The peloton will face a significant change to the Giro d’Italia route during the second week as organisers have been forced to remove the Grand St Bernard Pass (Passo San Bernardo) from the stage 13 route from Borgofranco d’Ivrea to Crans-Montana on Friday.
The ascent was positioned as this year’s Cima Coppi, the highest peak of the race, at 2,469m. However, the roads to the top are currently closed due to snow, according to a report in Le Nouvelliste (opens in new tab) on Monday, with more snow forecast and risk of avalanches.
The mountain pass connects Martigny in the canton of Valais in Switzerland with Aosta in the region Aosta Valley in Italy. According to reports, the road on the Italian side has already been open for a few weeks, though there is still snow on the Valais side.
Organisers will instead skip the Grand St Bernard and pass through the 5.7km mountain tunnel, thus shortening the route by 8km to 199km in total. Giro organisers RCS Sport have yet to confirm the changes to the stage.
Stage 13 was expected to run 207km from Borgofranco d’Ivrea over the Swiss border and to the summit finish at Crans-Montana, pass two main mid-race ascents; the Grand St Bernard, a punishing 34km ascent with an average gradient of 5.5%, and the Croix de Cœur, 15km at an average of 9%.
The peloton would then cross a flat section in the Rhône valley and then make a final 13km approach to the summit finish at Crans Montana. The closing climb averages 7%, with the steepest section on the opening hairpins. The gradient eases out until the last kilometres, with a mild descent before heading back uphill for the final 300 metres.
The removal of the Grand St Bernard means that the new Cima Coppi would be Tre Cime di Lavaredo on stage 19. On this stage, the peloton will begin in Longarone and race 183km to the summit of Tre Cime di Lavaredo. The climb is 7.1km at an average of 7.8% and with pitches as steep as 14.6%, running to an elevation of 2,307m.
Even before the start of the Giro d’Italia, former pro Steve Morabito, director of the Giro Valais 2023 Association, had hinted at the possibility of the race not being able to pass Grand St Bernard due to the snow.
“Our dream is to cross the pass in the middle of the walls of snow,” Morabito, told Le Nouvelliste (opens in new tab) on May 3. “If this is not possible, the riders will enter Switzerland via the tunnel, which would be closed to traffic for approximately two hours. The decision to open the…
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