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The Stelvio is controversial
A much less known track than the great classics of Wengen and Kiztbuhel, the Stelvio of Bormio scares many people every year.
“The start is absolutely dizzying, even if you don’t realize it on TV. In 10-15 seconds, you reach 130 km/h, you sink into a sort of canal from where you spring at 150 km/h” explains Johan Clarey on Eurosport.
“There is no respite on this slope. It’s a mixture of turns with constant pressure on the legs which are extremely tiring, especially with the icy slope. Plus, you can’t see anything, you ski in the shadow. All of this combined makes it chew you up little by little.”
This year, as if that wasn’t enough, the surface is not the same from top to bottom of the track and this poses another problem regarding the choice and settings of equipment.
The serious fall of Cyprien Sarrazin, who had brain surgery on Friday evening, who saw his season suddenly end while he was flying over the training descents, shocked all his colleagues, including Marco Odermatt.
“As an athlete, you don’t want to see images like those of Cyprien’s fall” says Odermatt.
“It will be the most difficult race of the year! The big problem: 80 percent of the track is completely icy, twenty percent is aggressive snow.
This irregularity makes it difficult to get a good fit on the skis. Yes, it’s a fight for survival from start to finish!
Sarrazin fell at exactly such an aggressive transition from snow to ice and it doesn’t seem to me to have taken too many risks.”
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