Stelvio Pass on a bicycle: The last 4 bends

Stelvio Pass by Bike: The last 4 bends (Header) — Lesedauer // Reading time: 6 Min.

‘400 m’ is spray-painted on the tarmac, with the logo of a cycling club next to it. ‘Tornante 4’ is written on the sign bolted to the boundary wall. My app has measured 19 kilometres and 1800 metres in altitude, my heart rate is 170. The last 4 bends before I reach the pass.

200 years Stelvio Pass

Before you read, please note: this post was translated with the help of Deepl.
If you find any errors – please have fun first and then give me a hint.

Four and a half hours earlier, I lifted my MTB off the bicycle rack in Gomagoi. I’d stayed up all night – trouble at the office was keeping me awake. I wanted to get rid of it, kick it out of me. But my thighs were already burning in the gallery before the first bend, as they often do, and my pulse was way too high. I defiantly stayed on the middle chainring. Two weeks earlier, I had collapsed dramatically here after not even 600 metres of climbing.

Today I want more. I’m travelling alone – no sports cars, no motorhomes, few motorcycles. It’s mid-October and the road will be closed in a few days. I’m still thinking about that unpleasant conversation in the office, which was not only unfair, but was aimed directly in my direction. This anger …

I take several photo and food breaks. At bend 38, I put on my long jersey. At hairpin bend 29, I have a funny conversation with an off-road vehicle driver from Switzerland. At Franzenshöhe, I take another close look at the wall up to the Stelvio.

Looking at the second half of the route (www.motorprosa.com)

Franzenshöhe - half of the hairpin bends are behind me — Franzenshöhe – half of the hairpin bends are behind me

At bend 10 – the highest point I’ve reached on the bicycle so far – I eat the last energy bar and am brushed by a shadow. Above me, two bearded vultures are flying, followed by their still completely black offspring. Over twenty years ago, I was indirectly involved in the reintroduction of this magical bird and now a whole family is circling above me. Sensational!

Hairpin bend
4

Stilfser Joch - Zähl' von 1 bis 10: Kehre 4 — Stelvio: hairpin bend 4

The last 4 bends are approaching. The salty taste on my lips isn’t from sweat and the breathlessness isn’t from the effort. My partner has been with me for an hour via WhatsApp and I give her the numbers of the tornanti I’ve passed. I think about the night in autumn 2017 when I was driving behind Omar di Felice. I think of training on the old racing bicycle in my childhood room, I think of the slog up the Lasa mountains to get used to the climbs on the east ramp of the Stelvio.

Hairpin bend
3

Stilfser Joch - Zähl' von 1 bis 10: Kehre 3 — Stelvio: hairpin bend 3

My best friends don’t realise that I’m now so close to the top of the pass – they actually wanted to wait for me at the top with a bottle of champagne, to celebrate me. I didn’t tell them, I had doubts about ‘Project 2018’ all summer long. And now I have a guilty conscience.

Hairpin bend
2

Stilfser Joch - Zähl' von 1 bis 10: Kehre 2 — Stelvio: hairpin bend 2

Another right turn, another biting climb. I look towards the Tibet hut, see people on the terrace who now all seem to be looking in my direction. I have ridden my bike 27 times this summer, covered a distance of 540 km in 46 hours of riding time and have climbed almost exactly 18,000 metres in altitude – for this moment 200 metres away.

Hairpin bend
1

Stilfser Joch - Zähl' von 1 bis 10: Kehre 1 — Stelvio: hairpin bend 1

I’m still thinking about turning around in the car park at bend 1 and not driving over the pass so as not to spoil the fun for my friends. I think about my son, who I will be able to hold in my arms again in a week’s time and who will surely be delighted with my latest story. ‘Daddy, why are you so cool?’ he keeps asking me. My partner sends me hearts on my smartphone. My legs are aching and I struggle on the remaining 100 metres with the last of my willpower. I burst – overwhelmed – into tears again before I reach the Cima Coppi at an altitude of 2760 metres.

I’ve been dreaming about it for 25 years. My father was already up here on his bicycle back then, and he did it again three weeks ago at the age of 68. After thousands of journeys up the Stelvio on my motorcycle, today is the first time I’ve managed it under my own steam. It really gets to me.