The Giro-E Enel gets serious today with the most challenging stage of this year’s edition. The elevation gain of Stage 16 is four times yesterday’s total – a whopping 2,700 metres – over roughly the same distance (66 kilometres). A real toughie.

You start in Agordo and finish in Alleghe (Piani di Pezze) after scaling the Giau Pass, this year’s Cima Coppi – the hardest climb of the 109th Giro d’Italia. Nothing but ups and downs. Nothing but the Dolomites. The captains have their work cut out keeping their teams together and getting everyone to the top, which is something they all deserve. The hard work is more than repaid by the memories. A five-star stage like this is forever.

There was little time for tourism before the start this morning – on days like this, all the focus is on the stage itself – but Agordo, in the province of Belluno, is definitely worth returning to. Once a great mining centre, the town boasts a long and glorious history which can be seen in the architecture and the cuisine. It sits on the banks of the Cordevole and offers a splendid view of the Belluno Dolomites: Monte Agner, the Pale di San Lucano and Moiazza, the southern spur of Civetta. Agordo’s most magnificent monument is the 16th-century Villa Crotta – De’ Manzoni, originally the residence of the owners of the Valle Imperina Mining Centre, which itself can be visited close to the town. From here you can enter the quietest part of the Dolomites by heading up towards Duran Pass, as our electric cyclists did today, which links the Agordino area with Val di Zoldo.

Just beneath the final climb is Lake Alleghe, nestling between the forest and the slopes of Mount Civetta. It was formed in 1771 by a landslide that blocked the River Cordevole, creating the lake. Today Alleghe is a well-equipped tourist resort that is popular all year round and renowned for its warm hospitality. Here begins the climb towards the day’s finish in Piani di Pezzè, a favourite spot for hikers, climbers and nature lovers in general.

The Agordo-Alleghe (Piani di Pezze) stage

The mighty Dolomite stage. True cycling, at last. Today’s stage attracted many special guests looking for an adventure: former motorcycling world champion Marco Melandri, Sky Sport’s F1 commentator Carlo Vanzini and his colleague Davide Camicioli, Italian national rugby team players Michele Lamaro and Tiziano Pasquali and their Argentine counterpart Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, long-distance runner Gianni Demadonna and former professional cyclist Alberto Ongarato.

The Giro-E immediately joined the route of the Giro d’Italia today but diverged at the 45-kilometre mark and re-entered it in the 57th, enough to avoid the Giau Pass – 10 kilometres at a 9.3% average gradient with peaks of 14% – which was left to the professionals.

Whether or not you are riding a pedal-assisted bike, these routes require quite some effort because today’s stage featured no fewer than four memorable climbs. First there is the Duran Pass, the initial climb, 12.1 kilometres long with an 8.2% average and peaks of 14%. That is followed by a slightly less demanding one, the Coi Pass (5.8 kilometres at 9.7% with peaks of 19%), then the Forcella Staulanza Pass (6.3 kilometres at a 6.3% average, with peaks of 10%) and Piani di Pezze (five kilometres at a 9.6% average with peaks of 15%). Climbs with downhill sections as well: long, steep and challenging, where you need to know how to cycle.

The final five kilometres from Alleghe to Piani di Pezze are very demanding and consist exclusively of hairpin bends (eight in total, with many transition curves). They were very tough indeed and culminated in a final kilometre at a constant 11% gradient. It was here that Marco Pantani won in memorable fashion, still as an amateur. Our e-cyclists truly earned today’s stage.