Italy · Alps
Colle delle Finestre
A brutal and historic Giro d'Italia climb above Susa, with sustained ramps and a famous high-altitude gravel section near the summit.
- Length
- 19.6 km
- Avg gradient
- 9.0%
- Max gradient
- 14%
- Elevation gain
- 1,690 m
- Summit
- 2,178 m
- Hairpins
- 45
Versants
- From Susa — 19.6 km at 9.0% (max 14%)
- From Fenestrelle — 14.7 km at 6.9% (max 11%)
History
The Colle delle Finestre earned its distinctive reputation in 2005 when the Giro d'Italia used it as a mountaintop finish. But what made it iconic wasn't the finish itself — it was the gravel sector. The final 5 km to the summit reverted to unpaved road, the first time in decades that the Giro had routed over gravel at full elevation in a mountain stage. It was a deliberate throwback to the Giro's tradition of high-mountain gravel climbs.
The climb from Susa is 19.6 km at 9% average, consistently steep and unrelenting through forest with no reprieve. The gravel section near the summit is not merely rough; it's genuinely technical, with loose stones and variable line choices. Riders who bonk on the final gravel section have to hike.
Since 2005 the Giro has returned to the Finestre several times, sometimes paving the gravel summit section, sometimes leaving it unpaved. Either way, it's become one of the race's defining modern climbs — a mountain that combines Alpine difficulty with a deliberate roughness that reminds riders of cycling's older traditions.