A Dolomite epic: Italy’s ultimate bike ride

We’ve been incredibly lucky to have had the chance to ride in some of the most beautiful countries in the world, but there’s always been one that stands out: Italy.

So when we started thinking about where we would go to put together the ultimate bike ride, it seemed the obvious choice. Steeped in cycling history, laced with incredible roads, and beautiful from every angle - this was the perfect place to design our ultimate cycling route.

Hank and I had come to the Dolomites, a stunning mountain range in northern Italy that’s home to some of the most iconic climbs in cycling. We’d plotted a 120km route, taking in four classic climbs of the Giro d’Italia: the Pordoi, the Giau, the Falzarego and the Fedaia. All told, our route featured 3,000m of climbing. Yep, this was going to be a tough one – not everyone’s dream day on the bike, that’s for sure. But in our book, you can’t have an ultimate ride without some epic climbs, exhilarating descents and breathtaking mountain scenery. No pain, no gain, right?

And it wouldn’t be the perfect Italian ride without a pair of quintessentially Italian bikes. Well, without blowing our own trumpet too much, I’d say that on that front, we crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s. We’d got our hands on a pair of beautiful Colnago C68s, equipped with Campagnolo components. These were Italian stallions through and through.

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The Campagnolo-equipped Colnago C68 seemed the perfect tool for the job

From our start point in Canazei, we headed straight up the Passo Pordoi. This beast of a climb is 30km long and averages a 6% gradient. The top is over 2,000m up, and to get there, we snaked through 28 switchbacks – more than Alpe d’Huez!

The Pordoi has some fantastic Giro d’Italia history. It was first used in the race in 1937, when the legendary Fausto Coppi battled over the crest of the climb first. In fact, he did so on five occasions during his racing career. When he died in the 1960s, the race organisers decided to honour him by creating a special prize: the Cima Coppi. Every year, this is awarded to the rider that crests the highest point of the Giro’s route first. Of course, what that point is depends on the course for any given year, but on 14 occasions it's been the Pordoi.

The Giro heads up this climb from north to south, where the climb is shorter and steeper. We were heading up from the south, the longer, gentler side, and in my opinion, the prettier of the two.

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The Pordoi was the first climb of the day

It was May, which is a fantastic time to ride the Dolomites – it’s pretty much empty, you’re not constantly contending with cars, and it’s warm enough to ride in summer kit. Best of all, the snow lingers up in the mountains, giving you that incredible sense of climbing into a different altitude and a different climate.

As you can imagine, I made short work of Hank to claim the inaugural GCN Cima Coppi, but I was good enough to wait for him at the top before we took on the descent (I’m nice like that). And oh boy, what a descent. The views were amazing, and the tarmac was perfect: smooth, fast-rolling, but with velcro levels of grip in the corners.

After winding through the valley, we began winding our way up the Passo Giau, a 9.5km monster: at a relentless 10% gradient, this climb offers no let-up. Definitely our toughest of the day. This beast has been a feature of the Giro since 1973, when Eddy Merckx rode to the top on his way to his fourth overall victory in the Italian Grand Tour. But the climb wasn’t actually tarmacked until the 1980s, which just goes to show that gravel has been part of cycling for far longer than we might realise.

History lesson done, it was time to stamp on the pedals and make Eddy proud. Well, I thought so at least. Hank seemed pretty happy chugging along, making a few nonsense remarks about ‘making the most of it’ and ‘really taking it all in’... excuses, excuses. See you at the top, Hank.

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The Giau has settled many a Giro rivalry – now it was our turn

The downside of riding at this time of year is that you can’t count on the mountain cafes being open. Our planned cafe stop at the top of the Passo Giau was closed. Damn. So much for a ristretto with a view. I wasn’t looking forward to breaking the news to Hank when he (eventually) caught up with me – the poor bloke had been banging on about having a panini for the past half an hour.

After another thrilling descent, we were onto our third climb of the day: the Passo Falzarego. In full, this climb is one of the longest in the Dolomites – it’s a whopping 20km long. But today, we’d only be tackling the final 11km of the climb. At a 5% average, this one was a holiday compared to the climbs we’d tackled so far, and the climb we had ahead of us. It was a good chance to take in the scenery and savour these beautiful bikes.

Eventually, we found a cafe that was open, and we tucked into some well-earned panini. We were going to need it: ahead of us lay the daunting Passo Fedaia, 14km long and 2,036m high.

Since this was the final climb of stage 20 in the 2022 Giro, I decided we needed to make our own summit finish on this climb. Pretty quickly, I’d left Hank behind. After all the times he's dropped me, it seemed only fair. But in the mid-section of the climb, it ramped up, and my speed slowed. This wasn’t helped by the road surface: in preparation for the Giro, the road was in the middle of being resurfaced, leaving only rough gravel. That was going to hurt my segment time.

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Unfinished tarmac made the Fedaia even tougher than usual

This climb is a really tough one. Long, straight sections, where your progress seems painfully slow. It's the type of climb that is incredible to watch the pros attack - you can bet there will be fireworks whenever the Giro heads to the Fedaia.

Hank and I were reunited at the summit. High fives out of the way, we turned our bikes down the mountain and headed back towards Canazei. What a day, and what a ride.

We’d both found our limits, in our own ways. It might not have been the cafe-laden cruise that Hank was expecting, but as we enjoyed a beer back in Canazei we both agreed that it was one spectacular day of cycling. An ultimate bike ride indeed.