First place in 12 Days Europe Rally

Written by

So the 12 Days Rally is done and dusted and in the rally books. 12 days of riding through 22 countries of about 13.000 kilometers. Visiting 123 bonus point locations. Numerous twisted roads and a spectacularly performing K1600GT that never missed a beat. I avoided most of the bad weather that haunted the continent and devastated Slovenia and parts of Austria, riding in sunshine in moderate temperatures for most of the time. There could be lots of tales to tell and I will decide later if I’ll do that. However, I have made a vow to myself to not comment on details of the rally and how it was organized. A gentleman never tells.

Some of the places were great locations though. I had managed to carve out a plan that combined most of the high combos and made only two small errors (one wrong picture and one transcription error that cost me two combos). But all in all the plan was a good one and very well executed.

A big thank you goes to Stefan and Simmerl had formed the “Hutzlmandl Service Team” and changed my rear wheel/tyre and did an oil change at the checkpoint at the Passo Tonale on day 5. I had no technical or physical issues (thanks to my fitness trainer Thomas) and kept the quick pace I showed during the Iron Butt Rally, even keeping the long, generous rest breaks.

My plan to travel super light with only one top case and a small bag worked out quite fine. A thanks also to the organizers for putting together this event and to IBA Benelux President Michiel for hosting a cozy start and finish event.

Here is a selection of some of the 123 locations I visited and some additional pictures I took:

Climbing up 255 stairs of a former blast furnace in Duisburg.
Croatian coast in Zadar.
Group picture in Dobrun, Bosnia. Worth 8000 points if five riders are present. Not.
Drina River, Bosnia.
Tara Bridge, Montenegro.
Salerno by night.
At the tip of the Italian boot: Calabria.
Iconic Castel del Monte, Puglia. Built for Friedrich II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Pope Francis had no time to receive me, they said. Never mind.
Hutzlmandl’s Service Team in action.
Simmerl and Stefan at the pit stop.
Getting caught in a hailstorm on a mountain in Switzerland
Casino in Monaco
Col de la Bonette, highest pass in Europe, too windy to take a picture standing
Time for a chat with Eric after a veeery quick ride together
Peine del viento, San Sebastián
Soaked at “Land’s End”of Bretagne, France

Comments

5 responses to “First place in 12 Days Europe Rally”

14/08/2023

zed14

Well done.

Reply
14/08/2023

Andreas Mihm

Congratulations!

Reply
14/08/2023

David Edmund Badcock

Congratulations Robert, plan the ride, ride the plan. Well executed and well deserved win.

Europes Top Dog.

Reply
14/08/2023

Thomas Ennemoser

Hallo Robert!

Chapeau! Großartige Leistung und ein cooles Serviceteam!

Gruß
Thomas

Reply
27/12/2023

The 2023 Motorbiking Review | hutzlmandl on tour

[…] As described in the dedicated rally report, at the checkpoint, my mate Stefan organized a fantastic pit stop that included a wheel/tyre and oil change. On the second leg, I visited the whole of Italy, crossed by boat to Albania and worked my way upwards back to the Netherlands, overcoming some critical situations that should not form part of any rally on purpose. As mentioned in the report, I will not speak about these incidents in public. I tried to make the best out of it and maintained my steady pace, having fun on many of the twisting roads such as the Dalmatian coast road in Croatia. Although my execution was not flawless (I rode past a huge combo location in the rain on the first day), I had most points at the finish at won this probably one-time rally by a large margin. In the end I had visited 22 countries in 12 days: The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Andorra, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, San Marino, The Vatican, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. The report can be found here. […]

Reply