Giro d'Italia 2023
See the world’s best riders taking on the world’s most beautiful mountains.
For 2023 the Veneto and Dolomites will once again play host to the critical final mountain stages of the Giro. Those riders who can time trial must minimize their losses here before the Stage 20 TT, those who must maximize their advantage if they have any hope of carrying the pink jersey into Rome.
The first Giro viewing takes place on Stage 18 in the beautiful Alpago region, after the riders have taken on the first obstacle of the day, the Passo La Crosetta up to Italy’s largest national park, the Cansiglio plateau. The suggested viewing point on the climb up to Pieve d’Alpago offers a perfect opportunity to see the pros in action before they take on the last climbs of this medium mountains stage which ends in the Val di Zoldo.
Stage 19 the following day can only be described as monumental. Ending at the tortuous Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the route will have already climbed several well–known passes, including the Valparola, Giau, and Tre Croci. There are two options for viewing the riders on this stage: head up the Tre Croci climb out of Cortina or strategically position yourself on the steepest section of the final climb up to the Tre Cime. But be warned: the last 4 kilometers of the Tre Cime climb are brutal!
The Route
Stage 18 | Oderzo-Val di Zoldo | 160km
Starting from the Venetian plains in Oderzo, things get interesting once the route enters the province of Friuli and heads up the 13.7 km to the Passo La Crosetta on the Cansiglio plateau. Shortly after descending down into the Alpago valley, the uphill starts again with the climb to Pieve d’Alpago (4.7 km and 6.8 %).
The next 30 km offer some respite as the route descends back down and crosses the Piave river, then progressively rises to the foot of the penultimate climb, the Forcella Cibiana, then takes on a first-ever climb for the Giro, the Coi, before a short downhill and final uphill stretch to the finish.
Stage 19 | Longarone-Tre Cime di Lavaredo | 182km
Stage 19 is without a doubt the most challenging of the Giro, and with 5400m of climbing on the program, possibly one of the most challenging ever conceived. Leaving Longarone, the short flat section is followed by over 40 km of steady uphill all the way to the first Passo of the day, the Campolongo. Next on the program is 13.3 kilometers at 5.9% up to the top of the Passo Valparola.
This is where things start getting real. The Passo Giau is the best known of the Dolomites climbs, and with good reason. The unrelenting 9.8 kilometres at 9.3% reward with unbelievably spectacular views from the top. If it ended here, this would already be a challenging stage. But the route continues on a kamikaze downhill into Cortina to take on the Tre Croci (8.4 kilometres at 7.1%) then the final climb of truth, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo.
On paper, the Tre Cime is nothing exceptional. At 7.5 kilometres and averaging just 8.7%, this climb appears similar in difficulty to the Tre Croci immediately preceding it. What is not obvious is that the climb actually has almost 2 km of flat/downhill in the middle of it, and the last 4 kilometers average close to 13%. It’s here where it will all kick off and it's here, ideally somewhere in the last two kilometers you want to place yourself to get front row seats to the action.
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