One of the most demanding climbs in professional road bicycle racing, Monte Zoncolan is a mountain in the Carnic Alps, located in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. It has been used in the Giro d’Italia six times (2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2018) and in the Giro Donne (Giro d’Italia Femminile, rebranded in 2013 as the Giro Rosa), once (1997).
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Category: History and Legends
Montevergine di Mercogliano
Montevergine is located near Avellino, in the comune of Mercogliano, in Campania, central Italy. The mountain is a limestone massif and part of the Apennine chain. Under the peak, at some 1,270 m, is the Sanctuary of MontevergineNotes 1 – where the climb ends.
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Mount Etna
Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy. With a height of currently 3,329 meters / 10,922 ft (this varies with summit eruptions), it is the highest active volcano in Europe outside the Caucasus, and also the highest peak in Italy south of the Alps. To date, the Giro d’Italia has visited the volcano four times, three times to the Rifugio Sapienza and once to Piano Bottaro lower down. The last visit was in 2017, where Jan Polanc, the Slovenian rider of UAE Team Emirates won stage 4, as the last survivor of a four-man breakaway. The fifth visit will be in 2018 edition.
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Black Jersey is Back
Between 1946 and 1951, the Giro d’Italia had a special jersey, “maglia nera” (English: black jersey), for the last-placed rider. There was a real competition between many riders, to win this highly-coveted jersey. The last-placed rider would rode the final victory lap with the race winner each year around the historic Vigorelli Velodrome in Milan. The last winner of the black jersey was Giovanni Pinarello, founder of the prestigious Pinarello bikes, which went on to equip several winners of the vastly more coveted maglia rosa (race winner’s pink jersey). And, Pinarello is also the winningest bicycle in the Tour de France (13, as of 2017). Now, for the second consecutive year, the Black Jersey is back at Giro d’Italia Under 23, a tribute to Giovanni Pinarello.
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A Mountain Pass during the 1925 Tour de France
Today’s historic photo of the day: a mountain pass during the 1925 Tour de France. Frenchman Roger Lacolle (Météore) is leading the group (in the left, walking). The rider going the opposite way is a native, not a competitor.
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Boutique Bicycle Manufacturers – The Ultimate List (I-J-K)
Here is the list of the boutique* bicycle manufacturers, ordered by their name (starting with I, J and K). If you want to find a unique bike that fits your personality, review this list.
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Boutique Bicycle Manufacturers – The Ultimate List (B)
Here is the list of the boutique* bicycle manufacturers, ordered by their name (starting with B). If you want to find a unique bike that fits your personality, review this list.
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Downhill from Stelvio, in the night, with no hands, no brakes!
This is the story of the last record attempt of Giuliano Calore, a racing cyclist, world champion of extreme cycling, holder of 13 records and won 98 medals. He was born in Padova (north-east Italy) in 1938. The movie titled “48 Tornanti di Notte” (48 Hairpin Bends by Night) tells about his most impressive challenge so far: descending from the Stelvio Pass – at an altitude of 2758 m – at night, with all of its 48 hairpin turns, on a bike with no handlebars or brakes, illuminated only by a torch and moonlight.
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Koblet-Coppi battle, Giro d’Italia 1953
Hugo Koblet, “Pédaleur de charme“, and Fausto Coppi, “Il Campionissimo”, two post-war era giants. They were good friends, until the Giro d’Italia 1953 edition. After that Giro, they would never speak to each other again. But, what happened?
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Aged 105, Robert Marchand sets a new hour record
This afternoon (on January 4, 2017) 105-year-old French cyclist Robert Marchand set the hour record for the category created especially for him by the UCI (105+). At the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome near Paris, managed to complete 22.547 kilometers in an hour! He fell just short of his 2014 record of 26.927 kilometers but what a phenomenal achievement!
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