Giro-E, Stage16
The mountains, in a way, presented the bill. The bad weather forced the elimination of the Pordoi Pass from the route, the shortening of the stage for the professionals (the Giau has become the new Cima Coppi of the 2021 Corsa Rosa, with 2,233 metres) and the profound modification of the stage for the electric cyclists, who didn’t even tackle the Giau, on which snow fell heavily in the morning. After getting into the car in Canazei, the Giro-E cyclists got out of their vehicles 7 kilometres from the finish line and got into the saddle, arriving in Cortina, home of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Despite the downhill route, however, it was a test of willpower, as it was raining and cold.
What was supposed to be the second five-star stage of the 2021 edition of the Giro elettrico, which featured the Cima Coppi, the highest peak touched by the Giro, the Passo Pordoi, 2,239 metres, 8 kilometres long, a positive elevation gain of 799 metres, with an average gradient of 6. 8% and a maximum gradient of 10%, which then included, after about thirty kilometres, the climb from Ponte Codalonga to Passo Giau, 9.9 kilometres in length, a positive elevation gain of 919 metres with an average gradient of 9.3% and a maximum of 14% in the initial section, became the shortest stage in the history of the Giro-E.