It looks like the next one Tour of Italy will stop at the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, A historic, mystical, and stunning place. The legends surrounding the three great Dolomite bastions are many and ancient, but those linked to cycling are more recent. They were born in 1974 when the Giro d'Italia climbed there for the first time, and those ramps, lethal and uneven, caused even Eddy Merckx.
Since then, the Giro has climbed there four more times. We especially remember the last one: May 25, 2013.
Heading into the storm
That day "it wasn't May", but the middle of winter! The Giro had encountered heavy rain since the first stages and intense cold in the Western Alps and just when it seemed like spring had sprung, the weather changed radically during the time trial from Mori to Polsa. The first ones set off in 30-degree temperatures, a blazing sun, and the usual sultry heat of the Adige Valley. The last ones arrived in pouring rain and temperatures a few degrees above freezing.
But the worst was yet to come. The next day, a historic stage was to be held, with Tonale, Gavia, Stelvio and the finish in Val Martello. But none of this came to pass. The caravan awoke in Val di Sole with several centimeters of snow on the ground. It was impossible to climb two kilometers higher, that is, to the Gavia and Stelvio passes.
Come on At that point he only thought about saving the grand finale of the Tre Cime. Especially since Vincenzo Nibali he was in the pink jersey.
Nibali king of the Giro
The next day, the stage was revised. The higher passes were eliminated, and "only" the Tre Croci and the Tre Cime were climbed. Astana, the team Nibali rode for in 2013, didn't leave much room for the escapees. The opportunity to triumph amidst the crowd and the snow-covered backdrop was unique. A poster for the Shark to hang in his living room. Plus, the fans were delirious, almost all of them for him.
But it certainly wasn't easy to handle that intense cold. At Misurina, at the start of the climb, there was half a meter of snow. The buses were forced to stop there. It was impossible to get up there with those beasts. At the top, a tent structure had been set up by the Army during the night to allow the riders to change.
As the group approached the final climb, it started snowing again. At times, it was almost impossible to distinguish the riders.
Nibali increases and slowly everyone gives up. The Giro is just around the corner. The Shark doesn't want to risk anything. No overrevving. And so he improvises a sort of typical 40-20" run he used to do in training. Three, four progressions. Only the Colombians, who absurdly don't feel the cold, seem to keep up. Duarte, Uran, Betancur…they arrive within a handful of seconds of Nibali.
Snow and confetti
The speaker's voice, Stefano Bertolotti, She's more excited than usual. Her words are the only clear thing in that chaos. The snowfall is heavy. Photographers at the finish line, between the motorcycle headlights and the snowflakes, have trouble focusing on Nibali. Confetti mixes with the snow.
Vincenzo rejoices. He's exhausted but not frozen. After all, aside from the short descent of Tre Croci, the stage was all uphill. However, these little ones, worn down by the fatigue of the Giro finale, must be preserved, and in fact “twenty centimeters” after the finish line Michael Pallini he has already wrapped Nibali in a windbreaker. Meanwhile, everyone else arrives. And without even dismounting, they slip under the awning. They quickly change. They put on their windbreakers, ski gloves, wrap a towel around their necks, and head down to the buses, while many of their colleagues still struggle with those ramps, which often reach 18 percent.
Press room on the run
The storm passes, the post-arrival one, but not the actual storm. All of us journalists are in the press room set up in the Auronzo refuge, at the base of Cima Grande, when a man enters and says to us: "Gentlemen, you need to clear out quickly because the snow is sticking and you risk getting stuck here." And so here is another general stampede.
As we descended, we enjoyed the spectacle of the snow, which was getting deeper and deeper, and the people who, despite the cold, were happy as they bundled up and headed down to the valley. He witnessed a historic moment in cycling, Nibali's triumph in the pink jersey on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. A beautiful story to tell to grandchildren or simply to friends. And one we hope to relive, perhaps without too much cold, at the next Giro.
