The ride over Predil Pass to see the Giro was up, up and more up with a 14 % grade at it's steepest parts! Fortunately for us (and not so much for the fellow bike tourers we passed) we did not have to carry our tour bags with us because we would return to our apartment in Bovec for another nights stay.
When we arrived up and then down to the other side of the pass we found that yes there would definitely be others joining us for a view of the final climb up Sella Nevea to the finish. So many people and we still had another 10 km to ride to the site of the steepest switchbacks of the finish. We found a place to park our bikes and walked up a narrow road that soon became a very steep 20% grade of switchbacks that would be a great place to see the suffering racers climb!
So exciting and fun to be out there with everyone celebrating! We would still have a 3 hour wait before the racers would come bye and then it happens so fast! You always know when they are getting close, first the racers support cars parade through and then the motorcycles police with sirens and lights flashing and the helicopter hovers above filming the fans, everyone is cheering and waving flags hooting and hollering Alle! Alle!
Because the race starts so late the finish is late, around 6:00. So as soon as the racers pass everyone heads out, riding to there cars or in our case up and over the pass again to Bovec. We were lucky the weather held out and it was all fine and not too cold of a decent back down to our digs in Bovec.
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