Tre Cime di Lavaredo
Climb · Dolomites
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Tre Cime di Lavaredo is a 7.7 km cycling climb averaging 7.0% (+587 m), rising from 1752 m to 2292 m in Dolomites.
7.7 km · +587 m · 7.0% avg · ~15.8% max · 1752 → 2292 m · 9 hairpins
Stats computed from OpenStreetMap and satellite elevation data — approximate.
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Gradient by colour: ● <3% ● 3–6% ● 6–9% ● 9%+
Where it bites
Steepest 500 m: 15.8% (km 6.7–7.1).
| km | to | avg |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1764 m | 1.3% |
| 2 | 1850 m | 8.7% |
| 3 | 1851 m | 0.1% |
| 4 | 1848 m | -0.3% |
| 5 | 1942 m | 9.3% |
| 6 | 2068 m | 12.8% |
| 7 | 2199 m | 13.1% |
What it’s like to ride
The road leaves Lake Misurina and goes to work at once: gradients touch 18% inside the first kilometre, before anyone has found a rhythm. A tollgate about two kilometres up charges cars around 30 euros and lets bikes through free, and just beyond it the road dips past Lago d'Antorno, the one genuine breather on the whole ascent. From there the gradient barely drops below 10% again for four kilometres, all of it above 1,800 m, where thin air makes every percent cost more than it reads. The last stretch is five hairpins, roughly 1.6 km at nearly 13%, on tarmac relaid for the 2023 Giro, with the three rock towers standing straight over the road. It ends at the Rifugio Auronzo at 2,333 m, which serves food and coffee and has beds, with a car park a few metres higher and a walking loop of about three hours around the peaks. Ride it early or late in the day: this is one of the busiest places in the Dolomites through the summer.
History
The Giro d'Italia first finished at the Rifugio Auronzo in 1967, and the debut collapsed into farce: spectators swarmed the road and pushed riders, others held on to cars and motorbikes, and the organisers ended up neutralising the times, with Felice Gimondi recorded as the stage winner. The race came back in 1968, and on the final ramps in the rain Eddy Merckx pulled back around nine minutes on a 16-man break, took the maglia rosa and went on to win his first Grand Tour. José Manuel Fuente soloed to the stage in 1974, the day Merckx held pink by 12 seconds from Gianbattista Baronchelli, one of the closest margins in Giro history. Beat Breu won here in 1981, Luis Herrera in 1989, Riccardo Riccò in 2007, Vincenzo Nibali in a blizzard in 2013 with his overall win effectively sealed, and Santiago Buitrago in 2023, taking the tally to eight summit finishes.
Worth stopping near the climb
More climbs in Dolomites
Common questions
- How long and steep is Tre Cime di Lavaredo?
- Tre Cime di Lavaredo is a 7.7 km cycling climb averaging 7.0% (+587 m), rising from 1752 m to 2292 m in Dolomites.
- Where is Tre Cime di Lavaredo steepest?
- The steepest 500 m averages 15.8%, between km 6.7 and km 7.1 of the climb.
- How many hairpins does Tre Cime di Lavaredo have?
- Tre Cime di Lavaredo has 9 hairpin bends, counted from the road's map geometry (a hairpin here means at least 150 degrees of turning completed within 150 metres of road). Painted corner numbers on some climbs count gentler bends too, so the two figures can differ.