We arrived in Bolzano, got settled in and set up our bikes, toured the city, ate a lot, and on "day 0" we completed registration, the usual pre-race stuff -- RFID chips for our bikes, blood samples for the doping controls, you know the drill. We headed down the valley by van, then got out the bikes to explore Stage 1. Indeed, we managed to pre-ride almost the entire stage, except, that is, for the part that counts -- the timed climb! The only challenge on the pre-ride was intense summer afternoon heat as we climbed up into Kaltern -- brought back memories of Transalp 2011.
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| MOB, Silvia and Sora all consider Piadina choices under grape vines in Bolzano courtyard |
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| The musicians of Bolzano greet guests from Bremen ? Something is not right here. |
Indeed, Giro Delle Dolomiti is structured as a long ride, then a race on one, and only one, climb of the day. Stage one amounted to almost a parade or process of 500+ cyclists down the valley past Kaltern, then a loop and back up the next valley almost back to Bolzano ... then suddenly a 14 km, 1200 meter elevation gain climb, with apple strudel at the top. All-in-all, much easier to complete than Transalp, PBP or other events I like, but very hard to do well at, since it attracts younger, thinner, stronger climber-types. I consistently placed in the bottom 20%. MOB consistently did better. Thomas did even better, and Jochen won something for his age group on the last day.
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| Lake Kaltern -- This is heavenly country |
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