
1988: Andy Hampsten attacks on Gavia (Stage 14)
Andy Hampsten’s ride up the Gavia is deeply engrained in cycling lore. 35 years later, many cycling fans still remember or have heard legends of the U.S. racer braving a blizzard to ride to Giro glory. And the ride has all the elements of a legend. Hamsten’s team employed lanolin wax, diving gloves and ski gear, alongside the team’s iconic 7-Eleven jerseys and Oakleys, to protect the riders from heavy falling snow.
The unorthodox equipment proved decisive. Johan van der Velde beat Hampsten to the Gavia summit but lost his lead when he was so cold he was forced to walk…
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