Ponte is an old Italian town on the River Alento. The name stands for ‘bridge’ in Italian, referring to an ancient Roman stone bridge over the river, which was once the passage of the Via Latina leading from Benevento to Rome through the Telesia Valley.
After crossing the Alento the road rises steeply. In the village Torrecuso KOM-point are to be gained.
The next challenge is Bocca di Selva, a 20 kilometres climb starting in the fields and ending in a terrain of bare rocks. The top lies at an elevation of 1,393 metres.
When reaching Guardiaregia, at the bottom of the drop, the riders turn northeast on a long straight road. A few hills appear at Paduli, but they are not KOM-material. All energy should be treasured for the last 50 kilometres – these are all uphill, except for a 10 kilometres sections.
Finale
In Castel di Sangre, it’s only 20 kilometres left. Unltil Roccaraso the road goes up at a 4.8% grade with steepest sections at 12%, so the slopes are quite irregular. In fact, the first part is doable, the second part is harder.
The village itself lies at an elevation of 1,252 metres. After Roccaraso a slight descent at 3 kilometres takes the riders to a 3 kilometres uphill section at 7.4% before the climb flattens out. With 2 kilometres left a false flat gets steeper b the metre until the final 500 metres go up at 8.4%.
It’s been 40 years since the Giro d’Italia last visited Rifugio Aremogna – back in 1976, Fabrizio Fabbri grabbed the stage-win -, while Moreno Argentin won the stage Rieti-Roccaraso in 1987.
At the line, time bonuses at 10, 6 and 4 seconds lay waiting. Intermediate sprints come with 3, 2 and 1 seconds each.
Race results/race report stage 6, Giro d’Italia 2016.
Giro 2016 stage 6: Route maps, height profiles, and more
Click on the images to zoom.
Hello,
Further to what I wrote yesterday about the finishing line of stage 6, I’m told that the riders won’t go higher than the roundabout on the Valle delle Gravare where there is a big car park. The finishing slope is therefore around 8%, not 11%.
Regards
Joe
Thank you, Joe, great to have back-up like this!