This year’s first Grand Fondo didn’t begin like I had hoped for. The rain hit just 15 minutes before the start and gave a good beating as we hit the road. Made me think does this actually make sense. I’m going for the Gran Fondos mainly to see the scenery, passes, and be part of the cycling community. But why suffer? Waiting for another day or just an hour or two to start later would have avoided the nasty rain. Then again riding in a group is a completely different experience than going solo.
Okay 15 minutes in and the rain stopped. Back to pedaling, focus on the road. First 50km or so in the valley was pretty easy. Just two short uphills. Some more shower from the sky. Then the most important choice of the day: Guspessa or not? Looking up the hill I see Mortirolo completely under heavy clouds and possibly raining somewhere up there. Easy choice. Mediafondo meaning 105km+ and 3000m+ climb today for me. Focus on Stelvio, what I came for. Besides Guspessa is not the Mortirolo road I wanted to take, and I was anyways short on time to get back to the airport by night.
From the bottom of the valley back to Bormio was like 700m vertical up but it didn’t feel that tough. I was at Bormio feeding station in quite exactly 3.5 hours from the start. Right on time what I was planning. Then hit the epic climb. Sky started to clear up and sun warmed me up. Stelvio is long, yes, but somehow it didn’t feel as hard as I had thought. There were just two short sections more than 10% steep. Also the altitude didn’t hit that bad. Close to the top we got even some help from tailwind. Strava section tells the climb went in under 2 hrs.
Overall a great experience. Google Maps directed the drive back for some reason over Gavia pass. Now that looked beautiful in sunshine. Now planning GF Gavia & Mortirolo for 2026…