Michael Blann Photography

Here we showcase some of the climbs the riders would have faced today during the Queen stage of the Giro d’Italia, most notably the Passo Fedaia, Passo Pordoi & Passo Giau, all of which top over 2000m.

A monster of a stage was planned with over 6000m of climbing over the 200km route through the Dolomites to Cortina d’Ampezzo. The organisers have since taken the decision to cut the stage to 153Km due to bad weather with rain, snow and high winds expected to batter the riders today. This year’s Cima Coppi, the Passo Pordoi and also Passo Fedaia have been removed from the route. The Cima Coppi will now be awarded to the first rider over the Passo Giau which is a brutal climb towards the end of the stage.

This will be a relief to many riders and especially for the non-climbers as temperatures are expected to be below zero at the top of the peaks. It will be a day when many will seek sanctuary in the autobus and hope the race doesn’t explode too early as making it inside the time limit could be touch and go for many of the riders today.

I’ve visited to Dolomites on many occasions and have experienced both beautiful days where the climbs look their best and also days where the weather has simply been appalling. I’ve witnessed a stage on the Stelvio during a snow blizzard, the Mortirolo during freak rain storm and have even experienced brake failure descending the Passo Giau during a particularly bad week of weather when my brake pads had been worn out. I’ve even walked up the whole 13km to the top of the Passo Giau with all my camera kit to photograph a stage and then back again. The mountains are always memorable and I suspect today will be no different.

Here is the best and worst of what the Dolomites can throw up starting with the best. Click each image to shop the Mountains print.

Passo Fedaia – 2057m