Bergrennen Wolfurt – Buch: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The course is a pure point-to-point climb on the L14. It starts in Wolfurt on the Bucher Straße near the Bregenzerstraße junction at 431 metres. From there the road runs through the Ippach tunnel and over the Ippach bridge along the wooded flank above the Bregenzerach, past Ebnet, Bach, Rohner and Höfling. In the final metres it leaves the through road and runs out over the village streets of Heimen to the Buch village hall at 720 metres.

The climbing arrives in three steps. Straight after the start, close to a kilometre rises at a good five percent; then, between kilometre one and two and a half, comes an almost flat section where the road gains only about eleven metres. From kilometre 2.45 the heart of the race begins: 2.15 kilometres averaging 6.2 percent with pitches over ten percent. After a brief easing, a further climb of 1.5 kilometres at just under six percent runs from kilometre five to the line. There is virtually no descending anywhere, just seven metres of it.

The race is held on open roads. The series races count as training events, the road is not closed and normal traffic rules apply. Classes are started two minutes apart and the result is the finishing order within each class. Up in Buch, the prize giving for the whole series follows on the Sunday afternoon.

Pacing Strategy

Allow 18 to 28 minutes for the 6.6 kilometres and their near 300 metres of climbing, depending on your level. This is a classic threshold effort: long enough that overreaching gets punished, short enough that holding back costs time. Sixty-seven percent of the course climbs and another 13 percent climbs steeply; only 14 percent is flat.

The key lies in the flat section between kilometre one and two and a half. There the road levels, the speed rises and the temptation is to push on with the group instead of getting organised for the main climb. This is where most riders lose the race: they arrive at the foot of the 2.15-kilometre middle section with their heart rate already pinned and have to let the wheel go.

That middle section from kilometre 2.45, at 6.2 percent with pitches over ten percent, is what decides it. Ride it at the top edge of what you can hold for a quarter of an hour, and keep something back for the final climb from kilometre five. Because classes go off two minutes apart and the finishing order is what counts, you are racing your direct rivals rather than the clock: here, looking back is genuinely part of the tactics.

Training plan for Bergrennen Wolfurt – Buch: 12-week build

Plan on an effort of roughly 18 to 28 minutes. The demand is mostly steady, sitting at or just above threshold, but it is broken twice, once by the flat middle section and once by the ramps over ten percent. You need both a robust threshold and the ability to find your rhythm again after a short surge.

The race turns on the 2.15 kilometres from kilometre 2.45 and the closing 1.5-kilometre climb from kilometre five. Those are two blocks of roughly ten to 15 and six to ten minutes at the limit, the second of them on already tired legs. Hill intervals of exactly those lengths, ideally as a double block with a short break between, reproduce the race almost one to one.

Underneath sits the threshold work itself: blocks of two to three times twelve to 20 minutes at FTP, ridden uphill rather than on the flat, because cadence and seated position feel different on a gradient. Over-under intervals help with the transition from the flat middle section into the main climb, which is precisely where that shift is demanded.

On conditions: in Vorarlberg, eleven in the morning in early September is often already warm, and the climb runs along a wooded flank with constantly changing shade. More important still, the road stays open and oncoming traffic is possible. Practise holding a reliable line to the right even at race pace, and ride the climb once beforehand if you can: a hill climb on an unfamiliar, unclosed road costs confidence, and confidence costs time.