Some pics posted on Velonews.com of the course for stage 17 of the Giro look pretty interesting. The last few km of the mtn top finish are in a ski resort and the road looks like a summer access trail for 4WD vehicles. They are paving it specifically for the Giro, but have been delayed by winter snow still on the ground until very recently. The stage takes place May 24 - only 8 days away!
That final climb is from 1005 m to 2273 m. 1268 m (4200 ft) in under 18 km - average grade 14%. Ouch. And some short sections are bound to be even steeper - have a look at the grade in photo #13, looks more like 20% from that angle. That climb would be similar to paving the access road to the top of Kicking Horse. Makes me shake my head.
Check it out here:
http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/9884.0.html
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.