Giro d’Italia 2015 – The Stats

Almost a week has passed since my final ride in Switzerland and I’m slowly coming to terms with the fact that my Giro d’Italia 2015 is over and that it’s mostly going to be the flats of my backyard again as far as riding zee baik is concerned.

Oh well, we had an unforgettable time in Italy and Switzerland once more and collected enough memories during those rides to last for months.

Despite the current heatwave – the temperature is expected to rise to a healthy 40 degrees Celsius – the wind is continuing to do its best to make the efforts of my rides resemble climbing up another mountain.

The only difference with (most of) the wind I endured during my Giro, is that it’s not freezing cold – it’s more like a mistral, which is really not any better…

I did not make any calculations beforehand this year, but I’m not surprised that I crushed last year’s Tour de France in terms of altimeters.

I’ve experienced that the (average) grades in France are slightly lower than in Italy, or at least the parts where I inch up the mountains.

In the Giro d’Italia of 2011, the average gradient came to 7% and in last year’s Tour de France, it was 6%.

Not surprisingly, the average for this year’s Giro was (slightly) higher than that of 2011: Garmin is more moderate with an average of 7.1%, whereas Strava gives me a whopping 8.1%.

I’m guessing that the truth is somewhere in the middle, around 7.5%…

I’ve let half of the iPhone recordings prevail over the Edge recordings for my official Strava entries – sometimes I was late in starting either recording, or the Edge would fail me, like during the climb of the Giau.

However, the Strava app does not pause when you walk around during your breaks at the summits, so you’ll get slightly more distance and a slightly lower averages…

Anyway, here are the numbers:

Giro d'Italia 2015 - Strava

Stage	Dist. (km)	Elev. (meters)	Moving (min)	Speed (kph)
Stage 12	100.3	3,964	303	19.9
Epilogue	19.2	455.6	54	21.4
Stage 11	98.6	4,793	337	17.6
Stage 10	104.3	3,624	289	21.6
Stage 9	85.7	3,372	278	18.5
Stage 8	76.8	3,477	242	19.1
Stage 7	55.1	2,174	171	19.3
Stage 6	55.5	2,046	167	19.9
Stage 5	99.2	4,564	329	18.1
Stage 4	64.1	3,058	257	14.5
Stage 3	61.6	2,568	203	18.2
Stage 2	132.3	4,862	399	19.9
Stage 1	98.8	3,918	302	19.6
Prologue	51.3	1,961	142	21.7
Totals / Avg.	1,102.8	44,836	57.9 (hours)	19.3
Avg. Grade		8.1%

Giro d'Italia 2015 - Garmin

Stage	Dist. (km)	Elev. (meters)	Moving (min)	Speed (kph)
The Swiss Stage	98.4	3,398	291	20.3
Epilogue	19.0	368	50	22.6
Stage 11	97.0	4,352	363	17.3
Stage 10	104.0	2,856	288	21.6
Stage 9	84.6	3,170	273	18.6
Stage 8	76.0	2,880	229	19.9
Stage 7	54.8	2,030	170	19.3
Stage 6	55.1	1,893	167	19.8
Stage 5	97.4	3,353	321	18.2
Stage 4	63.1	3,096	242	15.6
Stage 3	61.0	2,159	203	18.0
Stage 2	127.5	3,760	365	20.9
Stage 1	98.7	3,523	302	19.6
Prologue	51.0	1,647	140	21.8
Totals / Avg.	1,087.6	38,685	56.7 (hours)	19.5
Avg. Grade		7.1%

Taking into consideration that most rides were “round trips”, the 50/50 rule is applied, i.e. half the distance is considered as “climbing”.

The finish on the Giau and the Sella were summit finishes and not complete round trips, but the stage with Pinei / Alpe di Siusi had the 30+ kilometer descent of the Gardena as compensation…

On average, according to Strava, each stage took just over 4 hours, covering 78.8 kilometers, with 3,203 meters of elevation.

Garmin calculated 4 hours too, covering 77.7 kilometers, with 2,763 meters of elevation.

Averaging both: 4 hours, 78.3 kilometers, 2,983 meters of elevation (7.6%).

Compared to last year’s Tour, this is less kilometers, but with more elevation gain, per stage.

Longest stage was stage 2, when it was pouring rain most of the day and I covered 132.3 (127.5) kilometers in 6 hours and 40 minutes moving time (8:12 total).

That stage also had the highest elevation gain according to Strava: 4,862 meters, including the Würzjoch and the 30+ kilometer ascend of the Gardena.

Garmin agrees about the length of that stage, although it recorded “only” 6 hours and 5 minutes of moving time, but it rates stage 11 with 4,352 meters of elevation as “Cima Coppi”, which literally was the case too, as it was up the Stelvio from both ends.

Strava recorded 4,793 meters for that stage.

Neither is close to the official combined elevation on those two climbs, but that is not always accurate either.

The official numbers are just mathematically correct when calculating the elevation gain by subtracting start (height) from finish, but they do not take drops into consideration.

However, the Stelvio doesn’t have those…

I think that stage 4 to Tre Cime di Lavaredo and Giau probably wins as far as highest average grade is concerned: Strava recorded 9.5% and Garmin 9.8% (corrected).

According to the StravistiX extension, the (estimated) average weighted power was 425 Watts, but I’m not sure what that means.

Strava itself usually comes up with low(er) estimated average power numbers – for this Giro, it’s 260 Watts.

But, I’ve noticed that without a power meter, these estimated power number do not mean a lot.

I.e. slowly crushing yourself at <30 kph into a 50 kph headwind, will result into a low average estimated power number, whereas, assisted by a 50 kph tailwind, riding >50 kph effortlessly will probably double that number…

So, there you have it, the cool nerdy stats of this year’s Giro d’Italia.

It brought me a lot of joy, taking in the breathtaking views, some disappointments when those lacked completely (Tre Cime, Giau), a lot of pain and suffering.

I’m sure the minions enjoyed watching me – and I earned a top spot in the Strava “Climbing for Nepal” challenge.

However, none of this would have been possible without the support of my eternal love, Paula.

She was watching over me, guarding my back and help me fight head winds by pacing me with the car, every single kilometer of every single stage.

And picking up the pieces, patching me up for the next one, nearly every single day. I (just) did the cycling – she made it possible.