Brutal Monte Zoncolan a stage finish at the 2018 Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia organisers RCS have confirmed the rumours that the 2018 edition will have a mountain top finish at the Monte Zoncolan on Stage 14
The torturous climb has an average gradient of 12% for 10km, but with gut-wrenching sections of gradients in excess of 15%.
The race will reach this point on Saturday the 18th of May, during stage 14 of the Italian Grand Tour. The rriders will face the climb of 10.1 kilometres, reaching more than 1,200 metres of height. Stage 14 is rumoured to feature over 4,000m of climbing.
The Monte Zoncolan was first used in the Giro in 2003 when Italian rider Gilberto Simoni took the victory. Four years later, the Giro came back to the ascent and Gilberto Simoni won again, temporarily giving the climb the nickname of Monte Simoni.
In 2010, the peloton climbed the mountain for the third time and Ivan Basso took the victory and went on to second in overall General Classification. The next year, the climb to the Zoncolan had a new winner, Igor Anton, who beat Alberto Contador, the eventual winner of that year's edition.
The last time that Monte Zoncolan featured in the Giro was in 2014 when Australian Michael Rogers took the victory on the penultimate stage and Colombian Nairo Quintana secured his overall win.
The full route of the 2018 Giro d'Italia is unveiled this Wednesday 29th November in Milan.
The full route of the 2018 Giro d'Italia is unveiled this Wednesday 29th November in Milan. The presentation of Giro d’Italia 2018 will be on 29th November starting from 5 p.m. CET.
The route of the 101st edition, starting on 4 May 2018 from Israel, will be unveiled in the presence of the last Giro d’Italia winner, Tom Dumoulin, the two times Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali, Fabio Aru (third in 2014 and second in 2015), and Alberto Contador (winner of the Corsa Rosa in 2008 and 2015), as well as representatives of the teams, sponsors, media and other institutions.