SHADOW OF THE STELVIO

Around the corner from the classic road climb you’ll find a wealth of hidden trails and gravel tracks that were once used by Italian traders and smugglers

PETER STUART

Mountain folk are tough. I keep telling myself that over and over while I cling on, head down, to Daniele and Carlo’s wheels as they tap gently up the incline ahead of me. They appear to be scaling today’s first climb almost effortlessly, chatting freely with each other along the way, while I, on the other hand, am already seeing stars. It’s a sharp start to the day. We’re in the beautiful Valtellina valley in the north of Italy, near the border with Switzerland. A morning haze gives the landscape a bright blue glow as we labour up the tightly packed hairpins that lead from our start point in the town of Bormio to the reservoir at Lago di Cancano. The climb itself is around 8km at an average of…

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Cyclist Off Road (Digital) - 1 Issue, Autumn 2019

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