Milano San Remo Stage 9

Sampeyre to Vinadio

Strava (to lunch only): 37.18 km, 1,374m, 2:56, 67 shifts, max speed 69.9 kph

I woke up at 6:30 after probably the worst sleep of the trip – it was so hot in our room, that even in the morning, neither of us had even a sheet over us. And there were dogs and the hourly and half hourly church bells, what a complainer! It was cool outside at least as we assembled after breakfast. We left at the normal time and had a one or two minute warm-up, then the first climb started straight away. The Colle de Sampeyre is a 1,350m climb in 14 km up to 2,284m. The very narrow road winds through forests and a ski slope for most of the way, getting a little rocky and more open at the top. There wasn’t much traffic, but there were occasional large cattle trucks.

I resolved to make it without straining so went slow and steady. My pace suited Carien and Louis so we ended up doing the whole climb together. We stopped twice, once for photos and once for drinks and bananas. Even though the air was cool up high, some would say cold, I was sweating up a storm and arrived at the top in 2:23, pretty wet.

Fog was coming across the summit as we arrived so the view back to Sampeyre was not visible but we could see down the other way. We stayed only for a few photos, then headed down. It was chilly which felt great to me. We had some sections of thick fog, one of them included a construction zone where we rode on bumpy gravel. Then we got below the fog and it pretty quickly warmed up. There were lots of steep switchbacks, and a couple of difficult cars to pass – it’s one narrow lane so when two cars meet, someone has to back up and that’s tedious to get by.

Lower down it was warm and fast, past several villages with beautiful church towers. But the road stayed very narrow and you really have to pay full attention as you never know what large vehicle will be lurking behind any corner and there are a lot of corners. I cruised behind one car with a bike rack for a while and then he graciously pulled over to let me go my own speed. Cars just can’t hang with bikes on this type of descent.

At the bottom, I spied Eddy, sipping coffee across the road warming up. I sat with him a while then headed to lunch, just up the canyon. It was a narrow, deep canyon with a strong wind blowing. Lunch was in a great spot as usual, delicious food. I was planning on riding the second half and my heart really wanted to. But honestly my body was saying no. So I had a nap on the grass while the guys packed up after lunch, then got in the van with Wilbert again. A number of riders had taken the vans to lunch and were doing the second climb, and some were not riding either climb. I may have been the only one who just rode the first one.

We drove down the valley to the Po Plain again, south a little, then up the same road as yesterday back to Vinadio. It took an hour and 20 minutes and I slept part of the way and chatted with Wilbert the rest of the time. We are spread about equally into two hotels in town; it’s a very small village of 570 people at 900m. Wijnand already had soup ready and Blair, one of the “second pass only” guys, was the only rider there. He had tales of 20% grades, rough gravel and an amazing 40 km descent that made me wish I could’ve climbed that one as well. The Colle di Fauniera is 2,481m high and has been in the Giro d’Italia.

I had a relaxing afternoon at the hotel, helped the Bike Dreams staff with dish-washing, had more snacks, chatted, did laundry, etc. Dinner was in our hotel at 19:30, decent but a little small. Curt left early to sleep and his dessert was shared out around the table. Wilbert presented tomorrow’s stage, where we start with a giant climb back up to the French border. I am hoping to be able to do the whole stage. It’s nice and cool in this town, so I think I’ll sleep well tonight.