When Francesco Frezzato won the inaugural High Altitude World Championships in Arabba, he not only beat the competition by 2 hours and 20 minutes but also delivered an impressive performance on the route segments.
He claimed the daily KOM on Strava for all eight counting segments, surpassing the rest of the (non-participating) field by more than 19 minutes that day. Several pro teams were riding the same day as the event. Remember, HAWC is a self-supported event where riders climb more than 5,500 meters across eight cols, each over 2,000 meters, with twelve hours to complete the route. Other non-participating riders could tackle the segments with fresh legs and go all out.
Damian Caruso comparison
Pro rider Damiano Caruso frequently rides the cols included in HAWC24. While he has no recorded times on Passo Gardena and Passo Fedaia, his all-time bests on the other six segments only surpass Frezzato’s one-day effort by a bit more than 11 minutes. Notably, 6 of those minutes were gained on Valparola, which on the day of HAWC24, was very busy and had several stops for road work.
