Giro d’Italia | Bike Rebel Without a Cause

The Col Informer

Cyclopaat’s life being what it is, the “Col Informer” is another project dedicated to his idiotic cycling the Alps adventures.

If you’re looking for info on the many more he cycled, have a look at the Col Collector page – most reports will give you a good idea about a climb.

Most of them were during his “Tour de France” or “Giro d’Italia” expeditions, but after having a Swiss Stage during 2015’s Giro, he also organized a “Tour de Suisse” in 2019.

The “Col Informer” pages you can find on great sites like CyclingCols or ClimbFinder are often too generic – just profiles, which usually mean jack shit – to give you the whole picture.

Click on a link for the corresponding page for (detailed) info on the more ‘famous’ climbs he’s had the pleasure to die on himself.

Name	Country	Summit
Col de l'Iseran	France	2764
Passo delle Stelvio	Italy	2758
Col Agnel	France	2744
Col de la Bonette	France	2715 2802 (Cime)
Passo Gavia	Italy	2621
Grossglockner	Austria	2571
Col du Galibier	France	2556 2642 (loop)
Umbrail	Switzerland	2501
Colle Fauniera	Italy	2478
Furkapass	Switzerland	2436
Col d'Izoard	France	2360
Bernina Pass	Switzerland	2328
Passo di Giau	Italy	2236
Grimselpass	Switzerland	2164
Col du Tourmalet	France	2115
St. Gotthard	Switzerland	2106
Croix de Fer	France	2068
Passo del Mortirolo	Italy	1852
Alpe d'Huez	France	1840
Monte Zoncolan	Italy	1735

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…

Giro d’Italia 2015 – The Swiss Stage

Tour de Suisse logo Earlier this year, when we decided that a “Tour de Suisse*” was not going to happen, I did plan on climbing some of the great passes there on our way home.

As it was going to be a one day event, I had to limit the amount of climbs.

The most obvious road to take was the one up and over the Gotthard, Furka and Grimsel – my own short version of the Alpenbrevet…

The weather looked fine for the Friday, but we needed to transfer to Airolo first, a 3.5 hour trip.

We got up shortly after 5 am and took off around 7 – as usual, the trip took “a little” longer, mainly because of traffic.

Giro d’Italia 2015 – Stage 11

Stelvio Or Bust

As much I would like to have had another shot at the Mortirolo, either from Grosio or Mazzo, I prioritized the Stelvio, in particular the Prato side.

Since Friday will be another tough day, I shall use Thursday to recuperate.

Climbing up the Stelvio is not much of a recuperation, so today it was “Stelvio or bust”…

As we are located in Bormio, I had the choice to get over the Foscagno to Livigno, onwards to Switzerland and then over the Ofen pass to circle around to Prato on the other end of the Stelvio.

While I seriously considered that option, I eventually decided to just get to Prato via the short route, i.e. over the Stelvio…

Giro d’Italia 2015 – Stage 10

Bernina Express

In 2011 I climbed the last part of the Bernina, from La Motta, when I made a trip over the Foscagno and Livigno.

It looked nice enough, so I decided I had to get back there one day for the whole thing.

Today was that day and of course I wanted to start in Tirano – the whole thing or nothing, right?

And yes, I looked at the profile and it was clear that it wasn’t going to be easy.

And once again, the stats proved to be worth shit, even when taking the 8+ kilometers of flat before Poschiavo out of the equation.