Lombardia - Quick Hit

The last classic and in many ways the least well known, the Giro Di Lombardia is coming up in a few hours and I wanted to bolt down a post because it struck me that I know very little about the race. Certainly the Ghisallo climb and the fallen leaves mystic is there, and I can pull winners names from memory at least a little, and there was an amazing video about it that I saw a few years back, but I dont' really know the race.
Here is another -  Coppi and other greats on thru Saroni, Moser, LeMond, and Kelly...73 minutes long!

I won't go into details on this years race...lots of others cover that better than I (great looking race though)! The thing that caught my eye was the climb of the Muro di Sormano. This little brute was introduced in 2010 and though often referred to as the Colma di Sormano, a pedestrian 1.2km at only ~7% or so that is nearby, this is the Muro di Sormano - 1.9Km averaging 15%:

The full route is twisting and in a gorgeous setting near Como Lake:

It's not the Angliru, and coming as it does before the Ghisallo, some 82 kilometers from the finish, it's not the traditional game changer either...but those pitches and the road caught my attention. Running from 15 - 27%, averaging 15.8%. That's steep. It looks spectacular in videos. Here is the video from last year (listen at about 4:15 for confirmation of the two Sormano's, which I found after I posted this intially, I promise!)



A good approximation around here (NorCal) is the Blackberry Climb in Los Gatos - 1.6 miles at 12% gaining just over 1000 feet, but really it's the last 1/2 mile or so that is the approximation, averaging around 15% with max gradients of 26.6% on strava (yea, I know).

Of course there are other climbs on the route, and the real drama of the race will likely play out a bit later -  but I hope TV coverage picks up early enough that I can see the Muro di Sormano and learn a little bit more about this race...