Giro d'Italia 2022

Our staff welcomes you at Malpensa Airport, Milan. Arrive a day earlier to explore Milan and adjust your travel clocks. Milan is a progressive city and has undergone a modern facelift due to it being host to the World Exhibition. You will find many funky restaurants and bars, fashion boutiques, and great museums.

We have a short drive toward the West, with the looming Alps never too far from us. Our destination is the source of the Po river, the main river that flows through Italy and provides year-round irrigation for the wonderful produce that comes from Italy. Dominating the panorama is the peak of Monte Viso – it is believed to be the inspiration for the Paramount Pictures logo. The small village of Saluzzo is situated between Torino and Cuneo, the host villages of stages 13 and 14.

Our family-run country hotel is a popular facility for hosting weddings and has an interesting history to explore. The area is also famous for its white truffle. We will enjoy a 3-night stay in the area, as we catch multiple stages of the 2022 Giro d’Italia and ride our bikes into the mountains.

Tonight, we will enjoy dinner together with a local restaurant preparing a 3-course menu of local ingredients and dishes. Some local wines to accompany your meal will be provided.

Our destination today is just down the road in a major city of the Piedmont region – Cuneo. We will set off in the vehicle to get a little closer to the base of the Alps, from where will start our rides. The main feature ride of today is up to the Italy-French border, on Colle dell’Agnello. It is the third-highest paved road of the Alps, after Stelvio and Col de l’Iseran. This is our most difficult climb of the trip if we were to measure them by length.

We return the same direction, so if you’ve had enough of the climb, or the gradients become unbearable, you may turn around. After our efforts on the summit, we will enjoy the downhill run into today’s stage finish town of Cuneo. It is only a short stage today, and a small breakaway may hold off the sprinters who will be hunting the bonus sprint points as well as line honours today. Today’s stage stages in the town of San Remo, which also host the finish of the one-day monument Milan-San Remo race each year.

After an exciting stage finish, we will return to Saluzzo where we will head into the village to get some dinner. You are welcome to choose your style. But pizza and gelato are very difficult to overlook.

After a big ride yesterday, and many climbing days ahead – we will take it a little easier today. Don’t worry, there will be some challenges on our ride if you desire. Giro d’Italia simply translates to round or lap of Italy. Today, riders will make multiple laps around Torino, the capital of Piedmont. Torino was host to the Winter Olympics and has great access to many ski resorts nearby. It too is at the foot of the Alps, the ‘pied-mont’ (foot-mountain). The city centre is buttressed between some smaller climbs, that will challenge riders as they conquer ‘Superga’ and ‘Colle Della Maddalena’ multiple times during the stage.

We will see the race from multiple vantage points as we criss-cross the course to watch riders pass multiple times. It will be another exciting day to watch the 2022 Giro d’Italia live, before we travel back and have dinner together on our last night in Saluzzo.

We will fuel up at breakfast and begin our transfer to the Eastern Alps today, we have some famous rides to complete along the way. We can see the race as they roll out from the start and head up the Aosta Valley, where the French border is marked by the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc. After watching the race depart we will take a short ride ourselves to Biella and for those wanting some climbing, the option is to ride up Oropa, a climb that the fabulous ‘Il Pirata’ made famous after having suffered a mechanical problem at the beginning of the climb, he powered past all lead riders and took the victory.

We will keep an eye on the weather forecasts so that we can find a clear day on the Stelvio. So we may change today’s itinerary to make the most of our time on the highest paved pass in Europe. It’s part of our contingency to maximise your holiday experience, by getting you to the biggest and best climbs in the best shape possible.

Our hotel tonight is in the province of Como, fittingly we have booked a renovated castle for us to indulge. We will enjoy dinner together at the castle.

It is the final rest day of the Giro d’Italia. Riders will take in massage and seek a recovery ride, with some intensity of around 80 or 90km. They need to keep their legs rolling over so that they don’t flatten out in the final week, which has a lot of climbing! For us, we have a shorter distance to cover, and definitely a lot more sights to see along the way. We won’t have any time pressure today.

We will depart on our bikes from our hotel and head for the shores of Lake Como. As we enjoy the flat roads along the lake, we can admire the surrounding mountains as they plunge into the lake. Our first stop is Bellagio which is almost the nautical centre of the lake. Bellagio is a popular tourist town, with great coffee and gelato. We can pause here to enjoy a light snack before heading up the climb to Madonna del Ghisallo. It is a natural stopping point for cyclists and was declared by a local priest as the patroness of cyclists. There is a shrine to many cyclists around the world, not only famous riders. There is also a museum next to the small chapel.

After our rides, we will travel up the valley, on the eastern side of the lake toward the highest paved pass in Europe, Passo dello Stelvio. Our hotel for the next 2-nights is situated on the course for tomorrow’s stage, which will give us time to climb the Stelvio in the morning.

We will rise early this morning and travel up the valley to Bormio, at the base of Passo dello Stelvio. Bormio is a fabulous winter playground, with access to some great ski resorts and is close to the Switzerland border. It is early in the Summer season, and many proprietors will be taking their holidays, before many, many cars, motos and cyclists descend on the town to challenge themselves or take a scenic tour of Europe’s highest paved pass.

It will be much quieter for us, as often the Eastern ascent is still under snow and it is only possible to climb from the South. Fortunately, it is a much easier climb from the South and the scenery is spectacular. There are even some flat sections before the steepest points near the summit. We return from the summit and enjoy the descent all the way back to our hotel, where we will be able to watch the race come through, before the final climb.

Tonight we will enjoy dinner at our hotel and celebrate seeing the Giro d’Italia in the Alps, and conquering the highest paved pass in Europe.

Today’s shorter stage starts not far from our hotel, although there is a significant lump between us and the start village. We ride from our hotel this morning and tackle the toughest climb in the area, tougher than the Stelvio. They call this the Passo della Foppa and is one of the most demanding climbs in professional cycling. Although, race organisers are always looking for more challenging climbs, some that include gravel.

If you are able to make good time on the climb, you will reach the start village before the riders set off. Non-riders will be transported directly to the start village to watch the riders prepare for the second important stage in the final week. Ponte di Legno is a picturesque village that connects the Valtellina valley with Val di Sole, where mountain biking is very popular.

After the stage start we will transfer to our hotel in the Dolomites.

We will step away from the race for a couple of days and fulfil some of our own cycling dreams. This is one of, if not, the greatest areas to cycle. Tourists, scientists, adventurers come to this area in their droves – all year round. Fortunately, travelling here in the shoulder season, we don’t need to share the spectacular places with as many people.

Our main ride today is over Passo San Pellegrino – don’t mistake it for the source of the popular drink. This is the pass, not the springs of San Pellegrino. None-the-less the views are stunning. We have three summits on today’s ride route, the others are Passo Valles and Passo Rolle. It is from these two passes that you have spectacular views of the Cimon della Pala – also known as the Matterhorn of the Dolomites for its rugged rock formation.

We return down to the valley floor back to our hotel and relax for the afternoon.

If you search for information about Sella Ronda, it will inform you that it is a ski circuit around the massif of the Sella mountain range. It is more than a ski route, as the road also navigate the four passes that circumnavigate the Sella Towers and Piz Boe, the highest point.

We will tackle the route in a clockwise direction, starting with the Sella Pass. The next pass we reach is the Gardena Pass, before the fun descent to Corvara, where the easiest pass of Campolongo begins. Our final climb is over Pordoi, which is often assigned the Cima Coppi prize for the Giro d’Italia – as it is one of the highest roads in Italy. Don’t miss the monument honouring Fausto Coppi on Pordoi.

Return to our hotel for a relaxing afternoon.

We’ve filled our cup with great rides and spectacular views, today we return to and add the penultimate stage of the 2022 Giro d’Italia. The finish today is up the punishing ascent of Fedaia, underneath the highest peak of the Dolomites – Marmolada. Riders will pass our hotel on their way over Passo Pordoi, on the Sella Ronda. So you have the option to relax this morning, enjoy a ride this morning and return to watch the race from near to our hotel – and follow all the closing stages on TV, even at a local bar.

Alternatively, you may like to watch the race on the steep section of the Pordoi climb before returning to the hotel. Finally, you have the option to ride to the finish area under the shadows of Marmolada and watch the stage finish.

We will depart from our hotel this morning and head straight to Verona for this evenings time trial. The finish is at the famous Arena, where Opera shows year-round. Sopranos and Tenors will step aside for the arrival of the riders in their speed suits aboard their time machines. Will a strong climber be in the Maglia Rosa with the threat of a stronger time-trialist? The 17 km circuit through Verona, with a summit mid-course. The technical finish will challenge riders on bikes that like to go straight.

Be there for the celebrations of the 2022 Giro d’Italia as the never-ending trophy is awarded to the winner of Italy’s Grand Tour.

Sadly, our cycling holiday to the 2022 Giro d’Italia has come to an end. In your departure, we thank you for choosing Bikestyle Tours, especially at this time. The last 2-years have been beyond comprehension. We extend our welcome to all of our return guests with a lifetime discount on future trips. It is a pleasure to welcome you to our boutique travel company, specialising in fulfilling cycling dreams – we trust that you take with you incredible memories.

We will transfer our guests to Malpensa Airport near Milan for your connecting travel. Milan is easily reached from the airport by train, should you wish to stay a few days longer. If you are departing today, ensure that your flight departs after 1400hrs, so that you have plenty of time to check in and process through customs.