Ultimate bicycle tour of the Dolomites with giant passes that include Stelvio, Gavia & Giau for a total of 15 passes in 6 days:
- Passo Cereda 1369m
- Passo Rolle 1970m
- Passo San Pellegrino 1918m
- Passo Giau 2236m
- Passo Falzarego 2105m
- Passo Valparo 2192m
- Passo Gardena 2121m
- Passo Sella 2240m
- Passo Pordoï 2239m
- Passo Campolongo 1875m
- Passo Pinei 1437m
- Passo dello Stelvio 2758m
- Umbrailpass 2503m
- Passo Gavia 2652m
- Passo del Tonale 1884m
Pale di San Martino is the largest massif of the Dolomites & a UNESCO World Heritage Site
More bicycle tours with climbing focus & many details about the daily plan.
Passo della Stelvio
Highest finish of any Grand Tour—featured in Giro 13 times 1953–2022. And one of world’s four most famous bike climbs.
Started from Merano on a route with gentle climb until Prato Allo Stelvio: small town busy with bicyclists fueling at cafés ahead of the big climb.
There was supposed to be a bakery in town that I could not find. Shopped for more Nutella biscuits at Coop market instead.
All I could see were huge glaciers far up in the distance:
The countdown started:
Countdown of 47 hairpin curves to reach the Stelvio—more than any climb I know:
Almost ran out of water on a hot day when I found a fountain to refill my bottles.
Last hairpin turn. Almost there:
My Biggest Climb on Strava to date at 2463m from Merano to the top of passo Stelvio.
Passo dello Stelvio 2758m. Only 12m lower than highest paved col in Europe—col de l’Iseran 2770m in French Alps which I climbed 27 August 2017 on tour of Grandes Allpes.
Brief detour for a tiny climb to the highest pass in Switzerland Umbrailpass 2503m. I will come back for proper climb in June 2024.
Western approach to Stelvio did not disappoint either:
Sellaronda
Originally a classic ski tour around the Sella massif between the four Ladin valleys of Badia, Gherdëina, Fascia & Fodom and is divided between the provinces of Südtirol, Trentino & Belluno.
On this tour I bicycled the roads around Sella crossing four mountain passes.
My starting point was Grödner Joch 2121m where I had spent the night before:
Started with a partial descent to Val Gardena:
Turned left to climb passo Sella. It was still early in the morning and not many people had arrived at the pass yet. I could see more motorcycles & buses arriving though. Took quiet moment for picture:
Pressed ahead to passo Pordoï 2239m. Too late. By the time I arrived, crowds of visitors & hikers were in the area.
Walk through the same pass later in September with an opportunity for another picture of Fausto Coppi memorial:
Finished the loop back at passo Gardena. Time to make my way to Bolzano.
Visited World War I Victory Monument:
BZ ’18-’45
one monument
one city
two dictatorships
The monument was erected on the personal orders of Benito Mussolini in South Tyrol, which had been annexed from Austria after World War I. The permanent exhibit focuses on the history of the monument, within the context of Fascism & the Nazi occupation.
Giau
Flat trail near Alleghe. But not for long. Climb 1200m was ahead of me.
Hard to put the camera away today on a route near La Marmolada—la regina delle Dolomiti:
Most passes I climbed show a countdown toward the top. Either in distance remaining or number of bends. In this case, the number started with 1 at the bottom increasing as I climbed. But I had no idea what number was at the top.
Until I reached the top after the twenty ninth bend:
Passo Giau 2236m:
Three more passes remained for the day. I was still feeling strong on the climb to passo Falzarego 2105m:
Very gentle & short climb to passo Valparola 2192m:
I was running out of steam & needed a good lunch. After the descent, I had extended stop in Corvara: large town popular with tourists. Added Nutella biscuits from Coop supermarket for the road. Refilled water bottles for final climb in afternoon heat under intense sun to passo Gardena 2121m.
Gavia
The morning rain kept all motorcycles & most other traffic away from the roads:
I had the climb & descent all to myself to enjoy the views.
Exhilarating cold descent from passo Gavia 2652m on narrow one lane road along a steep cliff:
One last passo del Tonale 1884m to finish bicycle tour. Ciao Dolomiti. See you again in two months.
Madonna del Ghisallo
I had one more day to count blessings with Madonna del Ghisallo—patron saint of cycling:
Then God created the bicycle so that man could make it an instrument of effort & exaltation on the arduous journey of life. On this hill it has become a monument to the sporting epic of our people who have always been harsh in virtue, sweet in sacrifice
Plan
Survived the long queue for coveted Panificio Luini con olive / patate / cipolle
Fueled many days on the tour with croccanti biscotti con cuore cremoso di Nutella chocolate:
| Route | Profile |
|---|---|
| Landed in MXP. Established basecamp at Moxy Milan Malpensa Airport hotel: assembled bicycle, stored bicycle bag & stored extra supplies to use on next part of trip. Continued on train to Switzerland for three bicycle tours: Tour du Mont Blanc, L’Étape du Tour de France & Cinglés du Mont Ventoux. | 7–15 June 2023 |
| Long day of travel for 13h03:25 starting with short bicycle ride from Bédoin to Carpentras for regional train to Avignon. TGV express train to Lyon. Local train to Genève, Milan & MXP. 👍 Moxy Milan Malpensa Airport hotel: basecamp to store bicycle bag & other supplies for extended stay. | 16 June 2023 5:53 |
| Rest day to visit Milan: cathedral, Panificio Luini & walk around town. Transferred late in day close to start of tour for overnight at 👍 AC Hotel by Marriott Padova. Not much to see or do in town. The price was right for the hotel. Venice would have been a little closer at much higher cost. | 17 June 2023 |
| Started early 7:56 from hotel for a short bicycle ride to train station. Train from Padova connecting in Venice to Belluno. Nice small town that I visit later at the end of trekking Munich to Venice through the Dolomites. Started on small roads between farms & orchards until Parco Nazionale Delle Dolomiti Bellunesi. Park was busy with visitor passing through on motorcycles or stopping for picnic. Big climb for the day started to ✅passo Cereda 1369m. Long descent to town for overnight at 👍 B&B Minavill: stored bicycle in room + several snack options & light dinner. | 18 June 2023 10:53 Garmin & Strava ➡️56.37km ⏩14.3km/h 🔄3h56:56 ⬆️1397m ⬇️1051m ↗️24.8m/km ⏬Ride with GPS |
| Climbed to ✅passo Rolle 1970m. Shortly after I had the option for shortcut through climb to passo Valles. Instead opted for a longer loop that climbed to ✅passo San Pellegrino 1918m. Not clear where the name came from for this pass. It was not related to the bottled sparkling water. None of the restaurants or shops even sold San Pellegrino water. Arrived the pass just as it started to rain. I went into restaurant for warm pizza lunch. Cold descent to town after rain stopped for dinner & overnight at 👍Locanda Rondolost: large room on the first floor with plenty of space to store bicycle with me. I had the turn the heat on that night to stay warm. | 19 June 2023 7:32 Garmin & Strava ➡️85.60km ⏩11.6km/h 🔄7h23:38 ⬆️2213m ⬇️2181m ↗️25.9m/km ⏬Ride with GPS |
| Big day with four passes. Started with a long climb to the popular ✅passo Giau 2236m. Several other bicycles were climbing there. At the top were plenty of motorcycles & tourist buses. It was the first pass in Italy that I see where the count to the top was by ascending number of 29 turns. Unlike the Alpe d’Huez on the week before where the count was by descending number of 21 turns, which would be the same two days later on this trip climbing to Stelvio descending number of 47 turns. Did not need a break. Continued to descend then climb to ✅passo Falzarego 2105m. This was very busy with visitors & shops. I had earned some chocolate by then. Quickly after on almost flat route was ✅passo Valparo 2192m in a scenic area with hardly any visitors. Extended stop came in Corvara: large town popular with tourists. Ate lunch at restaurant & bought a Nutella biscuits from Coop supermarket. Final climb was in afternoon heat under intense sun to ✅passo Gardena 2121m. 👍 Rifugio Frarra dormitory. | 20 June 2023 7:57 Garmin & Strava ➡️80.30km ⏩10.6km/h 🔄7h35:41 ⬆️2972m ⬇️1610m ↗️37m/km ⏬Ride with GPS |
| Sellaronda is a classic ski tour around the Sella massif between the four Ladin valleys of Badia, Gherdëina, Fascia & Fodom and is divided between the provinces of Südtirol, Trentino & Belluno. Today my plan was to bicycle the roads around the Sella crossing four mountain passes: ✅passo Gardena 2121m, ✅passo Sella 2240m, ✅passo Pordoï 2239m & ✅passo Campolongo 1875m. Gardena & Pordoï were the busiest mostly because of the extensive network of hiking trails & access via cable cars from neighboring towns. | 21 June 2023 8:06 Garmin & Strava ➡️52.38km ⏩11.7km/h 🔄4h29:23 ⬆️1694m ⬇️1695m ↗️32.3m/km ⏬Ride with GPS |
| Finished Sellaronda exactly where I had stayed the night before at Rifugio Frarra. Stopped briefly for lunch. Then it was a very long descent to Bolzano, except a short steep climb to ✅passo Pinei 1437m. Close to Bolzano the route was mostly on paved bicycle trails. I still had time to visit the city & World War II memorial. 👍 Youth Hostel Bolzano dormitory. | 21 June 2023 12:36 Garmin & Strava ➡️60.26km ⏩17.8km/h 🔄3h22:35 ⬆️409m ⬇️2258m ↗️6.8m/km ⏬Ride with GPS |
| Hostel was immediately across the street from train. Train transfer 45 minutes to Merano. Coop market for snacks to carry on the road. This was the start of my Biggest Climb on Strava to date at 2463m from Merano to the top of passo Stelvio. Route was mostly on trails at the beginning with gentle climb until Prato Allo Stelvio: small town busy with bicyclists fueling at cafés ahead of the big climb. There was supposed to be a bakery in town that I could not find or it was closed. Shopped for more Nutella biscuits at Coop market instead. Beautiful climb all the way. All I could see were huge glaciers far up in the distance. But that was all I needed to do today. That one climb. Almost ran out of water on a hot day when I found a fountain to refill my bottles. Reached ✅passo dello Stelvio 2758m: the second highest in Europe after l’Iseran 2770m in France which I climbed on Grandes Alpes tour. Brief detour into Switzerland for a tiny climb to the highest pass in Switzerland ✅Umbrailpass 2503m. I will come back for proper climb in June 2024. Beautiful descent to Bormio—another bicycle town with access to both Stelvio & Gavia. Best pizza in town at Bistrot Pizzeria Umami. 👍 Ostello Alpino dormitory. | 22 June 2023 8:49 Garmin & Strava ➡️101.11km ⏩11.7km/h 🔄8h36:33 ⬆️2594m ⬇️1725m ↗️25.7m/km ⏬Ride with GPS |
| Woke up to the sound of rain against the window. Delayed ride start by eating extra servings at breakfast hoping the rain would stop. But I also had a train to catch in early afternoon. I put on rain jacket & hoped for the best. Shortly after I started & just before the climb got steep, rain stopped. It was still cold which worked well on the climb. Roads were completely empty of bicycles & motorcycles. Reached ✅passo Gavia 2652m all to myself. Frightening descent on narrow half lane road by a steep cliff. Luckily I did not need to share the road with a single car until the road was a bit wider. Second climb to ✅passo del Tonale 1884m. I was running out of time to catch the train. Descended fast. Reached the train station with barely a minute to spare ahead of train departure. 👍 Mercure Bergamo Aeroporto. Shopped for dinner at nearby Aldi supermarket. | 23 June 2023 7:09 Garmin & Strava ➡️74.91km ⏩14.1km/h 🔄5h18:52 ⬆️2073m ⬇️2362m ↗️27.7m/km ⏬Ride with GPS |
| Total | ➡️510.93km ⏩12.5km/h 🔄40h43:38 ⬆️13,352m ⬇️12,881m ↗️26.1m/km |
| Daily average | ➡️85.16km ⏩12.5km/h 🔄6h47:16 ⬆️2225m ⬇️2147m ↗️26.1m/km |
| Short visit to count blessings at Santuario Madonna del Ghisallo, patroness of bicyclists. Returned to basecamp 👍 Moxy Milan Malpensa Airport hotel for final night on the trip. Returned to BOS next day. | 24 June 2023 11:29 Garmin & Strava ➡️21.62km ⏩12.2km/h 🔄1h46:37 ⬆️420m ⬇️414m ↗️19.4m/km |
MCCCXXV 
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