Giro d’Italia and TUDOR launch a news project aimed at mapping the climbs of elite cycling, building an archive of ascents that have shaped (and will shape) the history of the sport, while offering fans a benchmark time to compare themselves against.
Timing points will be set at the start and finish of 11 selected climbs over the three weeks. These timing points may coincide with the KOM banner or the stage finish.
Today we present four more climbs: Colla dei Scioli, Ungiasca, Pila and Carì.
The second half of the Giro will begin in Liguria. After an important individual time trial between Viareggio and Massa, expected to create the first major time gaps, the race heads towards the Sestri Levante area for a ‘trap stage’ (Stage 11, Porcari–Chiavari), crossing some of the most beautiful landscapes in Italy, passing through the Cinque Terre and heading towards a twisting finale, whose penultimate climb will be Colla dei Scioli.
Located along the Sentiero dei Celti e dei Liguri, which links Milan to Sestri, this 5.7 km climb with average gradients of 6.4% is particularly tough in its opening section, with winding roads and stunning scenery. A complete novelty for the Giro d’Italia, it transforms the ‘Paper District’ stage into an ambush, where attackers and favourites will need to stay constantly alert.
Another major novelty of the 2026 Giro d’Italia is the visit to the tiny village of Ungiasca, part of the municipality of Cossogno, in the Piedmont province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Stage 13, from Alessandria to Verbania, is arguably the most suited to classics specialists of the entire race, featuring the final combination of Bieno followed by this beautiful 4.7 km climb at 7.1%.
Riding through the roads of the Val Grande National Park, the opening section, with ramps around 9%, increases the difficulty before a gentler middle section and double-digit gradients near the summit. The false flat after the climb and the technical descent promise to make this ascent an instant reference point for fans.
With far more history than the previous two new climbs, the final highlight of the Val d’Aosta Queen Stage (Stage 14), which marks the beginning of the Giro 2026 grand finale, is Pila. The culmination of the sequence of climbs – Saint-Barthélemy, Valpelline, Doues, Lin Noi and Verrogne – this brutal ascent is tackled from the Gressan side, connected to the city of Aosta by a funicular that the race itself will use on Sunday 24 May.
The 16.5 km climb, averaging 7.1% with gradients not exceeding 9%, is irregular yet consistently demanding, worthy of a major Alpine ascent. It will also be one of the most scenic days of the race, as from the summit, on a clear day, riders can see Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, Monte Rosa and Gran Paradiso.
Pila has a long history in the Giro, widely used in the 1980s and 1990s, although always from the Pont-Suaz side—this time it will be climbed from what was usually the descent. In 1987, Robert Millar beat Marino Lejarreta and the Maglia Rosa Stephen Roche, while in 1992 Udo Bolts won from the breakaway in a Giro later won by Miguel Indurain. This return therefore comes after 35 years.
To conclude this second journey through the Giro’s timed climbs, we move to Switzerland, in the Ticino area, where the San Gottardo valley hosts the race on a beautiful terrace at over 1,600 metres above sea level – the highest permanently inhabited settlement in the canton.
Stage 16 will be short and very intense, featuring an opening circuit around the Leontica climb, followed by a descent towards Faido, where this 11.7 km ascent begins. Very consistent, as often seen in Swiss climbs, it maintains gradients around 8% but ramps up to 13% towards the finish, making it extremely demanding.
The start of the third week of the Giro d’Italia is a novelty for this race, but not for professional cycling: the Tour de Suisse has used this climb twice, in 2016 (won by Darwin Atapuma) and in 2024 (won by Adam Yates).
