On Saturday, the stage the women’s peloton has been anticipating for months will finally be here: stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia Women, featuring the mythical Colle delle Finestre.
As we explored pre-race, the Giro is no stranger to big and daunting mountains, but the Colle delle Finestre, with its gravel roads and tales of Giro drama that have been solidified in modern legend,
This year, it will be the Giro’s Cima Alfonsina Strada – the highest point in the race – cresting out at 2,178m above sea-level. But the stage does not finish at the top. Instead, the finale replicates the finale of stage 20 of last year’s men’s Giro, descending back down into the valley and then climbing up to the finish in Sestriere. The final climb is gentler, but will sting the legs after completing nearly 20km of the Finestre.
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Stage 8 starts in Rivoli and the first 59km is nearly entirely flat, making for a relatively straightforward run-in to the base of the key climb.
The climb comes in at 18.1km from the start at Meana di Susa, with an average gradient of 9.3%, but naturally, some ramps are well above that and over 10 and 11% in places, even 13% on some stretches. And then there’s the real kicker: after 11km, the road turns unpaved, with white gravel roads winding the way up to the top. It’s not savage gravel, but it just saps that little bit of extra energy from the legs after an already tough climb.
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Then, the 11km descent is not too challenging, but the road kicks up again for another 16km to the finish line in Sestriere, though the official marked climb is only the final 9.3km. This final climb is a steady valley climb, not too steep with an average gradient of 5.3%, but it will be another challenge at the end of a hard day. Whether a group or just individuals come into this final stretch, the last ascent will just be rider against rider.
The length and difficulty of climbing on this Queen stage – even if it’s not the day with the highest total elevation gain – will make for some big gaps and most likely some Giro-deciding rides. Only the very best climbers will be in contention for the win here and time gained on stage 8 could be enough to seal the win, with only one stage remaining.
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The added novelty and challenge of the Colle delle Finestre and this stage is that the climb has never been ridden in a Women’s WorldTour race before, so the riders will not know exactly what to expect on race day. Many of them have reconned the climb, particularly Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) who lives near by, but racing up it is a different thing.
However, there are a few riders who have had the chance to do just that, as Finestre hosted the finish of a Tour de l’Avenir Femmes stage in 2024. That stage finished atop the climb itself, and was won by Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike), with Lidl-Trek’s Isabella Holmgren in second. We asked the Canadian what that experience was like.
“I remember it was a super, super tough climb,” she told Cyclingnews. “You do quite a long climb on the road, it’s super steep, and then you get to the gravel and it’s like you still have another whole entire climb to go.
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“I remember it being really hard, but I really enjoyed that stage and the views and the atmosphere, so I’m really looking forward to it this year. Of course, we don’t finish at the top this year, we go down and up another climb, so it’s an added challenge, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited.”
The gravel is an extra dimension and splits the climb into two halves, but Holmgren said the surface itself is not necessarily extra challenging.
“I don’t think it really adds too much. The gravel, when we rode it in Avenir, was quite good and packed down, so I don’t think it really caused any issues, maybe just for the motorbikes,” she explained. “I think if the race is really spread apart at that point, it’s not going to be a big peloton going into the gravel, so I don’t think it will be much of a problem, but you never know.”
The difference from the last time this climb was used, of course, is that the top of the climb won’t be the finish line this time – there will be 27km and another actual climb still to go, which will make Finestre potentially less of an all-out effort.
“I think it’s gonna make the feeling a bit more difficult during Finestre,” Holmgren said. “Because you know you have to keep going afterwards. But maybe it’s a good thing that it’s harder.”
Holmgren and Bunel are part of a small group of riders in the Giro peloton who have raced Finestre before, which also includes Josie Nelson, Rosita Reijnhout and Justyna Czapla, but none of the top GC riders. Is it better to know the climb, or be unaware of the size of the challenge that awaits?
“I think it’s 50/50 to be honest,” Holmgren said. “Like, sometimes it’s better to not know and just not know what’s coming, and just give it your all. But it’s also good, because there’s another climb after, so maybe it’s better that I’ve done Finestre, so I know how hard I can go without going too far over the limit to still have energy for the final climb.”
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-ProTime) heads into the key stage with one minute over Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez), with Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) third at 1:24. The length of the climb means that there will be ample opportunity for riders to move up the rankings.
One rider to watch is Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), who went on the attack in the finale of stage 6 and gained a handful of seconds. She’s 2:07 behind in sixth behind Holmgren and Marlen Reusser (Movistar).
Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) is just behind in seventh at 2:33 and will be looking to move up on her favoured terrain.
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(Image credit: RCS Sport)
(Image credit: RCS Sport)
Stage 8 is the Queen Stage, the moment the race has been building toward with the Colle delle Finestre climb where anything can happen.
After a relatively flat opening 60 kilometres, the Finestre, making its debut in the history of the Giro Women, takes centre stage. The climb is a monster: 8.5 km at 9.2% average, with peaks of 14% in the early kilometres and the final 8 kilometres on gravel.
At 2,178 metres, this is also the Cima Alfonsina Strada of the 2026 edition. An 11 km descent follows before the finish at Sestriere, (16.2km at 3.8%), gentle on paper but punishing after such brutality.
MountainsColle delle Finestre (cat. 1, 8.5km at 9.2%, max. 14%), km. 77.5 – Cima Alfonsina StradaColle del Sestriere (cat. 3, 16.2km at 3.8%), km. 105Sprints