At the Red Bull X-Alps, athletes are challenged to their limits. © Red Bull X-Alps

Durogati between home advantage, lead and penalty

The Red Bull X-Alps is in full swing. South Tyroleans Aaron Durogati and Tobias Großrubatscher are also participating. The former experienced a real up-and-down experience.

June 16, 2025

From: pm/sn

South Tyrolean veteran Durogati proved once again that few can compete with him in speed hiking, becoming the first athlete to reach Turnpoint 1, Hahnenkamm. On Monday, the second day of racing at Red Bull X-Alps, the route led the 33 athletes across the Alps to northern Italy, heading for Merano 2000. Home advantage for Durogati, who fought to be the first athlete to reach Turnpoint 4. In the morning, he had a thrilling head-to-head race with German rookie Christian Schugg (GER4) to reach the next turnpoint.

The day began with a staggered start, with start times based on the prologue rankings. Both Durogati and Schugg had spent the night near Cortina. Thanks to his better placing in the one-day prologue last Thursday, Schugg was allowed to start 25 minutes earlier. Both chose different routes through the mountains. Durogati chose a 13,6-kilometer route with almost 1.400 meters of elevation gain to achieve a favorable flight position.

Change of leadership and punishment

He quickly caught up in the air. However, Schugg wasn't so easily shaken off and by midday had a narrow lead. To pass the next turnpoint at the Kuhleiten Hut, the athletes had to climb the 500-meter-long Heini Holzer via ferrata. While Christian Schugg (GER4) landed first near Turnpoint 4, Meran 2000, Aaron Durogati (ITA1) was the first to reach the Heini Holzer via ferrata and thus Turnpoint 4.

From there it was only a short glide to Turnpoint 5, Schenna. By this time, however, there had already been a change in the lead. Schugg (GER4) was now in first place, followed by Tommy Friedrich (AUT2) and the reigning champion Chrigel Maurer (SUI1) in second and third place. From here, the athletes still have 1.104 km of the remaining course to complete. Durogati and Schugg go into the next stage with a disadvantage. Both received a time penalty of three hours each because the athletes had behaved "irresponsibly with regard to their safety." The penalty was added to the mandatory night's rest on Tuesday morning. This dropped Durogati out of the top 10 for the time being, from where he intends to work his way back up with the second South Tyrolean in the field, Tobias Großrubatscher.