The 2012 Giro del Trentino will climax with a final stage finish on the summit of the Passo Pordoi, the race organiser has announced. The choice of the mythical Dolomite climb continues the race’s trend for staging its final day at the top of the regions most famous summits, after the Alpe di Pampeago in 2010, and the Madonna di Campiglio this year.
On top of the 2,239 metre pass is a memorial to Fausto Coppi, but the climb is also special to recently retired local rider Gilberto Simoni, since it was there that he took his first ever maglia rosa in the 2001 Giro d’Italia.
“The memory of that day is really exciting for me,” Simoni explained. “Every time I tackled the Pordoi I felt the same emotion.
“The Pordoi means so much for me, it’s the place where my career began and, at the same time, finished, because my last bike shall remain there forever, jammed in a rock atop the climb.”
Few details of the rest of the race’s stages, which will run between April 17th and 20th, have been announced, although the second stage will pass through the Mocheny Valley, which is known as the ‘Enchanted Valley’, and the third will finish in Sant’Orsola. The final stage will start in Castelletto di Brenzone, on the banks of Lake Garda, though, and will join lake and mountain on its way to Pordoi.
Simoni underlined the landscape’s beauty in the stage. “Such a climb brings prestige to Giro del Trentino,” he said. “A beautiful climb placed in a fantastic landscape, as only Trentino can offer.”
This year’s race was won by Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), who took the lead after finishing second to then French champion Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) on stage two.