HIGH IDEALS

Staffers Adrian and Pete get stuck into the Tour Transalp, a 7-day stage race over Italy's mountains

- Adrian Miles

Even after sinking a hot lemon tea and two cups of soup, I remained frozen to the core. We were in the town of Mazzo di Valtellina, in the Lombardy region of Italy at the ground floor of the wretched Passo del Mortirolo, a climb which stakes a fair claim at being the toughest in Europe. Up until this point in this week-long stage race, Tour Transalp, we may have been cooked to the point of overdone in the hottest month (June 2022) that Europe has experienced since records began, but in the previous couple of hours we'd been put in the freezer, enduring the best part of 50km of descent in filthily wet and cold conditions, down a busy main road that only made our predicament more testing. Before we tackled the Mortirolo, we would seek sanctuary, defrosting our numb digits and taking on the sustenance necessary to conquer this irrational mountain.

The arrival at the Mortirolo marked the halfway point of the 2022 Tour Transalp, a seven-day stage race based in the peaks of northern Italy and dipping into Austria and Switzerland. This 18th edition is the first one since 2019. Covering 600km and 16,000m of elevation in a compact area from Reschensee to Arco, the route takes in blockbuster climbs such as Mortirolo, Stelvio and Gavia, as well as some lesser-heralded gems such as Passo del Vivione. Organisers keep competitors on their toes each year with a fresh route and host towns, who are always keen to fill their restaurants with 800 riders with ferocious appetites.