Italy · Alps
Monte Zoncolan
The terrifying Zoncolan from Ovaro, with sustained 20%+ ramps through a dark forest. Considered by many the hardest paved climb in Europe.
- Length
- 10.1 km
- Avg gradient
- 11.9%
- Max gradient
- 22%
- Elevation gain
- 1,200 m
- Summit
- 1,730 m
- Hairpins
- 12
Versants
- From Ovaro — 10.1 km at 11.9% (max 22%)
- From Sutrio — 13.2 km at 8.7% (max 14%)
History
Monte Zoncolan has been used by the Giro d'Italia seven times — 2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2021 — and by the women's Giro twice more, and every edition has reinforced the same reputation: this is one of the hardest paved climbs professional cycling asks anyone to race up. From Ovaro, the western approach, it's 10.1 km at an average of 11.9% with ramps hitting 22%; the eastern side from Sutrio runs longer, 13.5 km at 9%, with sections up to 23%.
Winners on the Zoncolan read like a list of the sport's best pure climbers of the last two decades: Gilberto Simoni took both of the climb's first Giro finishes, Ivan Basso won in 2010, Igor Antón in 2011, Michael Rogers in 2014, and Chris Froome in 2018.
There's no easy way up it, and no easy way to film it either — TV motorbikes struggle on the steepest ramps, which is part of why the mountain has become shorthand in commentary for the point where a stage stops being about tactics and starts being about who can simply keep turning the pedals.