Marmotte Sestriere

stanthomas

http://gfsestriere.it/

Apparently in it's second year. Has anyone done it?

Looks a little easier than the 'classic' Marmotte. What's it like climbing on that gravel section?

gsk82

That looks great. Shame about the timing, could be horrendously hot.

ugo.santalucia

it's a grav el section you can do with 23 mm tyres no problem... have you seen the Giro 2015?

gsk82

stanthomas wrote:

http://gfsestriere.it/

Apparently in it's second year. Has anyone done it?

Looks a little easier than the 'classic' Marmotte. What's it like climbing on that gravel section?

i'm not sure 18.6km at 9.4% with 8km of gravel is any easier than the marmotte tbh

stanthomas

Although I've passed on the Marmotte this year, my better half still fancies a trip to the sun and this could be something fun to take in.

My thinking was that there's one big hill, harder and a bit longer than the Glandon plus two lesser hills each roughly equivalent to the Telegraph. But I've no idea how hard that gravel section will be - is it 8km of really heavy, wading thru treacle, going? Does it turn to mud when wet? Maybe it's like the Strada Blanca; has anyone here ridden that?

ugo.santalucia

stanthomas wrote:

Although I've passed on the Marmotte this year, my better half still fancies a trip to the sun and this could be something fun to take in.

My thinking was that there's one big hill, harder and a bit longer than the Glandon plus two lesser hills each roughly equivalent to the Telegraph. But I've no idea how hard that gravel section will be - is it 8km of really heavy, wading thru treacle, going? Does it turn to mud when wet? Maybe it's like the Strada Blanca; has anyone here ridden that?

It's a road built by the army during the war, a constant gradient to carry up the artillery. It's a very good road, just not tarmac... have a look at the Giro 2015 on youtube for reference

snowley

That looks a really good alternative, could be extremely hot on the day though.....

ugo.santalucia

snowley wrote:

That looks a really good alternative, could be extremely hot on the day though.....

re. the heat: if you look at the profile, most of the Granfondo is above 1000 mt elevation, which means it is very unlikely the temperature will rise above 30 degrees, even if the temperature in the valleys goes above.

Also, 110 Km means you should be done in 5-6 hours and the second half is all at an altitude, the temperature peaks around 12-5 PM... you should be done by 2 PM or earlier

The Marmotte is different: the Alpe d'Huez is a south facing climb, very exposed to the sun... can get extremely hot and it's a much longer ride