Cycling | City Hill Climb Salzburg: 900 meters as the future of cycling?

If you love your bike, you push it? The starters had to fight. Photo: Igor Schifris 900 meters can be damn long when they lead up to Hohensalzburg Fortress with a gradient of up to 32 percent. In the men's final, even the last few meters were a test for Filip Lepka and Maks Alfred Barret Maunz. The two had separated themselves from their competitors on the gravel climb and only had to go through a hairpin bend into the inner courtyard of the fortress. Then they both fell. »We both knew that the last corner was by far the most important. I then tried to poke inside. “Unfortunately, our handlebars got tangled up,” said Lepka, describing the scene.

Barret Maunz was the first to get back on his feet and push his bike towards the finish. Only in the last few meters did the Austrian, who competes at Continental level, try to climb back up - and lost crucial seconds in the process. Lepka, also traveling for an Austrian Continental team, had long since been back in the saddle. With powerful kicks, the Czech caught up with his rival, passed him and won the final.

The race was a spectacle for the spectators: they were able to follow the individual competitions of the women, men and young people via video screens in the start and finish area. Several camera teams had fixed positions along the way, and a camera motorcycle rode right next to the drivers. A possible slipstream advantage for riders close behind the motorcycle was negligible. In the steepest places the speed was barely more than five kilometers per hour. Gravity was much stronger than the headwind.

And so on the steepest section, a gravel section interrupted by flat stone thresholds, you could see riders fighting primarily for their balance. Some sought support on the walls of the fortress. Others had to get off because the rear wheel spun or slipped on the gravel. “It’s of course a challenge,” admits race organizer Gerhard Schönbacher in an interview with “nd”. »But the racing drivers tell me that they have a lot of fun doing it. And some tell me that if they don't manage to get up on the bike one year, they come back the next year and try again."

Like Elisa Winter. The Austrian, who is active in road races this season for the British Continental racing team Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team, was already there two years ago. »Back then I didn't dare to drive all the way to the top. “It worked today,” she said, beaming. It actually went very well: Winter won the women's elite competition. »It's just overwhelming here. The spectators cheer you on massively. “It gives you wings,” she enthusiastically described the atmosphere.

Organizer Schönbacher actually achieved a coup with the unusual race. The Austrian used to be a road professional himself, two Tour de France participations and one at the Vuelta are among the highlights of his sporting career. He then organized cycling races, including the Crocodile Trophy mountain bike stage race in Australia.

Years ago he tried to launch the Middle East Peace Tour with stages in Jordan, Egypt, Israel and Palestine. The race was intended as a means of communication in the crisis region. But then no one wanted to guarantee the safety of the participants, especially not the Israeli ones. “Unfortunately we had to cancel the project,” Schönbacher reflects.

The City Hill Climb Salzburg is now his latest venture. Ultimately, the race is a post-Covid birth. When it was possible to travel again, but not too far, Schönbacher went on holiday with his wife to Salzburg. »On the last day we hiked up to the fortress. When we were up there, I said to my wife: 'I think I'll do a bike race up here.' Then I thought about how I could do that for 24 hours and finally activated my entire network right up to the top of the city," he says.

Mayor Bernhard Auinger is also enthusiastic about the race. He also wants to offer sporting events to the residents and guests of Mozart's city with its many cultural highlights. The SPÖ politician came to the final again this time and watched how Lepka and Barret Maunz duel.

He is particularly pleased that junior classes from U9 up to the elite classes for women and men tackle the up to 32 percent steep route to the fortress on the same day. “I believe that sport needs a certain stage,” he says, referring to the baroque ambience at Chapter Square, where the start takes place. “It’s not enough to just promote young sports, we need events like this where young people can look up to the elite.”

36 trophies are available for the races in twelve different classes. For the youngest members of the U9, the race itself presents fewer problems than climbing to the top step of the winner's podium. But this hurdle is also overcome with arms, hands and knees. And quite appropriately, the bells of the nearby cathedral ring during the award ceremony.

Schönbacher believes his model is one with a future. »I was looking for something where I wouldn't have any regulatory problems. I would love to organize street races, but it's almost impossible with the traffic and the cost of barriers and security. I think the future will be in inner-city races, in cities that are car-free," he argues.

At the City Hill Climb, only 900 meters need to be closed off. »I inform the five people who live upstairs every year and then invite them to the guest tent to gossip and eat. We don’t have any problems with that at all,” says Schönbacher.

Mayor Auinger agrees. »We have very little effort, we just make a direct mailing beforehand so that the companies are informed accordingly. It's a very compact event. There are hardly any complaints.”

Of course, not every city has an old fortress nearby. It won't be possible to shrink every classic race down to such a format. Schönbacher knows that too. »Paris-Roubaix or the Tour of Flanders will not be shortened or made into a circular route. But if you want to organize something new, you can't ignore smaller circuit races," he says. And immediately suggests how it could work: “In larger cities, you block off a circuit of seven to ten kilometers in the car-free zones. This is also very interesting for the audience.«

Such a criterion with several laps also has the advantage that organizers can react more easily to weather conditions such as heat or hail: you simply drive a few laps less or can interrupt without any problems. The supply of water and means of cooling or heating is also easier to organize. In any case, Mayor Auinger also recommends the compact format to other cities.

Schönbacher actually wants to expand. »I lived in Belgium for a long time. The wall of Geraardsbergen or the Koppenberg would be something," he says, referring to two legendary climbs on the Tour of Flanders.

And in memory of the former Peace Tour project, a city mountain race in Jerusalem would also be an attractive idea. A UCI commissioner from Israel was already in Salzburg as an observer. However, the prerequisite for a race there would be peace in the region. Elections will take place in Israel at the end of October. It remains to be seen whether the political conditions for such a project will then become more favorable.

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