Why I chose this stage

1. It is a Hill Top Finish on top of Passo Brocon. These are always the best stages to ride and watch. 
2. It is the Queen Stage of this year’s Giro “Tappone Dolomitico”. 
3. It is one of the four stages of this year’s Giro, with 5 stars as type of difficulty: 159 km but with over 4,000 meters of elevation gain. 
4. The peloton will go over the pass 2 times, from two different sides. Therefore we will watch the race two times on the same day.
5. This is a decisive stage. It is the 3^rd mountain stage after the arrival in Livigno and the pass over the Stelvio (stage 15 and stage 16). After this stage, the podium will probably very close to the final one.
6. It was since 1967 that Passo Brocon was not part of the Giro route.

What part of the stage we will ride

We will ride the last climb, the ascent to Passo Brocon from Pieve Tesino (the harder and the second side from where the pros will take the climb). 
Riding the final climb of a queen stage is something not to miss. 
Thousands fans gather from the early hours of the morning, filling up every switchback with colorful blankets, banners and picnic tables. They paint the asphalt with the names of their favorite racers. 

Where to watch the pros 

Today, we will treat ourselves with a VIP access to watch the race from the VIP area, Leonardo, which is located right on the finish line. It was a gift from my husband for my birthday. As you can see you can always enjoy a VIP treat for one stage, the stage you choose, purchasing the tickets seperately, without be locked into an entire package. 

Why did I choose this stage for this VIP treat? 

Because the pros will come by two times, and especially because we had already watched 2 hill top finishes and one pass on an intermediate climb (the epic Stelvio), standing on the side of the road choosing the best corner. This will add variety and a different type of experience to our journey. 

But, here it is the challenge: RCS has a new rule, so guests cannot enter the VIP areas with cycling clothes. This is a challenge if you want to ride up the pass. Where do you change? Where do you leave your bike? 

Here it is my solution. 

I picked an accommodation on the pass, close to the finish line. 
We will arrive the night before, after watching Stage 16. We will settle down and leave our car in the driveway of our refuge. The next morning we will ride down to Pieve Tesino following the Giro route and after riding up, we will change, leave our bikes at our refuge and walk to the VIP area from there.

Or

We will just take a day off from the bike, drive from Bormio on the same day and drive up to our accommodation, before the pass is closed to the traffic, leave the car & bikes in the driveway of our “baita” and walk to the VIP area. 

Where to stay

It is not easy to find accommodations like “refuge” on top of a mountain in May, but I found this charming “baita”.
Baita degli Angeli

How to Train for this event

For base rules on how to train for a specific route length and a climb read here

Specific Training for This Stage

You need to be able to ride 60-100 km at least on hilly terrain, confortably, keeping your HR in the aerobic zone. 

The climb is 11,9 km long at 6.5% average grade. 

First you need to be abe to climb for at least 10 km, then you start focusing on the steep grades. 
Looking at the profile, the challenge of this hill is between km 5 and 10 where the grade is between 8.5% and 10.5%. This means you need to train to be able to climb for 5 km straight above 8% grade. 
If you do not have a hill as steep close by, you can train on a hill 5 km long using a higher gear ratio at lower rpm. 
If you do have a hill with 8% or above but shorter, do (2-3) hill repetitions on that hill 1-2 times a week.
Especially for this stage read about Rule 3 Train Progressively here