No fewer than 800 participants from 19 nations are counting down the hours to the first ENDURA Alpen-Traum, a new radical road cycling event for pros and amateurs alike. Riders on the longer of two courses will set off from Sonthofen, Germany, at 7 am on Saturday morning in an attempt to make it to Italy by nightfall. Athletes signed up for the shorter course will start in Landeck, Austria, roughly three hours later. Their goals will be identical, however: Giving all across the mountains to Solda, Italy! The top tier of riders indeed are expected to reach the finish line already by late afternoon.

 

With just hours to go before contestants in the ENDURA Alpen-Traum leave home for their race venue, the weather is finally forecast to improve. Clouds and rain are predicted to give way to bluebird conditions on either side of the High Divide just in time for the race start. This development should provide a bit of a relief to the 800 competitors in the event as (even under the best conditions) the race should prove gruelling even to the pros. 

 

The facts speak for themselves: Riders who start out in Sonthofen not only have a distance of 252 kilometers ahead of them but more than 6,000 m of vertical spread out over six noteworthy ascents. The names of the half dozen mountain passes should ring familiar to many of the contestants: Oberjoch, Pillerhöhe, Hahntennjoch, Reschenpass, Passo Umbrail and Passo Stelvio (3rd highest in Europe at 2,757 m). Some may even have ridden all of them before but hardly any will have done so in a single day.  

 

Anyone looking for lesser punishment will instead have opted for the shorter version of the ENDURA Alpen-Traum (Landeck, Austria to Solda, Italy). Yet, short is relative in this context as it still jams 146 kilometers into a single day and packs 4,315 m of elevation gain on top of that. 

 

Apart from the many ambitious amateur road cyclists who registered for the event, numerous well-known athletes didn't want to pass on the opportunity either to take part in the premiere of the ENDURA Alpen-Traum.

 

Ralf Matzka of pro team NetApp ENDURA went to some length to receive permission from the UCI to participate in this end-of-season highlight. He can be expected to face some stiff competition from Stefan Thum (Rose Racing), Stefan Kirchmaier (3-time winner of the Ötztaler Radmarathon; Peto-Höpperger-Top-Team), Bernhard Hornetz (Team Prestigio-LGL-Miche) as well as Germany's top-tier triathlete of international renown, Lothar Leder. Not necessarily vying for victory, but noteworthy contenders for upper-tier rankings are also Paracycling World Champions Hans-Peter Durst and Denise Schindler. XC ski-pro Peter Schlickenrieder will try to stir up the front end of the field as well, whereas some media buffs may recognize news anchor Marc Bator, or RoadBIKE'S Chief Editor Jens Vögele or title sponsor ENDURA's own Richard Thomas on the road. 

 

The leaders of the ENDURA Alpen-Traum are expected on the home stretch to Solda, Italy, by approx. 3 pm. While the top road cyclists will start their regeneration by mid-afternoon, most amateurs will still have the toughest part of the race ahead of them. In order to stay in the race, they will have to make the 4:45 pm time limit on the top of Reschenpass. After that, there won't be any time to dawdle either because the finish is scheduled to close by 7:30 pm. 

 

Further information on the ENDURA Alpen-Traum event is available at: www.alpen-traum.com