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In a nutshell
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Start
Finish
Countries
Route
Stages
Rest day(s)
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Santa Maria di Leuca, Puglia, Italy
Bardonecchia, Piedmont, Italy
Italy
The route follows the
Italy Unite Wild Trail
21 stages
4 days: Lucera, Rieti, Lucca, Alessandria |
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Total distance
Average distance
Total climbing
Average climbing
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2.203 km
105 km
36.800 meters
1.750 meters
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1.377 miles
66 miles
121.000 feet
5.762 feet
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Road condition
Period
Accommodation
Price
Discount
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75% paved, 25% UNpaved
Saturday August 31st, 2024
Tuesday September 24th, 2024
26 hotel nights
€ 5.995,-
€ 200,- for early registration |
Description
We have organised numerous tours in Italy; undoubtedly
one of our favourite destinations. We started in 2008
with organizing
La Bella Italia, a wonderful journey along many
major renowned Italian cities from Palermo in Sicily to
Como in the north. And since, we have returned almost
every single year to the country where the landscape is
changing continuously, the villages and towns are
charming, the people are always helpful, the roads are a
pleasant mix of challenging and scenic, the food good
and the atmosphere relaxed.
During
Tirreno-Adriatico we cycled between the idyllic
Tyrrhenian Sea and the sandy beaches of the Adriatic Sea
with a diverse palette of attractive villages and
magnificent landscapes on our way. We have linked all
famous climbs in the
Dolomites together into one single
loop of two weeks and created an alternative route
between
Milano and
San Remo that included a dozen of
major cols in the Italian-French border region.
Afterwards we thought: "now we have seen almost every
corner of Italy", till we came across the website of the
"Italy Unite Wild Trail". A journey that connects the
tip of the heel in the southeast with the mountains in
the northwest. The trail is not just one straight line
over smooth roads between the two corners of the
country, but an exciting route with hundreds of
kilometres of dirt roads, military roads, farm roads
that cross fields, steep hills, woods, national parks,
mountains and Unesco Heritage Sites.
We have renamed the tour to "Strade Italia",
a name which refers to the iconic one-day race in
Tuscany over the white gravel roads, the Strade Bianche.
This race - with probably one of the most beautiful
settings of all professional races - was won by Julian
Alaphilippe, Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej
Pogačar and Tom Pidcock in the last five editions. A few
sections of this race form a part of our course, but we
have also added an extra day in Siena
that gives you the opportunity to ride the entire course
of the Strade Bianche for professionals.
Another modification that we have made to the original
course is that we finish near Bardonecchia in stead of
Morgex. This change offers an epic finish for an epic
journey. We cycle over the notorious Colle delle
Finistre and the Strada dell'Assietta,
which offers maybe the most stunning stretch of gravel
in whole Italy. And if that isn't enough, the final
climb of the tour is the unpaved Colle del
Sommeiller, which is with 2.993 meters one of
the highest places in the Alps that you can reach by
bicycle. Literally and figuratively breathtaking.
The 1st edition of "Strade Italia" starts
Saturday August 31st,
2024 in Santa Maria di Leuca in the deep
south. The finish lies after 25 days and more than 2.200
challenging kilometres in 21 stages in Bardonecchia in
the northwest corner of Italy.
The tour is organised in September which means that we
probably will get some beautiful sunny days with
comfortable temperatures, but keep in mind : the weather
conditions in the higher parts of the Apennines and Alps
can always be unsettled.
Strade Italia is a long journey, an adventure, a
challenge, which unites Italy from the south of Puglia
to the northwest of Piedmont, with 10 regions, countless
villages and small towns crossed, places where it will
seem that time has stopped. You will immerse in the
everyday life of a nation with its many shades, made of
landscapes and characters. An epic experience, hundreds
of kilometres of dirt roads and unknown places to
discover in their natural beauty. A wonderful way to get
off the beaten track in Italy.
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The credo of Bike Dreams is : "Life is not the
dreams you have, but the dreams you realize".
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| The "Italy Unite Wild Trail" is created by
three passionated long trail cyclists from Italy. They
have setup a non-profit organization to inspire
people to cycle through all great wild areas of
Italy. For more information, please visit their website
"Italy Unite". |
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