Looking for options for the Epilogue of this year’s Giro d’Italia, I figured I would have but a few.
I’ve cycled the Bernina – most of it in horrible weather – during my Epilogue of 2020’s Giro, so I’m not doing that again.
A stage again involving the Stelvio / Umbrail, or an entirely Swiss stage like in 2015, wasn’t an option either.
But when I plotted the route home, I noticed we would pass through Prutz, Austria.
“So what?” you say, but I immediately knew what I would cycle to conclude this year’s Giro: the Kaunertaler Gletscherstrasse, or Glacier Road.
The Kaunertaler is number 61 on the list of Europe’s High Roads and second highest of Austria after the Ötztaler Gletscherstrasse.
I’ve been looking for an opportunity to get it on my “Been There, Done That” list, ever since my Giro of 2015 and even more so during my Tour de Suisse in 2019.
But in 2015 the Swiss stage won and in 2019 it just didn’t fit.
The Kaunertaler Gletscherstrasse is a formidable 38.8 kilometers in length.
Like the Iseran, the average grade is deceptive: 5%.
The ~5.5 kilometers along the Gepatsch Stausee (Reservoir) are basically flat and in fact, the first 18 kilometers do not offer a lot of steep(er) stretches either.
The final, however, is serious: 9 kilometers at an average of 8.9%, including a kilometer at 11.3%…
And if it’s at all possible, given travel time needed to get to Prutz and to our stop over for the night afterwards, I will get on the bike in Laatsch or Sluderno (Italy) to cycle either alternative of the Passo di Resia first.
Once in Resia, I might get back in the car for the 35 kilometers to Prutz, as it may look like long descent, but the Climbfinder route planner adds some 300 altimeters in it…
1 It’s actually number 5, as I insist the artificial loop at the Bonette‘s pass height is just a frill…
