Milano-Rome is one of the most infamous races in OCM history. It was the only race of over 300 kilometres, it was extremely challenging, and it has only been ridden two times, in season 12, its introduction year, and in season 13. The race started in Milan, in front of the famous cathedral, and would head southward immediatley. The shortest route cutted right through the Appenines, which resulted in a route filled with climbin...
Read moreMilano-Rome is one of the most infamous races in OCM history. It was the only race of over 300 kilometres, it was extremely challenging, and it has only been ridden two times, in season 12, its introduction year, and in season 13. The race started in Milan, in front of the famous cathedral, and would head southward immediatley. The shortest route cutted right through the Appenines, which resulted in a route filled with climbing, with a total elevation of almost ten (!) kilometers. The race would finish in front of the Pantheon, where even the hot girls giving out the prizes couldn't cheer up the overly-exhausted riders. The first edition was on a beautiful spring day in season 12, with a cool northern breeze, which helped the riders uphill. Only 30 riders participated, interesting enough only Danes, and the race went pretty well. Børge Bachmann of team Vern beat his colleague Erich Lund of Team Zyte by 4 minutes, after getting rid of him on the second last climb of the day. He finished in what remains, and probably will remain, a track record of 8 hours and 41 minutes. The critics were fairly positive about this new, extra challenging race in the OCM tour. The next season, 20 teams participated, a massive improvement, considering that the last edition had only 5 participating teams. Conditions where far worse this time. the day started of cloudy, with a strong, storm-like wind coming from the sea. La Gazetta dello Sport, the organzing party, was concerned about the riders safety, but officials of Meteo Italia convinced him that the storm would cease later that day. To this day, that is still considered the greatest mistake in the meteorological history of Italy. Not only gained the storm in power, it also started raining. The organisation tried to cancel the race, but headsets were nonexistent at that time, so it was impossible to reach the riders. The race was won eventually by Antonius Robben of TeamLegend, in a time vastly worse than the year before: 11 hours and 29 minutes. Having departed at exactly 6am, Antonius finished at 17:29 in the afternoon, which was later than anyone the year before. however, he was lucky, as riders where still coming in at 22:00 PM, when he went home. The last rider who finished was Efrain Tuthill of speedje, together with 3 of his teammates, at 13:54 PM the next day, after they'd spent the night in a hotel, drinking heavily , trying to get warm again. Leonides Quintero and Aberlardo Keiva of Team viva la alcarria where found 5 days later under a bush, halfway the route, huddled together for warmth and almost starved to death. They'd survived from rainwater and eating bugs.
The race left its scars, both in cycling and in the rest of the world. The OCM board almost immedeatly decided that the race should never be ridden again, not only because of its dangers but also because of respect for the hardships the riders had to face. Silvio Berlusconi, CEO of Meteo Italia at the time, had to resign, forcing him to search another career. Team Ramsay1991, despite finishing second, ceased cycling immedeatly after the horrendous race. To this day, very few or even no races have matched the level of terror experienced by the riders in Milano-Rome
