How to train for Ötztaler Radmarathon

What this event asks of you

The Ötztaler is four passes in a loop from Sölden, and the order matters. The Kühtai is first and steep, and the field rides it fast after a long descent out of Sölden. The Brenner is the longest and the gentlest, a false flat into the wind where groups form and riders eat too little because it feels like recovery. The Jaufenpass is long and steady. Then comes the Timmelsjoch, the highest point of the day, climbed last on legs with the whole route already behind them, with cold air near the top and weather that can change inside an hour.

The climbing total is the headline, but the problem is where it sits. Most riders can climb the Kühtai well. The question is what they can still produce on the Timmelsjoch, and that is a durability question answered months earlier. The plan needs long rides with a hard climb placed at the very end, time at tempo on long steady gradients, and a fuelling habit that survives the Brenner, where eating is easy and often skipped. Carry clothing for the top of the Timmelsjoch even if the valley is warm.

The day by rider level

When your plan has to start

Counted back from the event date. If the organiser moves the date, these move with it.

Key climbs

1. 1Kühtai
2. 2Brenner
3. 3Jaufenpass
4. 4Timmelsjoch

Gradient, length and where each climb sits in the day will come from the route engine once the organiser's GPX is loaded. Until then this list is hand-written from the route, with no figures attached.

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