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I may have the chance to see a stage of the Giro in May. A mountain side view would be good.
Has anyone ever attended?
What time do the roads close beforehand?
Clearly, as its a mountain road, there are no alternative ways to get up there.
Following . . . .
No-one knows?
From Googling, it seems most roads shut 2 hours before the race arrives, apart from some mountain stages which close at midnight the night before. The Stelvio has very few spectator places, so that shuts at midnight.
We're looking at Stage 16, in the Alps, 3 climbs, with a loop at the end. It'd be nice to get on Pass de Gavia, around half way up. That'd give us plenty of time to get back down, if the road reopens, and see somewhere near the finish.
At the TdF last year, the road didnt open for at least a hour after they had passed, we were stuck in traffic on a tiny road, when the adjacent road the riders had used was clear with no-one on it.
As a follow up, we went last week to Stage 16, with what should have been 2 huge climbs, but ended up as only the one climb up the Mortirollo, as the Gavia was snow bound.
We decided to try to get near the top of the Mortirollo, they were due to pass around 3.30pm. We got there at 11am, to find the road up the mountain shut. It was shut from 9am, only pedestrians and cycles allowed up after that.
OK, parked up at the bottom, and took a walk for a mile up the mountain, with a good view onto the village below, and 2 hairpins when they passed us.There were 2 other people when we arrives, at 3pm, there were around 50, though it wasnt cramped, and we all got a good view.
Like the TdF, you hear, then see, the helicopters down the valley heading our way. What made it interesting was the helicopters were refuelling half a mile away in the valley, so we saw 5 take offs/landings.
Before the race arrived, lots of cyclists were going upward, some really slow, some at a pace that was amazing for a 10-13 percent mountain. Then the race came, and they all looked glum. Stony faced possibly, but none of them had a smile.And they were shifting.
That was the breakaway, the main field was 5 minutes back, and they were pretty quick too. Then the back markers who were 10 minutes behind at the bottom - people were walking back down the hill thinking the race had passed. From the results, these back markers were 30 minutes down at the end.
So the walk down into the village, and the barriers had gone. We asked the Police who were still there if we could go up now - yes, but be careful of the crowds.
We were on the motorbike, so went for it. It was a bit of a mistake, as it was very hard getting up there with so many people and bikes coming down. Then it started raining. Torrentially. After 30 hairpins on a mostly single track road, we got to the top, where the rain was almost snow. It was a long ride up with a motor, these blokes are on another planet getting up there after 100 miles with some large hills already.
Getting down was a similar struggle in the rain. The riders were racing down a sodden mountain at 50mph+ with sheer drops on the hairpins. They have gone up even higher in my estimation of them.
Back to the hotel soaked, but happy I had made the effort. Certainly different to the TdF. Less commercial, less crowds, but still many thousands on that mountain. I'd recommend it.