Pictures participants on Stelvio pass
The checkpoint 3 of the Sun Trip Europe makes the participants go up to 2760m! One of the highest passes in the Alps! In the end, 22 of the participants succeeded in this climb, many of them under unfavourable weather conditions, but all of them will have fantastic memories of this passage to the top of the Italian Dolomites.
Leader of the checkpoint : July 3 – Emil Barbut
In the Sun Trip legend! Emil Barbut reached the summit of the Stelvio pass (Italy), today at 5:55 pm.
He was able to charge his battery this morning with solar energy, but the whole climb was made under clouds and it was under a heavy rain that he reached the summit, at 2757 meters of altitude!
July 4 – Jean-Marc Dubouloz
When Jean-Marc opened his eyes this morning at 5.30am, under the Stelvio pass, he was worried to find the rain announced. After 350km done yesterday, under the clouds, his battery was quite empty. But he knew that he needed a nearly full tank to start the climb.
Indeed, unlike Emil Barbut, who has a pedal motor, Jean-Marc uses a wheel motor. It is impossible for him to ride economically. There is only one possible option: to ride very fast and take breaks. Without the possibility of recharging this morning, he would have been stuck here, as the weather forecast was bad over the Alps.
But luck was with him. He was able to recharge at the campsite, from 6am to 9am, before setting off at 30km/h on the climb! 15km later the battery was almost empty and the engine was over 100 degrees! But the sun was still shining. A 1h30 break halfway up the slope allowed him to regain just enough energy to make it through the last 10km of the climb, which he rode at an average of 20km/h!
At the summit, at 2760m, he almost overheated but he passed, at midday, about 18 hours behind Emil Barbut. He certainly lost some time on this climb of the Stelvio but Jean-Marc knew that his wheel motor would allow him to regenerate a good part of his battery in the long descent, unlike Emil’s. “The adventure is not over, I can still come back!” he exclaimed at the summit, relieved to have passed the Stelvio obstacle.
The leaders on the Top of Stelvio : video
Mix of photos of the other participants who finished the stage on 9 August.
