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2023 - The start
A race does not begin with the starting gun. A race begins with the onset of fear. It is not fear in the usual sense. The kind that arises when you are confronted by a predator or a raging force of nature. It is a diffuse, difficult to grasp special version of fear. Days before the race, it wafts deep inside until, minutes before the start, it has finally penetrated the last fibre of the body and discharges itself in a kind of panic. Everything suddenly appears to be a threat to your well-being. The mountains rising into the sky behind the starting arch. The spring clouds that seem to be waiting above the peaks. The well-trained athletes in the starting boxes around you, staring animalistically, waiting for the signal to sprint off. But above all your own team partner, who is still standing next to you at the moment. Because if team races like the BIKE Transalp teach you one thing, it's that the starting signal can turn a buddy into an angel. Or into a monster.
It's Saturday morning, A warm July day. The relaxing sound hammering out of the speakers is in stark contrast to the idyllic character of the mountain village of Nauders. The same goes for the bunting. The inflatable arches. The hectic crowd of media scurrying around. And, of course, the jittery crowd of participants standing in maximum concentration in the starting boxes. A digital display with huge red numbers informs us of the imminent showdown. Just a few seconds to go. Tino nudges my thigh with his fist as if it were my on switch.
"Well, then!" Tino shouts against the noise inferno: "Let's rock this thing!" I don't get a chance to say anything back and just nod briefly. The presenter has counted down. A jolt goes through the crowd. Everyone sprints off like they're on fire. A highly stressful moment, but somehow also awesome. The metallic clacking of hundreds of clipless pedals. The hoarse roar of the lead bikes. The shrill squeal of the brakes before the first bend. The roar of the spectators. The roar of the presenters. The roar of the drivers. A soundtrack that atomises any sense of normality from one moment to the next.
The pace is murderous. Every one of the 600 riders knows that. The elite racers at the front. The ambitious ones who are trying to keep up. The hobbyists who are only interested in finishing. But in such a hyped-up state, no one is prepared to bow to the laws of nature. With heavy kicks and heavy breathing, the pack kneads over the gravel as if Lake Garda were at the top of the first summit and not 500 kilometres away on the other side of the Alps. It's a disgusting feeling. Like drowning, gasping for air while a shoal of sharks bites into your calves.
I don't really care about the other teams. All my concentration is on Tino. How is his breathing, how is his kick? Whether the week will be tough or really tough is mainly down to him. If Tino turns out to be an angel, we will work through the 17,500 metres of altitude as a symbiotic unit. But woe betide us if Tino turns out to be a monster. He'll dictate the pace and send me into the realm of pain mountain by mountain. Then I would be in for a horror week. It's been years since I raced with Tino in a team. We live hundreds of kilometres apart. I don't know how fit he is. A single per cent difference in performance can lead to escalation in people with different levels of social competence. But as greedily as Tino sucks in the air and squeezes it out again, he seems to feel the incline in a similar way to me. "Let them all ride. Find your rhythm first," he murmurs. A coded request to slow down. Which reassures me deeply. Apparently we have pretty much the same fitness level. I can feel the tension easing. The first great moment of this BIKE Transalp.
2023 - Day 4: the queen stage Bormio - Malè
The alarm clock rings at 5.30am. Because of the challenging route, which leads over the myth-enshrouded Gavia Pass, the start is scheduled for 8am today. An hour earlier than usual. No problem. After three days on the BIKE Transalp, everything is now routine. Morning toilet, mix drinks, take your bag to reception, have breakfast, get changed, then off to the start. A daily rhythm that has no intersections with the world outside the BIKE Transalp. It's as if an invisible bubble has been placed over us all. World events seem galaxies away. All that matters are altitude profiles, kilometre data, heart rate zones, weather forecasts. Pleasant.
What is different from the early BIKE Transalp years: Today, the stages are an all-round agonising experience and no longer a question of survival. In the original Transalp, the last riders sometimes didn't drag themselves to the finish until after 7pm. The heavy travelling bags had to be collected from the bag lorry and dragged to the hotel themselves. It was then realised that three kilometres in the Alps place different demands on the body and psyche than three kilometres in Schwerin, for example. And that there is a reason why a hotel bears the name "Panorama". Anyone who has ever had to climb 300 metres in altitude after a stage to a hotel with an advertised fantastic view will prefer to book hotels called "Zur Post" or "Central" after such an experience in future.
Our hotel is located just a few metres from the start. The view from the window makes it clear that nature is not impressed by even the most sophisticated planning. Dark, haematoma-blue mountains of clouds loom over Bormio as menacingly as the spaceships of the bad guys in "Independence Day".
"Oh God, I hope it's not pissing. It's bound to be arse cold at the top of the pass," Tino surveys the sky anxiously after we've lined up in the start box. "Welcome to the queen stage!", the presenter starts the warm-up programme. This is the signal for the sky, which is now unloading apocalyptically over Bormio. The Halligalli clap-along song, which was played at disco volume to dramatise the start phase, dies away as if shot. And the blow-up start arch also seems to have taken a hit. Suddenly sagging, it collapses. Power failure. The stage is abandoned and finally cancelled. Buses are sent to take the riders to Malè. Tino, two other mates and I decide to cover the 90 kilometres to the finish over the Gavia Pass by road. A different kind of royal stage. Crossing the Alps is always a bit of an adventure.
2023 - Day 7: The final
The impressions of the BIKE Transalp week are so concentrated that it's hard to remember everything. Nauders. Lake Reschen. Livigno. Bormio. Malè. Valle del Chiese. Valle di Ledro. Each stage is a story in itself. Tino and I have grown into a unit. We ride together. We suffer together. We rejoice together. We eat together. We sleep shoulder to shoulder in a double bed. And now we don't even need words to understand each other. The climb to the Bocca di Trat above Lake Ledro is actually easy to ride. But the prospect of the nearby finish in Riva unleashes the strength of all the teams, which the body has actually only intended for the fight for life and death. Tino silently and sufferingly turns the crank from one revolution to the next. The blank look on his face reveals that he is at the limit.
I hardly feel any better. But lactate pain is the basic prerequisite for euphoria at the finish. The more it hurts, the greater the feeling of happiness at the end. That was also the case in 1998. What an intense full-body experience. The near-death moment in the infamous Adrenalina downhill. The motivational boost from the cheering children in Ville del Monte. The hysterical reaction of my legs to the endless climb at Lake Tenno. And finally the shot of happiness hormones when, after seven days in the saddle, the finish line finally whizzes beneath us. "Mega!" exclaims Tino, and then we cuddle each other like two little cuddly monsters in seventh heaven.
2023 - The euphoria at the finish line: done!
>> Photos, videos, anecdotes, backgrounds: In the Live blog by Henri Lesewitz you get the full portion of BIKE-Transalp-Soul. <<
1998: How it all began
The BIKE Transalp was the first mountain bike race that welded two riders together in a community of destiny. Classic one-day marathons such as the Grand Raid and the Dolomiti Superbike were considered the ultimate test of endurance for bikers at the time. A race with eight marathons in a row was unimaginable and was on a par with Himalayan expeditions and desert crossings. In order to guarantee help in the event of an accident, Transalp forefather Uli Stanciu came up with the two-man mode. This became an emotional booster for the duos. But also a challenge. Riding in a team was something completely new for the individualistic long-distance riders. The intense, shared experience brought many of them together. Like me and Tino. Others fell out in the worst possible way. When the Transalp troop reached Riva in 1998, a Dutchman fell to his knees on the finishing straight and proposed to his girlfriend. The following year, MTB legend Gary Fisher simply left overnight after winning the first stage, having been driven around the course by his team partner Uli Rottler to such an extent that he had chills from exhaustion. Marriage, hatred, harmony, everything is possible in the frictional heat of the race week. It's the same today as it was then.
The Maxxis BIKE Transalp has long been a sophisticated logistical system. More than 130 service staff ensure that everything runs smoothly. The racers should be able to concentrate fully on getting the job done. There are detailed plans for all eventualities. At the first edition in 1998, many things were still improvised. For example, the route was not signposted but based on a road book. As this turned out to be rather impractical, race director Uli Stanciu spontaneously sprayed arrows on the road with green paint. The Italian telephone company did the same to mark planned cable ducts. As a result, the leaders Ekkehard Dörschlag and Siegfried Hohenwarter made a nasty mistake. It was the queen stage. Castello to Folgeria. 100 kilometres and 3300 metres in altitude. When the duo arrived back at the checkpoint they had already passed after 110 kilometres and 4,100 metres of climbing on the computer, it initially had a devastating effect on their nerves. But the Austrians eventually took it with humour. Uli Stanciu gave them the last green spray can in Riva as a memento.
The winners of the MAXXIS BIKE Transalp 2023
Elite Men
- Team Bulls: Urs Huber/ Simon Schneller
- Pure Humanpwr: Frans Claes/Manuel Pliem
- Team KMC: Ruijter Teus/Tim Smeenge
Elite Women
- Team Val di Sole: Lorenza Menapace/Daniele Troesch
- SRT Protective: Michaela Barz/ Victoria Zeller
- Burn Baby: Christina Bagaz/Chiara Frigge
Mixed
- BMC RH77 Factory: Benjamin Karl/Lisi Osl
- Evil Angels / BTT Loulé: Celina Carpinteiro/ Valério Ferreira
- Izarahf Slovenia: Natalja Anderluh/Primoz Lindic
>>All results are available at www.bike-transalp.de <<
>> Photos, videos, anecdotes, backgrounds: In the Live blog by Henri Lesewitz you get the full portion of BIKE-Transalp-Soul. <<
