Iconic climbs of the Giro d’Italia Women

A general view of the selection racing through the mountains at the Giro d'Italia Women (Image credit: Getty Images)

In its 35-year history, the Giro d’Italia Women has gone through many guises and eras, from high points to low points, various names and organisational changes, there hasn’t always been too much consistency for the premier stage race on the women’s calendar. Things are changing once again for 2024, with the race coming under control of men’s Giro organisers RCS for the first time, in what promises to be a new era for the event.

Throughout its history, however, one thing has remained characteristic of the women’s Giro: the inclusion of hard, high, or otherwise iconic climbs. With the richness of famous cycling climbs in Italy, some of the sport’s toughest ascents have come to define the women’s corsa rosa.

Like the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and its predecessors, the Giro route has varied in difficulty over the years. Earlier editions took in climbs and stages akin to the men’s race, with some memorable big days in the mountains, but recent years have seen the race slightly shrink in stature, and with that, fewer visits to the big climbs. However, there’s always at least one major climb on the Giro route, and the Italian race has certainly never shied away from difficult stages.

This year, the climb that has that flagship status on the route is the Monte Blockhaus, which comes on stage 7, the race’s Queen stage. The riders will almost do a double ascent of Blockhaus that day, tackling the Passo Lanciano - a climb that just cuts off the final few kilometres of the Blockhaus - right before they take on the full ascent. At 17.7km in length with an average gradient of 7.8%, this is a tough mountain, and the double effort will make it even harder and more spectacular.

The climb marks a new chapter for the women’s race. The gradients on Blockhaus aren’t extreme, but it is long, almost as long as the Col du Tourmalet that was included in last year's Tour de France Femmes, so it’s a serious mountain and one that will almost certainly decide the winner of this year’s Giro Women. If the first visit goes well, expect this to open up the doors for RCS including more famous climbs in the women’s route.

Stage 3: La Collina (7.8km at 5.9%) - the race’s first summit finish
Stage 4: San Marino (5.4km at 6.9%) - the opener of a punchy finale that could shake up the GC
Stage 7: Passo Lanciano (12.4km at 8.3%) - a tough precursor to Blockhaus
Stage 8: Forca di Penne (21.1k at 3.3%) - gentle but the longest climb of the race
Stage 8: Castel del Monte (13.4km at 4.7%) - the second highest point in the race after Blockhaus

In 1998, Fabiana Luperini won on her way to her fourth overall victory, and fittingly - or remarkably, to those not familiar with Luperini’s longevity - she repeated that feat ten years later in 2008, winning on Monte Serra before going on to win the race for a record fifth time. Luperini has won on most of the key climbs of the Giro, such was her dominance when she was racing, but the twin wins here are particularly memorable.

It’s not surprising, then, that when the Giro visited the Passo dello Stelvio in 2010, it was Mara Abbott who took the win atop one of the hardest and most famous climbs in Italy. The 24km ascent was used in full on the race’s Queen stage, and saw the race blow apart behind Abbott, who was already leading the race. She finished 27 seconds ahead of perennial rival Emma Pooley with an attack in the final 3km and the time gaps, though significant, were not enormous, proving just how closely matched the climbing level in the peloton was at the time, even on one of the sport’s hardest climbs.

Matilda Price is a freelance cycling journalist and digital producer based in the UK. She is a graduate of modern languages, and recently completed an MA in sports journalism, during which she wrote her dissertation on the lives of young cyclists. Matilda began covering cycling in 2016 whilst still at university, working mainly in the British domestic scene at first. Since then, she has covered everything from the Tour Series to the Tour de France. These days, Matilda focuses most of her attention on the women’s sport, writing for Cyclingnews and working on women’s cycling show The Bunnyhop. As well as the Women’s WorldTour, Matilda loves following cyclo-cross and is a recent convert to downhill mountain biking.