It is the northernmost pass that lies entirely on Italian territory and connects St. Leonhard in the Passeier Valley with Sterzing in the southern Wipptal Valley. The Giro d'Italia last crossed the Jaufen Pass in 1994 and 1995. In 1994, on the 235-kilometre stage from Lienz to Merano, Marco Pantani pulled away on the north-east ramp and defended his lead to the finish.
The Jaufenpass was only given a road shortly before the start of the First World War, until then only a steep mule track led across. The road builders, however, created beautiful hairpin bends in the slopes - good for racing cyclists. Philip Götsch from Dorf Tirol near Meran, winner of the TOUR-Transalp together with Hanspeter Obwaller in 2010, is getting fit on the Jaufen. His tip: "Ride early, then there is little traffic." The 24-year-old knows the 19-kilometre south-west side particularly well, which is slightly longer and has more metres in altitude than the ascent from Sterzing. Immediately after St. Leonhard, hairpin bends climb a steep section of forest. Passing farms and the village of Walten, the road runs along the southern slope before six more hairpin bends lead over the tree line, where the view back is clear and you can see the Texel Group and the Ötztal Alps with the glaciated Hohe Wilde (3,480 m). The destination, the pass with the Edelweißhütte, surrounded by the mountains Saxner (2,359 m) to the left and Jaufenspitz (2,483 m) to the right, is within reach.
The north-east side, which is a little easier to conquer, is similarly scenic: here you can look back over the southern Wipptal valley to the Zillertal Alps.
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