Let's go into more and more detail about the now three famous hardest climbs of the Giro d'Italia number 105. After Blockhouse with Cataldo it's the turn of Santa Cristina with Claudio Chiappucci, for all El Diablo.
IThe man from Varese faced this climb in the legendary stage, Merano-Aprica in 1994, which sealed the double Marco Pantani in that edition of the Giro. The day before, the then young Romagna rider had won in Merano, leaving everyone behind on the Giovo and arriving alone in the Tyrolean town. With him at the Career Chiappucci was also there, and that day he bit the bullet with his teammate, who was making waves. Well, Claudio and I are trying to get to know this climb better.
This climb was new in some respects, however as a point of passage it was not entirely new. The Giro had passed through it three years earlier, on the Morbegno-Aprica route. Only the short section from San Pietro (which can be seen in the elevation profile below) to the pass was covered, the one that the riders will actually descend on May 24th.
The last passage on the Santa Cristina took place in 2010 (opening photo), but it was far from the finish line.
Climbing in double guise
You go up from Valtellina, therefore the Santa Cristina is not taken halfway as in 1994, but from Tresenda. So from the valley floor, for a total of 13,5 kilometers.
The road thus has a dual physiognomy: a wide carriageway and gentler gradients (6-9%) in the first half and a narrow and steep carriageway in the second, with gradients almost always above 10%. The last kilometer is the hardest and has an average gradient of 11,2%.
«This dual role – explains Chiappucci – doesn't affect the tactical process too much for me. The teams that push do not do it to take the hardest and narrowest stretch in the lead, but because they are already forcing, So I assume we'll all get there in single file. Given that the race is done by the riders, and that today the tendency is increasingly to wait until we get close to the summit.
"Staying ahead is important to me, but it's not essential. Of course, you don't have to ride at the back of the pack! You're still on a potentially decisive climb."
Memories of 1994
Chiappucci spoke about a long and tough stage of that Giro. It was a stage raced intensely, especially on the ramps of Santa Cristina, a climb that was also a final one.
"I remember," says El Diablo, "that it was a long and tough stage. We took the Stelvio at the start, then the Mortirolo, then the Aprica, and finally the Santa Cristina. And this last climb, which was unheard of at the time, being among all these sacred monsters, was relegated to the background.. From the altimetry it didn't seem so terrible. I didn't go to see it. And instead... it was a significant climb."
«That day Pantani was first and I was second. I was with berzin e Indurain and I left everyone behind right on the Santa Cristina ramps. There were so many people, I thought I was alone, but after a while I realized that my wheel was... “Cacaito” Rodriguez… I hadn't noticed it so small. He looked at me with that little face and told me to hold it there, not to take it off, but I told him I couldn't. So I reached out even further.
«But what an effort in the end. The last kilometer was really tough. At the top, you didn't go down straight away."
Watch out for the false flat
So the Santa Cristina won't be underestimated. But even if it were a new climb today, even if the riders never set foot on it, they would have a wealth of information that would make the climb decidedly less unfamiliar. El Diablo, on the other hand, had the opportunity to revisit it and get a better look at it several years later.
«Exactly – says Chiappucci – I saw it again, and I enjoyed it this time, in the Aprica Granfondo. And it's actually quite tough. Also because you have to consider one thing: at the time we had crowds, fans on the side of the road, who obstructed the view in many sections." And speaking of view and landmarks, you have to consider that after the turnoff for the main road towards Aprica, you enter a dense forest. Only a few clearings interrupt it, and in any case not before three kilometers from the top of the hill. So the landscape is closed.
«Irregular climb? I wouldn't say – concludes El Diablo – I would rather say that it always rises strongly. It's all a tear. And then the part after the GPM shouldn't be underestimated. As I said, there's no going down. But there is a slight downhill slope, very narrow and quite fast, with curves and semi-curves. And if you have them, you keep earning, otherwise that becomes hard and long too."
