In Piazza Vittorio Emanuele in Pieve di Soligo, the massive structures of the finish line are already being erected. Perhaps not everyone knows this: the finish line of the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia replicates, meter for meter, the finale of the renowned Internazionale di Solighetto race, a junior competition to which credit must be given for first climbing Cà del Poggio, in 2007.

The secretary of the organizing committee of the race, which last year saw Roberto Capello from Cossombrato in Piedmont triumph, remembers it well. The roll of honor is impressive, with one notable name and many riders who later became established professionals, from Slovenian Jakub Omrzel to Romain Gregoire, from Antonio Tiberi to Andrea Fortunato. It was 2023 when a then first-year junior named Paul Seixas pulled off a masterclass, arriving at the finish line solo with 17 seconds over his fellow countryman Aubin Sparfel and Andrea Bessega, in second and third place respectively.

“It was 2007 and we found ourselves with the then-president Guido Dorigo imagining a new and more challenging final section, Cà del Poggio was a revelation for all of us, the rest has been a resounding territorial success” - recalls Claudio Busetti, a hairdresser by trade and secretary of the historic SC Solighetto presided over by charismatic entrepreneur Raffaele Mazzucco. To guarantee that first passage over the wall, a provisional authorization was necessary, which came from the Province of Treviso, whose president at the time was Luca Zaia.

“A roundabout was opened for the occasion and then closed for the completion of the works” - Bussetti recalls, who naturally is part of the Stage Committee, fully committed to creating a varied series of events, even a concert by Vasco Rossi's guitarist, Maurizio Solieri, who with his decibel-laden riffs will heat up the atmosphere. Pieve di Soligo (where the 87-year-old former yellow jersey wearer Tommaso de Pra resides) has the title of City but is not a metropolis, yet it has certainly gained international prominence with that sharp climb up to Alberto Stocco's panoramic restaurant, a key figure in promoting the wall, twinned with Grammont and Mur de Bretagne.

A bet won with the Giro's first passage in 2009, followed—they had developed a taste for it—by the pink race's transit in 2013, 2014, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2024 and, most recently, in 2025. At the non-transcendent elevation of 242 meters above sea level, a 1.1 km climb at an average of 12.3 percent!, it will be an intense week, because already on Sunday, May 31st with the Roncade-Caorle stage, the Wall gets a second showing thanks to the Giro Women.

Sunday, June 14th will be far from a diminishment with the running of the international Solighetto classic (Trofeo Gd Dorigo), rather a demonstration that the Giro d'Italia's first visit to Pieve di Soligo is a consequence of special cycling roots among the Prosecco Hills. Proof positive that races that fill the calendar of the categories that serve as stepping stones to professionalism—we spoke of amateurs but the notion extends to juniors—are often and willingly a test for something momentous.

Next to take part in the Ronde de l'Oise in France with EF's development team, Capello sees it this way: "First of all, I have a beautiful memory of Cà del Poggio, my first junior victory. I remember the heat and the difficulty of the course, it was special also for how it went at team level, with five riders from Grenke Auto Eder in the top five positions. Tomorrow at the Giro? I predict Narvaez will win"—explains the rider from the Piedmont hills, fresh from an academic effort similar to a mountain stage: entrance exams as a private candidate (written and oral on all subjects) at the Obert Institute for Surveyors in Asti. Pieve di Soligo awaits. Who knows if Felix Gall, who won here in 2016, exactly ten years ago, is preparing to grant himself a repeat victory. He would also emulate his teammate Seixas, who managed to claim the Solighetto international that eluded Tadej Pogacar precisely on the occasion of Gall's victory: yet even that day Taddeo made headlines, finishing third despite using a spare bike.