Siena does not give you a flat exit. The GPX drops out of the city into the Arbia valley, then starts the regular up and down of the Crete Senesi: pale clay hills, isolated farms, cypress lines and bare ridges. Around Asciano, the landscape is open and dry, with little shade and long views. After that, the stage bites harder than the distance suggests. The road climbs again and again, reaching more than 500 m shortly before Sinalunga. Not a long day, but a sharp Tuscan one.
