Steep from the lake, and make no mistake the startline is already at 1800m so altitude plays its part in this steep ascent up to Marguns. Tough climb, combined with the amazing flowtrails make this a great start to the giro.
This is by far the best stage, very interesting single trails, open mountain, man made flowtrails with asphalt only for the refreshments! Thats how it should be. Just before lac de staz ectoplasm oozed from my rear suspension unit, so from herone theres no damping, but still air compression in my shock at least.
A day for the 29ers I feel. I doubt I will ever upgrade, or join those with tubeless tyres so I don't flail around with replacement tubes. I did hear some astonished voices proclaiming the 26er, and saw some sad faces when I was reduced to replacing my flattened front tyre. For now, I'd be happy to have a suspension unit that just goes rigid when it fails, instead of hitting hard.
The stage was demanding for sure, and varied considerably from the previous stages despite the proximity of the three stages. The only warning from the prerace briefing was about the final 5km down to Silvaplana, and well, yes, that needed a warning. But first came a shock of a final push up a rocky path, to join a rocky traverse before a death drop down to the finish line. Well, it wasn't so bad, but I among others took many steps down this final section to complete a well earned Engadin Giro finishers t shirt.
