{"id":25045,"date":"2026-04-27T19:58:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/?p=25045"},"modified":"2026-04-27T23:31:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:31:51","slug":"the-stelvio-cyclings-cathedral-in-the-clouds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2026\/04\/27\/the-stelvio-cyclings-cathedral-in-the-clouds\/","title":{"rendered":"The Stelvio \/ Cycling’s Cathedral in the Clouds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Before a single cyclist ever turned a pedal on its slopes, the Passo dello Stelvio was already a monument to human ambition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna redrew Europe’s map, granting the Austrian-Habsburg Empire the province of Lombardy. A road over the Stelvio was conceived as a way to improve communications between this new territory and Austria via Tyrol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designed by the engineer Carlo Donegani, construction began in 1820 and was completed five years later, thanks to an army of two thousand workers who blasted through the mountain using five barrels of gunpowder a day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Carlo Donegani<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result was astonishing: 88 hairpin bends \u2014 40 on the Valtellina side and 48 on the South Tyrol side \u2014 snaking up to one of the most coveted summits in the Alps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 2,758 metres, it remains the second highest paved pass in the entire Alpine range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The road carried traders, soldiers and travellers for well over a century before cycling arrived. During the First World War, the Stelvio became the scene of the ‘White War’, fought under extreme conditions between Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops. The pass and surrounding mountains were fortified into a front line, where soldiers fought through glaciers, avalanches and frostbite. There is a monument there containing the remains of 64 Italian soldiers who died on the Stelvio’s slopes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came June 1st, 1953.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Giro d’Italia reached the foot of the Stelvio for the very first time, no Italian race had ever climbed so high. The race itself had seemed already decided. Hugo Koblet, the elegant Swiss champion, held the pink jersey, and had brokered what appeared to be a gentleman’s agreement with Fausto Coppi: no attacks the following day, in exchange for a stage win. With Coppi sitting 1’59” behind Koblet, the Giro was apparently over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happened next became the founding myth of the Stelvio. On the climb from Prato, Coppi attacked, got clear and descended to Bormio, putting 4 minutes 23 seconds into second-placed Koblet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He won the Giro for a fifth and final time. Coppi’s comment on reaching the summit might seem overly dramatic to a non-cyclist, but you’ll know this feeling: “In the last few bends, I thought I was going to die.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1972, the Spaniard Jos\u00e9-Manuel Fuente won a brutal stage over the Stelvio with Eddy Merckx finishing two minutes behind in difficulty \u2014 yet Merckx still won the 1972 Giro overall by five and a half minutes. The image of the Cannibal suffering in the snow while still ultimately prevailing is quintessential cycling theatre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1975, the Giro’s final stage was at the summit of the Stelvio itself, where Fausto Bertoglio and Francisco Galdos fought a final electrifying duel all the way to the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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