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OPINION

When is a climb too steep? When the pros have to walk

Sometimes the weather and gradient even forces the professionals to dismount

On yesterday’s sixth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico, a 30% climb near the finish of a rain soaked stage produced the unthinkable: photos of professional cyclists dismounted and pushing their bikes.

The photos of the professional riders walking up the climb, dismounted and pushing their bikes, grinding their cleats into the Tarmac, has gone viral since the photos first hit the internet. It was the Strada Cocciari summit on the Sant'Elpidio a Mare climb that caused the damage, a 300m stretch with an 18% average gradient and 30% final 50m ramp.

While the front runners managed to ride the cruel slopes, many of those further back in the peloton clearly found it too much and dismount. These were the riders who had done a lot of work setting the pace and taking the wind earlier in the stage, and they were obviously pretty knackered by the time they hit the climb. And it did come at the end of a 200km stage...

What made the climb especially hard is the slippery surface caused by heavy rainfall. Traction is easy to come by in the dry, even on such a steep slope. Following persistent rain ,however, traction becomes a scarce commodity and stopping the wheels from spinning while applying the necessary power would have been nearly impossible. This is the main reason so many riders resorted to walking. 

It would seem that many of the riders didn’t anticipate the severity of the route's parcours and simply arrived in too big a gear. Chris Froome’s mechanics had reportedly made a change to the gearing of his Pinarello, fitting a 36x28 lowest gear. Even that was too hard, he’s quoted as saying.

Next time we’re at the point of considering dismounting, we can all take comfort in the fact that even the best sometimes have to walk

Below, thanks to Google's Streetview, you can see just how steep it really is.

View Larger Map

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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36 comments

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David Arthur @d... replied to kinza | 11 years ago
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kinza wrote:

Interesting content - but this could really have done with being proofread before being posted and highlighted on the site!!

Yes sorry about that, published the wrong version by accident, you weren't meant to see my mistakes!

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WolfieSmith replied to kinza | 11 years ago
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kinza wrote:

Interesting content - but this could really have done with being proofread before being posted and highlighted on the site!!

Or 'proof read' even.  1

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NeilG83 | 11 years ago
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Nice article David and some great photos. I think it needed proof reading before you posted it though. It has a few typos and mistakes.
Do fans really like these kind of stages? Personally, I would prefer to see the pros riding their bikes than pushing them.

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Colin Peyresourde | 11 years ago
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I think it's one thing coming at a hill like this fresh and another trying it at threshold as undoubtedly they would have (and after 180km or so). I think the wet slippy conditions also mean that traction was an issue. And, as is often the case in a narrow road, if the rider in front of you stops there is very little else you can do except stop yourself, so I'm not surprised the bunch was collectively hiking up the road.

Any idea what the total climb on the stage was? I'm intrigued, as it seems the profile seems very English, and it meant that it made it very hard for the teams to keep the race in check. It would be interesting to see them throw a stage like this into the Tour de France to mix things up. Team Sky really struggled with being put in the red by these sharp climbs. Makes me think how a clever collection of these stages and others might make a tour of Britain more attractive. A good race yesterday.

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NeilG83 replied to Colin Peyresourde | 11 years ago
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The Tour of Britain has used Constitution Hill in Swansea in the past. Looked very hard in the rain in 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BswlXBX6SRA

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Linkinbassist | 11 years ago
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Definitely climbable on its own. After 180km+? no-no...

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