“Challenging Giro Stage 13: Conquering the Great Saint Bernard Pass and the Croix de Coeur”

2023-05-18 16:01:00

The course leads from the start in Borgofranco d’Ivera up the Aosta Valley to the foot of the climb to the Great Saint Bernard Pass – and even if the weather doesn’t allow a passage over the pass and the field takes the tunnel into Switzerland, it’s still 25 kilometers long and constantly uphill with only a few curves and at an altitude of around 1900 meters.

The long descent is followed by the ascent to the Croix de Coeur (2174m), with a length of 15.4 kilometers and an average gradient of 8.8%, the hardest chunk of this 13th stage, with many switchbacks in the first half of the climb before the passage from Verbier . The descent is also tough, it is sometimes very technical and initially on narrow roads.

Before the final ascent, there is still a longer flat section through the Rhône valley to be completed, on these 25 kilometers helpers can at least partially plug possible holes.

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The route to the top of the mountain in Crans Montana is not to be underestimated at 13.1 kilometers, but after the hairpins in the lower part, it gets flatter again and again in the upper part, with an average gradient of 7.1%. At the last kilometer it even goes downhill again for a short time before the home straight is slightly uphill again.

For the overall standings favorites in the extremely close race for the Giro podium, the final could be a little too easy for effective attacks, even if bonus seconds lure at the finish as always. This increases the chances of breakaways, similar to the Gran Sasso mountain finish in the first week of the Giro. The day is also very important for the fight for the blue mountain jersey with the three climbs in the 1st category, with even higher scores at the finish.

As always, Eurosport will be broadcasting the 13th Giro stage from start (from 11:05 a.m.) to finish live on free TV on Eurosport 1, in a live stream and on demand on discovery+ and is also included in the live ticker!

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