At the beginning of the week, a good friend told me that he wanted to ride the Passo Stelvio with colleagues. Unfortunately, it was not possible for me to go with them that day, but now the Stelvio was in my head and I really wanted to ride it 😀 . As a result, I directly set my mind on the next Friday, because the weather was supposed to be really good again, sunny with just over 20 degrees. Friday came and the weather was unchanged, so I packed in the morning, full of excitement, my bike and everything it needs in the car and off I was.
First it went by car over a few passes like Flüela- and Ofenpass 🙂 . This also increased the nervousness in me, the Stelvio is with its 48 turns on 24.6 kilometers after all the highest road pass of Italy. After breakfast on the road, I arrived at my starting point in Santa Anna and got ready for another pass that had long been high on my bucket list. With a raised pulse and full of anticipation of what awaited me, I finally set off with about 20 kilometers of rolling towards Prad, where the climb began. The climb was initially very brisk to ride and it went through a few small towns.
I was briefly unsure whether I might even be going too fast, but then it was already over with the gentle climb and it went steadily up until the slope leveled off at 10%. At this point came the first sign that tells you that now 48 hairpin turns are waiting for you. Now I had to find my own rhythm and take one hairpin turn after the other. The other signs were long in coming and at this time I was surrounded by trees, so I had enough time to think. I realized that I still have a few kilometers to go and I suddenly started thinking about whether I should take breaks and when I should eat something. Fortunately, the unnecessary thoughts were interrupted by other cyclists who had also undertaken the adventure Stelvio on this day. So nice conversations resulted and the hairpin curves became less.
Only at hairpin 33, a left-hand hairpin like all the uneven ones, did the environment change. The trees became much fewer and finally gave the view of a breathtaking landscape. This was also quite good, because so the next hairpins could be ridden well, even if the slope never really went below 10%. Only for a short moment you could let roll, because for a few less hundred meters it went down, before it goes directly again in the climb with 10%. There I noticed my legs and I needed a moment to find my groove again to ride the next switchbacks. Then after a few dreamy moments, it went around another switchback and I was now completely out of the trees. My first glance was directly at the wall and didn't leave for now, with its remaining 22 hairpin turns over 7 kilometers still waiting for me.
The pass suddenly looked so infinitely far away, but turn back was of course not an option 😉 and so I just continued to drive my rhythm. I could not get enough of the environment and so it went turn by turn further up to the top. At 2757 meters, arrived at the top, I was more than happy and had to hold back a few tears of joy.
The atmosphere at the top with all the stores and many other riders, who had also arrived at the top is unique and gives me goose bumps when I think about it. So I had a few nice conversations at the top, enjoyed the sun before it went over the Umbrail Pass down and back to my starting point Santa Anna.
Clearly one of my favorites among the passes and I will certainly do it again. I can only recommend anyone who likes to ride passes, the Stelvio once to go and do not forget to let me know, I would be there immediately 😉.
And here the ride on Strava: Passo Stelvio