Tre Cime di Lavaredo Cycle Route
The Tre Cime di Lavaredo is a short but beautiful Italian road cycling route and is ideal for a cycling holiday in Italy
The Tre Cime di Lavaredo is a short but beautiful Italian road cycling route and is ideal for a cycling holiday in Italy
The Colle del Nivolet is a great Italian road cycling route and is ideal for a cycling holiday in Italy, with lots of great places to stay, and a great selection of Italian road cycling routes into the mountains to chose from nearby.
The Great St Bernard Pass, known in Italy as the Colle del Gran San Bernardo is a cycling route that looks a every inch a classic cycling route, linking Italy with Switzerland
The Timmelsjoch (Passo del Rombo) is an iconic road cycling route in Italy, and one of the most beautiful of Italian cycling routes. The road twists its way to the summit
The Livigno Pass is one of the highest paved roads in Europe and it connects the Bernina Pass in Switzerland with Livigno in Italy.
The Colle Fauniera is a mountain pass in the Cottian Alps, Piedmont, northern Italy, located at 2,480+ m elevation. It’s one of the roughest of road surfaces, but still one of the greatest of Italian road cycling climbs
As a cycling venue Yorkshire is hard to beat; whilst it may not have the endlessly long climbs of the Alps and elsewhere, it does have a plethora of savagely steep climbs
Both the Gavia and the Mortirolo Passes are full of history and pain, being well known within the Giro. Yes, this is a tough ride, but it will reward you with epic views
There are some road cycling routes that are simply iconic. You only need to see an image of this amazing road to understand why the Stelvio Pass is one such Italian road cycling legend.
When we look at how much cycling is embedded into a national culture, nowhere comes close to Italy. It truly is the beating heart of world cycling. Read more
Over time we will build up a collection of classic Italian road cycling routes and climbs for you to follow. Each route will have a downlaodable gpx file, a route description, advice and a google map. All that you need to bring is a sense of adventure and some climbing legs. Italy is a fantastic place to take a cycling holiday, and we believe that our road cycling routes in Italy are the very best.
Cycling in the Italian mountains is no easy ride, so we will also be giving you useful information to help you to make the most of your cycling trips and to help to keep you safe. Italy is an amazing country and has so much to explore. Cycling In Italy is a passion and the Italian passes are some of the toughest but most beautiful road cycling climbs in the world. It’s an area that every cyclist should visit and our route information pages will help you to do just that. Take a cycling holiday in Italy and choose a route in the Italian mountains from our selection below.
STELVIO PASS & PASSO UMBRAIL
An epic day in the saddle, cycling the legendary Stelvio pass, descending into Switzerland before climbing back via the Passo Umbrail and a final 20km descent home.
MORTIROLO PASS & GAVIA PASS
One of the toughest days cycling that you will ever have in the saddle, but definitely a great days riding, tackling these iconic Italian road cycling climbs. Def a day to remember.
COLLE DELLA FAUNIERA CYCLE ROUTE
A legendary Italian passes road cycling route, this tough climb takes you on isolated steep roads, testing the best, and rewards you with epic views and a statue of Marco Pantani
PASSO LIVIGNO CYCLE ROUTE
Another tough but rewarding day cycling the Italian mountain pass cycle routes. The Passo Livigno is a long day in the saddle, but the memories will last forever.
TIMMELSJOCH / PASSO DEL ROMBO CYCLE ROUTE
A short distance, but filled with epic views, the Passo Del Rombo of Timmelsjoch is a road cycling route classic among the Italian cycling passes. Hairpins, switchbacks and a long descent to finish.
LAGO DEL NARET CYCLE ROUTE
A long day on steep mountain roads, isolated and away from things, but rewarded with epic views and an epic descent to follow. Lago del Naret is a classic Italian cycle route.
MARATONA DLES DOLOMITES
With all loops, an 80+ miles road cycling loop in the spectacular Dolomites in Italy, based on the classic sportive event the “Maratona dles Dolomites”
GREAT ST BERNARD PASS
A classic road cycling route in the Italian mountains, one of the highest paved roads in Italy and a great days climbing,the Great St Bernard Pass is a tough but wonderful days cycling in Italy.
COLLE DEL NIVOLET
A tough mountain climb in the Italian Alps, with limited refreshments but unbelievable views.The Colle del Nivolet is a classic tough road cycling route in Italy.
TRE CIME DI LAVAREDO
A Giro classic climb and one of the most beautiful of Italian road cycling routes in the mountains. .The Tre Cime is a classic and tough road cycling route in Italy that everyone should ride.
COL DE LA LOMBARDE
A classic cycling route in Italy, taking in one of the beautiful Italian mountain passes between Italy and France. An isolated but spectacular cycling route.
COLLE DELL AGNELLO
Third highest road climb in this area of the alps and a true classic road cycling route, taking in this mountain pass between Italy and France.
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A Classic Road Cycling Route in the Dolomites
Emma Tang writes about an 80+ miles road cycling loop in the spectacular Dolomites in Italy, based on the classic sportive event the “Maratona dles Dolomites”.
My partner Grant and I have visited the Dolomites several times and our first day has often coincided with the super-tough sportive the Maratona dles Dolomites. I had often pondered whether or not I would be able to get round the long-course route (138km). Although having no desire to ride it on event day (9000 participants sounds like a nightmare to me), riding the distance appealed massively! Finally, in July 2015 we took on the challenge.
The official route starts in Corvara, taking on Passos Campolongo, Pordoi, Sella and Gardena, returning to Corvara, a second ascent of the Campolongo, on to Passo Giau. Then comes the long but not steep Passo Falzarego, up to Passo Valparola, and finally back to the start in Corvara. However, for our “Maratona day”, we completed the route by starting and finishing at our apartment, near the bottom of the Pordoi.
We set off early, the Pordoi stunning in the early morning sunlight, a wonderful climb with over 30 switchbacks, challenging but not super steep. The morning air was cool as we descended through the trees, but we were soon climbing again into sunshine, as we took the right turn onto the Sella. This is a truly beautiful section of the route, the climb more challenging than the Pordoi, with slightly steeper gradients. Your efforts are rewarded with magnificent views of the Sassolungo.
The descent to the base of the Gardena is not long, and you find yourself on the next climb before you know it.
Taking the Sella Ronda in this direction means the Gardena is climbed from its easier side. The descent to Corvara follows. It is fantastic, with long switchbacks providing superb descending fun, if you like a blast downhill! The village of Colfosco is part way down, before reaching Corvara, ideal for stocking up on water or food. Buying water at the summit of any Passo tends to come with a premium!
Next came the first ascent of Passo Campolongo, we would be hitting that again later as our last climb. The pass is short, only around 5km, but its backdrop is breathtaking and I found myself frequently glancing over my shoulder, to catch another glimpse. We descended into our starting village, Arabba, stopping here to buy water at the local bakery. Our theory of the altitude premium was proven, just 50 cents for 2 litres of water. We have paid up to 5 Euros on certain Passo summits!
Next comes Passo Giau, the toughest but most spectacular climb on the route, and also my favourite. A beautiful valley road where tall church spires decorate the mountainside takes you to the right turn, where you head to Selva di Cadore, the foot of the Giau. The Giau starts with a real kick, and you’ll need to have gotten your nutrition right, if not, the next 8.5km are likely to be painful! We usually stop for a hot chocolate at the rifugio, it’s deliciously thick and a good motivator to get you to the summit, but on this day we chose not to. It was going to be a long day! We admired the scenery for a short time, it would be foolish not to, with the Gusella so impressive behind the rifugio. The descent to Pocol is quite technical, with varying gradients, and some gravelly sections where road repairs had recently been carried out. Combine that with a large group of slightly insane motor bikers, you certainly have to take care on this descent.
The penultimate climb is the Falzarego, from its longer but shallower side. It was fairly late afternoon by this point, and we agreed to regroup on the plateau before the rifugio at Passo Valparola’s summit. The view is a picture postcard, the panorama stretches out across the Alta Badia region. It is quite a long descent to La Villa, but the surface is good with some newly surfaced sections.
Next was the slight uphill drag back to Corvara. However, we later realised that at this point we should have taken a right turn up to the Muro del Gatto, a final sting in the tail of the official Maratona route, with a leg draining 19% section! Never mind, that’s a climb we will have to save for next time!
We soon reached Corvara, and I was thrilled to be feeling good, even with all those Passos in the legs. Just one more to go, the second ascent of the Campolongo, which gave us no difficulties.
I’d asked Grant to take a photo of me at the summit of each Passo, as a memoir of the day. I was still smiling on Campolongo photo number 2! Just one last descent to Arabba and a short climb to bend 7 of the Pordoi to reach our apartment. I clocked 8 hours riding time, with the Garmin telling us we had ridden 84 miles and tackled over 12900 feet of climbing. A long, but fantastic day!
For information on the official sportive and route go to www.maratona.it, or go to www.stillbiking.com for further writing on our cycling in the Dolomites.
Distance and ascent: 100km and 3897 metres climbing
Route
Click below for gpx files of
100km route & longer loops
The Tre Cime di Lavaredo is a short but beautiful Italian road cycling route and is ideal for a cycling holiday in Italy
The Colle del Nivolet is a great Italian road cycling route and is ideal for a cycling holiday in Italy, with lots of great places to stay, and a great selection of Italian road cycling routes into the mountains to chose from nearby.
The Great St Bernard Pass, known in Italy as the Colle del Gran San Bernardo is a cycling route that looks a every inch a classic cycling route, linking Italy with Switzerland
When we look at how much cycling is embedded into a national culture, nowhere comes close to Italy. It truly is the beating heart of world cycling. Read more
The Timmelsjoch (Passo del Rombo) is an iconic road cycling route in Italy, and one of the most beautiful of Italian cycling routes. The road twists its way to the summit
The Livigno Pass is one of the highest paved roads in Europe and it connects the Bernina Pass in Switzerland with Livigno in Italy.
The Colle Fauniera is a mountain pass in the Cottian Alps, Piedmont, northern Italy, located at 2,480+ m elevation. It’s one of the roughest of road surfaces, but still one of the greatest of Italian road cycling climbs
As a cycling venue Yorkshire is hard to beat; whilst it may not have the endlessly long climbs of the Alps and elsewhere, it does have a plethora of savagely steep climbs
Both the Gavia and the Mortirolo Passes are full of history and pain, being well known within the Giro. Yes, this is a tough ride, but it will reward you with epic views
There are some road cycling routes that are simply iconic. You only need to see an image of this amazing road to understand why the Stelvio Pass is one such Italian road cycling legend.