The SuperGiro Dolomiti - A monster trip
There are people who will go to great lengths to see the terrible with their own eyes. Some people travel to Scotland from all over the world for the vague chance of catching a glimpse of the legendary Loch Ness monster. Evil tongues say that the creature doesn't even exist and the whole trip is in vain.
But these are probably the English, who envy their neighbours to the north that they have a veritable monster to promote tourism, but all they themselves have is a King, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Tower Bridge. It's all the same. The realisation: the terrible is often particularly attractive. What attracts ordinary sightseeing tourists to the north of the British Isles also appeals to daring cycling tourists: the prospect of seeing a monster - and even more so, competing with it.
Danish guests
That was also the case for Lars-Ole Gerlach and his six mates from Denmark. They got into three cars in Copenhagen on a Thursday last June to try their hand at an endurance test on Monte Zoncolan the following weekend.
The dreaded steep mountain that the Italian professional cyclist Gilberto Simoni once labelled a "monster" - although he was the fastest rider up it twice in three starts. Also on the day that amateur cyclists supposedly have to thank for the fact that there is now a particularly long and tough cycling marathon for them, in which the Zoncolan is served halfway up as a very hard-to-digest main course.
It was in 2007 when the start of a stage of the Giro d'Italia was brought to Lienz in Austria. Not just any stage, but the day's section when the freshly tarmaced, particularly steep western ascent to Monte Zoncolan celebrated its premiere at the Tour of Italy.
Cycling marathon SuperGiro - terror as a lure
For Franz Theurl, the head of tourism in East Tyrol, it seemed somehow logical to turn the fascination with the fearsome Giro into a permanent business model. Once is not always enough - and so Theurl added the traditional Tour of the Dolomites (see below) is a new test of endurance. The event already had a high regional profile on the classic distance around the Lienz Dolomites. "It's the World Championships of East Tyrol, everyone has the knife between their teeth," emphasises Felix Gall.
The men told me horror stories before the start. I've now ticked off the Zoncolan. (Anna Kofler)
The 25-year-old East Tyrolean, who lives directly on the route in Nussdorf-Debant, still remembers his best time from his teenage years. Gall later became junior world champion in road racing and is now a successful professional cyclist with the AG2R-La Mondiale team - a career that started at the Tour of the Dolomites. However, the pro likes to give the Zoncolan a wide berth during training.
Up to 22 per cent gradient
What once began as the "World Championship of East Tyrol" in the Tour of the Dolomites is now increasingly attracting starters from all over the world - also thanks to the attraction of the monster mountain on the new long-distance route. With an average gradient of 11.9 per cent, the route leads uphill from the village of Ovaro to the summit of the Zoncolan, with peak gradients of 22 per cent. "It's like a slow execution. The easiest sections on the Zoncolan are harder than the most difficult in the Tour de France," Simoni once said.
A warning for every amateur cyclist. But not everyone knows what to expect before the start. "The men have told me horror stories," Anna Kofler reported on her preparations for her SuperGiro premiere. The long-distance specialist is in for a surprise. The man with start number 2334, however, who came to the SuperGiro from Klagenfurt, knows his way around: While cycling past military cemeteries from the First World War on the Plöcken Pass, Hannes Thorbauer tells us that he has already climbed the Zoncolan twice on his bike. After that, he actually swore to himself: "Never again!" Now he is at the start after all - despite or perhaps because of Monte Zoncolan.
Take another short breather.
As soon as the rapid descent through the picturesque hairpin bends of the Plöcken Pass to Italy comes to an end, the monster rears up in front of the cyclists. At first glance, it looks like a conquerable green cone, not a rugged, steep rock face. However, man has made the mountain so steep for cyclists - a lot of tarmac was saved when building the road, which is almost a straight line along the ridge towards the summit.
The result is a seemingly endless climb in which strength must be carefully measured. After the start in Ovaro at an altitude of 525 metres, there are no breaks until the very top, when the highest point at 1730 metres is reached.
SuperGiro Dolomiti - No nakedness!
Woe betide anyone who encounters the monster not with the necessary respect, but with exuberance and inappropriate aggression - or inappropriate gearing. Somewhere on the steepest ramps, one of the cycle marathon participants simply falls off his bike - felled by the monster. But he picks himself up immediately and shouts "Everything's okay" to the group of suffering riders - as if he doesn't want to show his face.
A few metres further on, the seemingly endless ramp forces another cyclist off his bike, exhausted, who now pushes uphill - in fact, the tarmac is more suitable for a mountain hike (preferably with shoes without cleats) than for a bike tour on a racing bike.
Ahead of us, a group of racing cyclists swish uphill in a fine rhythm from the right-hand side of the road to the left and back again, as if synchronised swimming - the rather strained hip swing dampens the gradients. Hardly a glance remains for the signs with famous cyclists at the edge of the route.
While the participants further back are simply pushed off their bikes by the monster, one of them is long over the hill. Patrick Hagenaars had not so much pulled hard on the handlebars on the Zoncolan as pedalled brutally hard. The 40-year-old Tyrolean has only had one arm since an accident, helps himself with a prosthesis and still leaves one competitor after another behind during the climb, despite a gear ratio of 39/28, which would squeeze the meniscus out of the knee joints of many others who can pull on the handlebars with two arms.
A one-armed man is the fastest
Hagenaars still had a score to settle with the mountain and the SuperGiro. Years ago, on the final descent on the way to the Zoncolan, he had flown over someone who had fallen in front of him and continued down a slope. He was quickly back on the road and back in the saddle, but his hopes of victory were gone. Hagenaars was then honoured as "Man of the Day" at the finish - a consolation prize at best.
This time everything goes according to plan. Shortly after the ride over the Zoncolan, he leaves his last companions behind, survives the extremely bumpy descent over the dilapidated tarmac of the Plöcken Pass despite his prosthesis and crosses the finish line in the town square of Lienz as the solo winner with a lead of around ten minutes.
Comparisons with other cycling marathons are difficult - even if the Ötztaler Cycling Marathon and the Supergiro are quite close in terms of distance and altitude metres, with slight advantages for the Ötztaler. "You can't really compare the two. But here it's almost tougher - because there are fewer participants and you ride alone a lot," says the winner Hagenaars.
Late revenge of the Zoncolan
Others still pay the price - the Zoncolan sometimes takes its revenge late. On the way back, Andreas Strasser from Eferding cranks past many fellow cyclists towards the summit of the Plöcken Pass. But the pedalling becomes increasingly difficult. "I realised during the Giro that the mountain is very, very steep," he says later. But somehow the Upper Austrian didn't draw the right conclusions. "That was borderline," says Strasser about the hour or so on the ramps of the Zoncolan with a 39 t chainring and a 28 t sprocket at the back as a climbing aid. "I'll definitely do it again, but with a different gear ratio," he summarises at the finish.
The climbing test on the Zoncolan is only a small part of the ultra-distance, which ultimately covers 212 kilometres with 4800 metres of altitude - after the ride over the highest point of the loop through East Tyrol, Carinthia and Friuli, the route heads back to Austria via the Plöcken Pass, where the never-ending ascent to the Kartitscher Sattel awaits - with endless ups and downs and double-digit ramps through the actually picturesque Lesach Valley, past the biathlon centre in Obertilliach.
Even the supposedly final ascent from the last mountain to the finish in Lienz is still a slog for the many scattered participants: a strong headwind slows them down over the last 30 kilometres.
Good advice - Train hard
At the finish line, many sit in the shade of the market houses with pale faces and naked torsos, others hug each other after mastering the last few kilometres together. You've done it. The monster is done. Hard work on Sunday. "The Zoncolan is ticked off," says Anna Kofler - and it somehow sounds as if the 25-year-old Styrian found the men's horror stories a little exaggerated. Perhaps the mountain just wants to be taken seriously.
The guests from flat Denmark had not only travelled from afar, they were also well prepared. "Train hard!", Peter Clausen had advised his cycling friends after a test ride on the Zoncolan the year before. Lars-Ole Gerlach had mounted 33/36 and was probably the best of the Scandinavians on the Zoncolan thanks to his power-saving gear reduction.
And he was able to enjoy the ride. "A fantastic race, really very, very beautiful," he says over a beer during the award ceremony in the Dolomitenhalle. The views from the Zoncolan stretched as far as the Dolomites and the vast plains of Friuli.
The brave Danes celebrate together, Allan Solok came third in his age group. A little later, they get into their cars and head back home. 16 hours, 1500 kilometres by car. Solok is also in a hurry. At eight o'clock on Monday morning, he has a meeting at his company in Copenhagen. It was just a leisure activity after all, wrestling down the monster Zoncolan.
Monte Zoncolan
Maximum difficulty at the SuperGiro Dolomiti
The 1750 metre high mountain in Friuli suddenly gained prominence when it was included in the route planning of the Giro d'Italia for the first time in 2003, initially with the east ascent from Sutrio. In 2007, the newly asphalted western ascent from the village of Ovaro celebrated its premiere: the 10.1 kilometre route climbs 1200 metres in altitude - with an average gradient of 11.9 percent.
The maximum is 22 per cent. It is the steepest ascent on average, which also has to be conquered in the SuperGiro. There are two other routes via Sutrio and Priola from the east side of the mountain, which are up to 27 per cent steep in the upper section. All roads lead to the highest point at 1730 metres above sea level.
Lap comparison - Tour of the Dolomites and SuperGiro Dolomiti
The traditional Tour of the Dolomites has existed as a cycling race since 1951 and has been a popular sporting event since 1986, taking the classic route from Lienz over 112 kilometres around the Lienz Dolomites back to the start. Since 2015, there has been the SuperGiro Dolomiti as an additional endurance test.
The date in 2023 was 11 June. As in the previous year, the 9th edition led over the Gailbergsattel and Plöckenpass to Monte Zoncolan - on the way back, the route went over the Plöckenpass again and then over the Kartitscher Sattel back to Lienz: the TOUR measurement at the start in 2022 showed a distance of 212 kilometres with around 4800 metres of altitude difference for the long distance.
Entry fees: from 70 euros for the classic route, from 100 euros for the SuperGiro. Late registrations are possible on site.
Information on the Internet: www.dolomitensport.at
Andreas Kublik
Editor
