The Mortirolo. An inhumanly steep climb with an easy opening. The gradient in the first 500 metres is ‘only’ 5%. It’s the calm before the storm. From that point onwards the grade never gets under 7.8%. Between kilometre 2 and kilometre 9 the asphalt rises at a brutal average grade of 14%. All in all, the Mortirolo is a 12.4 kilometres toil at 10.5%.
The riders can take comfort is the fact that the Mortirolo is the only obstacle in today’s road book. On rolling roads the women head for the Mortirolo and after the climb they remain at altitude for around 16 kilometres before a 15 kilometres descent leads to the last few flat kilometres.
In 2015, stage 5 went to Aprica. After a 15 kilometres closing climb Pauline Ferrand-Prévot took the win. Two days later the Queen Stage was on the menu with Lucinda Brand climbing to victory.
On the line in Tirano time bonuses at 10, 6 and 4 seconds lay waiting, while the only intermediate sprint comes with 3, 2 and 1 seconds. The intermediate sprint is before the Mortirolo climb.
Stage 5 in the 2016 Giro Rosa leaves at 11:30 and the race is expected to finish around 13:25.
Giro Rosa 2016 stage 5: Route maps, height profiles, etc.
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