FLASHPOINT

Few city centre climbs are as spectacular as the colonnaded Via San Luca, which conducts the Giro dell’Emilia to the Santuario di San Luca in Bologna. The Italian one-day race starts and inishes in the city and culminates with ive laps centred on the crucial 1.8-kilometre hill. The climb averages more than 10 per cent, and a terracotta archway and s-bend known as Orphan’s Corner marks the start of the toughest section: a 16 per cent stretch that o fers no view of anything but the steep drag. The pitch lessens to six per cent or so as the landmark basilica comes into view.