The Muro di Sormano ( en, Wall of Sormano) is a hill located in

Sormano Sormano ( Valassinese lmo, Surman ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about north of Milan and about northeast of Como. It is part of the mountain community of the Triangolo lariano, ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. This climb is one of the most severe to have been used in road cycling, with an average gradient of 17% and a maximum of 27%. The road up the climb, fell into disuse from 1963 to 2006. After pressure from local cyclists it was restored, and now features split-times and quotes from the riders of the climb in the 1960s era stencilled on the road. The current record time for the climb is 7 minutes 36 seconds, achieved by local rider Matteo Cappè.

Giro di Lombardia

The Muro is associated with the

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia ( en, Tour of Lombardy), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cy ...

, a

one-day race The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most ...

which featured the climb three times from 1960 to 1962. However, after complaints that the climb was so steep that riders were either falling off or being pushed up by fans, the climb was taken off the route. The rider

Ercole Baldini Ercole Baldini (26 January 1933 – 1 December 2022) was an Italian cyclist. As an amateur he won an Olympic gold medal in the road race and the world title in the individual pursuit on track, both in 1956.Madonna del Ghisallo Madonna del Ghisallo is a hill in Magreglio, close to Lake Como in Italy. It is named after an alleged Marian apparition. According to the legend, the Medieval count Ghisallo was travelling by the hamlet of Magréglio when he was attacked by ba ...

climb. French rider

Romain Bardet Romain Bardet (born 9 November 1990) is a French professional racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Bardet is known for his climbing and descending abilities, which make him one of the top general classification contenders in Gra ...

(

Ag2r-La Mondiale Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team () is a French cycling team with UCI WorldTeam status. Its title sponsors are French sporting goods retailer Decathlon and French insurance firm AG2R La Mondiale. The team is predominantly French. History In 199 ...

) was the leader at the summit, although the eventual winner of the race was the Spaniard

Joaquim Rodríguez Joaquim Rodríguez Oliver (born 12 May 1979) is a former Spanish professional road racing cyclist, who competed between 2001 and 2016 for the , , and teams. Rodríguez recorded notable results included fourteen Grand Tour stage victories, an ...

References

{{coord, 45.8828, N, 9.2433, E, source:wikidata, display=title Giro di Lombardia Geography of Lombardy