Riding To The Sky Above

The highest summit finish in Grand Tour history...Paul Knott headed to the Passo dello Stelvio to tick this bona fide bucket-list climb off his list.

- Paul Knott

It was almost as if the cycling gods were aware of what was to come. A thunderstorm greeted us upon landing at Milan Malpensa airport before we made our way north towards the Alps on flooded roads; our final destination a stretch of road famous for pushing the minds and bodies of cyclists to the limit, the Passo dello Stelvio.

Sketchy weather isn’t anything new to the Stelvio Pass, which has seen many an epic Giro d’Italia stage played out to the backdrop of snowstorms and unrelenting rain. Nairo Quintana infamously attacked, on a supposedly neutralised Stelvio descent, to take the pink jersey in 2014 and go on to win the race altogether. But even the hardy pro peloton has seen stages cancelled due to the inclement conditions, so I went to sleep that night fearing the trip may be a non-starter. However, any prospect of postponing our ascent was swiftly forgotten as we woke the following morning to blue skies and a gentle breeze.

Pursuit of pleasure... or pain

Rolling out from our apartment in Valdisotto, a small town south of Bormio, I form a mini team time trial with CW colleagues Richard and Dan. Personally I can tell I am feeling the weakest out of our trio and the thought of two hours of hard riding solo wasn’t what the doctor ordered. The Stelvio has a long list of accolades attached to it, in part down to its height at 2,758m — the second highest paved climb in the Alps behind the Col de l’Iseran. It is also the highest stage finish of any Grand Tour to date, playing that role four times in the Giro ’s history. But I wasn’t feeling like my ascent was about to create any such historic landmarks.