The Passo Gavia will be remembered for Andy Hampsten's 1988 attack in the snowstorm that set up his victory in the Giro d'ltalia. On that fateful day, Franco Chioccioli lost his pink jersey and a number of riders finished the stage in team cars many frozen to continue riding.
"Everyone knew it was going to be a hard climb, but no one - racers or directors - really knew how hard. Everyone was freaked out. I mean, I'd already been shivering uncontrollably on one of the earlier descents. There was no sunshine - it was nothing but rain and snow all day long. And yeah, some guys were saying, "Don't attack." The conditions were terrible. The riders really wanted to go slow and not race, but that wasn't happening.
I could see that everyone else was terrified, so I just said to myself, "I'm going to do it. I'll save five per cent for the descent and go for it. I attacked right at the base because I could see that a lot of people were worried.
7-Eleven were the only team that had adequate warm clothing. We had a guy waiting at the top with a musette bag full of warm clothes for every rider. The team had gone shopping at ski stores before the stage and got wool hats and Gore-Tex ski gloves or diving gloves. They bought every useful item you could think of.
Prior to that day, cars didn't have rain bags - the bag of warm, wet weather gear for riders that sits in the team car in case of the unexpected. That was a 7-Eleven innovation. DS Mike Neel also gave us a great pep talk. He sat us down and told us this was our day. He said that it was snowing up there, but that the race was still going to happen, that they were ploughing the snow off the road, so it was going to be OK.
Psychologically, no one can explain how tough it was - 25km of descending in freezing snow and sleet. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Everyone who crossed the finish line that day had to dig incredibly deep to get there. When I talk to other riders today, it's never, "So and so did this," or, "Yeah, Breukink won." It's, "Wow, you were on the Gavia in '88."
-Andy Hampsten
Pedro Delgado survives
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