GRANFONDO FELICE GIMONDI TRAINING GUIDE: 162KM THROUGH THE BERGAMASQUE ALPS

Bergamo is one of those cities that makes you wonder why you ever start a sportive anywhere else. The Citta Alta sits on its hill above the Lombardy plain, the morning light catches the medieval walls, and somewhere below in the Citta Bassa five thousand cyclists are clipping in for a ride named after a man who won all three Grand Tours. Felice Gimondi — the last Italian to win the Tour de France until Vincenzo Nibali — grew up on these roads. The gran fondo that carries his name sends you out through the Bergamasque Pre-Alps on a course that is distinctly, unapologetically Italian: punchy climbs, fast technical descents, and a finish that rolls you back into the city with the kind of atmosphere that makes northern European sportives feel like time trials by comparison.

The lungo route is 162km with approximately 2,700m of climbing. That puts it in a specific bracket — harder than the Granfondo Campagnolo Roma, more accessible than the Maratona dles Dolomites or the Granfondo Stelvio. The climbing is concentrated into three significant ascents — Colle Gallo, Colle dei Pasta, and the signature climb to Selvino — plus a steady accumulation of shorter drags and false flats through the valleys that connect them. None of the climbs are Alpine monsters. All of them are long enough and steep enough to separate riders who are prepared from riders who assumed 2,700m would be manageable because they once rode 2,000m on a training weekend in Wales.

This guide follows the framework we use with riders inside Not Done Yet who are targeting the Gimondi and comparable mid-to-upper-tier Italian gran fondos. The training is built for the specific demands — repeated punchy climbing, May warmth in the Lombardy valleys, and a course profile that rewards pacing discipline more than raw power.

Key Takeaways

• The lungo route covers 162km with 2,700m of climbing through the Bergamasque Pre-Alps — punchy climbs of 3-8km at 6-10 per cent rather than long Alpine grinds.
• Target 2.5 W/kg minimum for comfortable completion, 3.0+ W/kg for a strong ride, 3.5+ W/kg to ride competitively.
• The Selvino climb is the signature ascent — roughly 8km at 7 per cent average with ramps to 12 per cent, arriving in the second half when legs are already loaded.
• May in Lombardy means 20-28 degrees in the valleys with direct sun — heat management and electrolyte intake are as important as climbing fitness.
• Fuel 60-80g of carbs per hour from the start and front-load hydration before thirst arrives.
• A 12-week build with emphasis on climbing repeats, sweet spot intervals, and at least two rides above 4 hours in warm conditions is the working framework.
• Bergamo is one of the finest sportive start cities in Europe — arrive a day early, ride the Citta Alta, and eat properly before race day.

Course Profile and Key Sections

The Gimondi departs Bergamo and heads north-east into the Bergamasque Pre-Alps — the band of limestone hills and valleys that sits between the Lombardy plain and the serious mountains of the Orobie range. The terrain is characteristic of this part of northern Italy: steep-sided valleys cut by rivers, towns wedged into hillsides, and roads that were built to connect villages rather than provide a comfortable gradient for cyclists. The climbs are punchy rather than endless. The descents are technical rather than long. The valleys between them are not flat — they undulate with a series of shorter drags that prevent genuine recovery.

Colle Gallo

Approximately 5km at 7-8 per cent average, maximum gradients around 10 per cent. Colle Gallo arrives in the first half of the route, which makes it the most dangerous climb on the course for pacing errors. Your legs are fresh. The group around you is still large and still fast. The gradient is steep enough to tempt you into riding at threshold, and the climb is short enough that it feels like you could push without consequences. You cannot. What you spend on Colle Gallo you will need on Selvino, and the interest rate on early over-exertion in a 162km event is punishing.

Ride Colle Gallo at 78-85 per cent of FTP. Let the aggressive riders go. The summit comes quickly, and the descent on the other side is fast and twisting — technical enough that you need concentration, not recovery. Use the climb time calculator to set your target: at 3.0 W/kg, expect roughly 16-20 minutes on this ascent.

Colle dei Pasta

Approximately 4km at 6-7 per cent average, with short ramps to 9-10 per cent. The name is better than the climb itself, but do not mistake its moderate statistics for ease. Colle dei Pasta sits between the two bigger efforts — after Colle Gallo and before Selvino — and the valley approach to it includes enough undulation to keep your legs from fully recovering. The gradient is uneven: sections of 4-5 per cent punctuated by 200-metre kicks at 9-10 per cent that spike your heart rate if you are not ready for them.

This is a rhythm climb. Find your gear, find your cadence, and hold both steady through the gradient changes. The riders who ride Colle dei Pasta well are the riders who do not react to every gradient change with a shift and a surge. At 80-88 per cent FTP, this climb costs 12-16 minutes and delivers you to the descent toward Selvino with your matches intact.

The Selvino Climb — The Signature Ascent

Roughly 8km at 7 per cent average, with sustained ramps of 9-10 per cent and maximum pitches touching 12 per cent. Selvino is the climb that defines the Gimondi. It arrives in the second half of the route when your legs are carrying the accumulated cost of everything that came before — the earlier climbs, the valley transitions, the constant undulation. The gradient is relentless without being extreme: a steady 7 per cent baseline with kicks that force you out of the saddle or into your lowest gear, depending on your fitness and your discipline.

The first 3km are the most consistent — 6-7 per cent, wooded, and shaded. This is where you set your pace. The middle section steepens: sustained stretches at 8-9 per cent with the steep ramps above 10 per cent that test your gearing and your leg speed. The final 2km ease slightly before the summit, but by this point you have been climbing for 25-35 minutes on legs that have already delivered 1,500-2,000m of elevation, and "easing slightly" feels like nothing of the kind.

At your target W/kg, the climb time calculator will show roughly 28-40 minutes depending on fitness. Your VAM on Selvino should sit between 700 and 1,000 metres per hour — at 7 per cent average, anything above 900 m/hr means you are climbing well; anything below 700 means you are grinding and need to manage the remaining distance carefully.

Pacing Selvino: 82-90 per cent of whatever FTP you have left at that point in the day. Not your fresh FTP — your degraded FTP after 100+ kilometres and 1,500+ metres of climbing. If your FTP tests at 250 watts at home, expect to sustain 210-225 watts on Selvino. Plan for that number, not the one on your training log.

The Valley Transitions

The sections between climbs in the Bergamasque Pre-Alps are not recovery zones. They are valleys that rise and fall with gradients of 2-5 per cent, punctuated by short ramps and tight corners through villages. The descents after each climb are technical — narrow roads, varying surfaces, local traffic on some sections — and demand enough concentration that you cannot simply coast and eat. The flat sections, such as they are, tend to be ridden in groups at 35-40 km/h, which is aerobically easy if you are drafting and surprisingly costly if you are not.

Use every true flat section to eat and drink. Pour water on your neck if the temperature is above 24 degrees. The transitions are where fuelling discipline wins or loses the event.

Fitness Benchmarks

Your power-to-weight ratio is the strongest predictor of how the Gimondi lungo will go. These benchmarks assume proper pacing across the full 162km, consistent fuelling, and adequate heat management for May conditions.

| Target | W/kg (sustained climbing) | Approximate Finish Time | Notes | |--------|--------------------------|------------------------|-------| | Competitive | 3.5+ W/kg | ~4:45-5:15 | Racing the climbs, strong descending, threshold on Selvino | | Strong finish | 3.0-3.4 W/kg | ~5:15-6:00 | Well-paced, controlled, climbing within sustainable limits | | Comfortable completion | 2.5-2.9 W/kg | ~6:00-7:00 | Conservative pacing, full feed zone use, steady climbing | | Finish target | 2.0-2.4 W/kg | ~7:00-8:00 | Zone 2-3 on every climb, extended stops, survival mode on Selvino |

The important caveat: these are sustained climbing watts across the full event, not a fresh 20-minute FTP test in a cool room. A rider who tests at 3.2 W/kg on a turbo trainer in February will produce closer to 2.8-3.0 W/kg on Selvino in 26-degree heat after 120km of riding. Build that degradation into your targets. The Race Predictor will give you a finish-time estimate that accounts for the full 162km profile, and the FTP zones tool will frame your training intensities against these benchmarks.

The 12-Week Training Structure

The plan follows a base-build-sharpen-taper architecture. It assumes you are riding 7-10 hours per week with a reasonable aerobic base — you can ride three hours at conversational pace without it being a notable effort. If you are starting from less than that, add four to six weeks of Zone 2 foundation before beginning week one.

Phase 1: Base (Weeks 1-4)

Volume: 7-10 hours per week. Four to five rides. Eighty per cent in Zone 2.

The base phase builds the aerobic platform that sustains 162km and three significant climbs in May warmth. The endurance floor must be high enough that five hours of riding at moderate intensity is unremarkable. If your longest ride in the past month is two hours, you need more base time before the build phase has anything to build on.

Weekly structure:

• 3-4 Zone 2 rides (60-90 minutes midweek, building the long ride on weekends)
• 1 quality session: sweet spot intervals, 2x15 minutes at 88-93 per cent FTP, building to 2x20 minutes by week 4
• 1 long ride building from 2.5 hours to 4 hours with 400-800m of climbing
• 1-2 gym sessions: lunges, step-ups, Bulgarian split squats, single-leg press, core stability (planks, side planks, dead bugs), hip flexor mobility

Key metric: By week 4, your long ride should be 4 hours with steady climbing at conversational pace and comfortable on-bike fuelling at 60g of carbs per hour. If either is still difficult, extend the base phase by two weeks. There is no shortcut past this.

Phase 2: Build (Weeks 5-8)

Volume: 9-12 hours per week. Two quality sessions. Long rides building to 5-6 hours.

This is where the training starts replicating the Gimondi's demands. The key adaptation is not a single hard climb — it is the ability to produce 85-93 per cent FTP efforts repeatedly, with incomplete recovery between them, across a long day in warm conditions.

Weekly structure:

• 2 quality sessions (detailed in the Key Sessions section below)
• 2-3 Zone 2 rides
• 1 long ride building to 5-6 hours with 1,200-2,000m of climbing
• 1 gym session (maintenance — reduce from base phase frequency)

Quality session 1 — climbing repeats: Warm up for 15 minutes, then ride 4-5 climbing intervals of 8-15 minutes at 85-93 per cent FTP with 5-7 minutes recovery. Progression: weeks 5-6, ride 4x10 minutes; weeks 7-8, ride 5x12 minutes or 4x15 minutes. Use real climbs if you have them. If you are training on flat terrain, use an indoor trainer with gradient simulation or overgeared riding. This session is the backbone of the plan. Colle Gallo, Colle dei Pasta, and Selvino demand exactly this pattern — sustained climbing separated by inadequate recovery.

Quality session 2 — VO2max intervals: 5x4 minutes at 106-115 per cent FTP with 4 minutes recovery. This builds the aerobic ceiling that makes your threshold efforts more sustainable on Selvino. When your FTP degrades after 120km of riding, a higher VO2max means the gap between your degraded threshold and your ceiling is still wide enough to keep you climbing rather than walking.

The stacked weekend. At least twice in the build phase, ride back-to-back days: 4-5 hours Saturday with significant climbing, 3-3.5 hours Sunday with threshold efforts on tired legs. The Sunday ride on pre-fatigued legs is the closest simulation of what Selvino feels like after Colle Gallo and Colle dei Pasta. It is uncomfortable. It is also the most specific preparation available.

Phase 3: Sharpen (Weeks 9-10)

Volume: 9-11 hours per week. Intensity maintained. Race-simulation rides.

The sharpen phase moves from building fitness to rehearsing the event. The physical capacity is established — now you are practising pacing, fuelling execution, and the specific effort pattern of the Gimondi.

Week 9: Include a race-simulation ride of 4.5-5.5 hours. Ride the first 90 minutes at easy-to-moderate pace, then complete 3-4 climbing efforts of 10-15 minutes at 85-92 per cent FTP with short recovery between them. The final climbing effort should be the longest — 15-20 minutes simulating Selvino on tired legs. Fuel at race rate throughout: 60-80g of carbs per hour. This ride is as much a nutritional rehearsal as a fitness test.

Week 10: Shorten the simulation to 3.5 hours with 3 climbing efforts at race-target power. Confirm your pacing targets and adjust fuelling if anything felt wrong in week 9. Retain one VO2max session of 4x4 minutes. Keep the intensity sharp but reduce total stress.

Phase 4: Taper (Weeks 11-12)

Volume drops 30 per cent in week 11, 50 per cent in week 12. The work is done. The taper protects it.

Week 11: 3-4 rides. One session of 3x10 minutes at FTP. One ride of 3 hours at easy pace. Two short Zone 2 spins of 60-75 minutes. One light gym session — core and mobility only.

Week 12 (race week): Two rides of 60-75 minutes with 3-4 short openers — 2-minute efforts at 90-95 per cent FTP to keep the legs responsive. Rest, eat, sleep. The training stress score for race week should be 40-50 per cent of a normal build-phase week.

Key Sessions in Detail

Climbing Repeats

The workhorse session. After a 15-minute warm-up on rolling terrain or moderate gradient:

• Weeks 5-6: 4x10 minutes at 88-93 per cent FTP, 5 minutes recovery between efforts
• Weeks 7-8: 5x12 minutes at 88-93 per cent FTP, 5 minutes recovery
• Weeks 9-10: 4x15 minutes at 85-92 per cent FTP, 6 minutes recovery

Ride these on real climbs wherever possible. The gradient changes, the road surface, and the body position all differ from flat riding, and the neuromuscular specificity matters for an event with 2,700m of climbing. If you are training indoors, set the trainer to simulate 5-8 per cent gradients and resist the temptation to increase the resistance further — the Gimondi climbs are steep but not extreme, and your training should match the actual demand.

Sweet Spot Intervals

Sweet spot work — 88-93 per cent FTP — is the intensity that builds the most climbing-specific fitness per unit of fatigue. It sits just below threshold: hard enough to drive adaptation, sustainable enough that you can do meaningful volume without needing three days to recover.

• Base phase: 2x15 minutes, building to 2x20 minutes
• Build phase: 2x20 minutes or 3x15 minutes (embedded in the climbing repeats session or as a standalone midweek session)

The sweet spot zone is where you will spend most of your time on the Gimondi climbs if you pace correctly. Training it teaches your body — and your brain — what that effort feels like across repeated efforts.

Heat Acclimatisation Rides

Here is where it gets really interesting for UK and northern European riders targeting a May event in Lombardy. If you are training through a European spring at 8-16 degrees, your body is not adapted to producing power at 24-28 degrees. The gap between what you can do in cool conditions and what you can do in heat is typically 5-10 per cent of sustainable power. That is the difference between a strong ride and a survival ride on Selvino.

Five to six sessions of 60-90 minutes on the indoor trainer without a fan, in a warm room (ideally 28-32 degrees), at moderate intensity (65-75 per cent FTP) trigger the key heat adaptations: plasma volume expansion, improved sweat rate, and lower core temperature for a given workload. These adaptations take 7-14 days to develop and persist for 2-3 weeks.

Time them so the adaptation is mature by race day — start heat sessions in week 8 or 9 and maintain one session per week through the taper. This is fixable. Most riders who crack in Italian May heat simply never trained in anything warmer than 18 degrees. The science has finally caught up with what Italian riders have always known intuitively: you must be fit in the conditions you will race in, not just fit in the abstract.

Nutrition Strategy

The fuelling challenge at the Gimondi has two layers: the caloric demand of 162km with 2,700m of climbing, and the elevated fluid and sodium losses from riding in 20-28 degree Lombardy sunshine.

Target: 60-80g of carbohydrate per hour from the first hour. Use the Fuel Planner to calculate exact quantities for your bodyweight and expected ride time. The lower end (60g) is appropriate for lighter riders on a 5-hour day. The upper end (80g) is right for heavier riders or anyone expecting to ride longer than 6 hours.

Here is the good news: you can train your gut to handle these rates. Include the full fuelling protocol on at least four long training rides in the build phase. Practise eating on climbs, not just on the flat. The riders who bonk on Selvino are almost never the riders who lacked fitness — they are the riders who stopped eating when the gradient kicked up.

Hydration. May in the Lombardy valleys is warm. At 24-28 degrees under effort, a 75kg rider loses roughly 0.8-1.2 litres of sweat per hour. The hydration calculator will frame your specific targets, but plan for 600-900ml per hour. Carry two 750ml bottles and refill at every opportunity. Start drinking within the first 30 minutes — by the time thirst arrives, you are already 1-2 per cent dehydrated, and at 2 per cent dehydration your power output drops 5-8 per cent.

Sodium. Heat increases sodium loss through sweat. Target 500-800mg of sodium per litre of fluid. Sodium tablets, electrolyte mix, or salted food at feed zones — the delivery method matters less than the quantity. The symptoms of low sodium — nausea, confusion, cramping — mimic bonking. Riders who experience those symptoms after adequate carbohydrate intake are usually sodium-depleted, not glycogen-depleted.

Hourly Fuelling Plan

| Hour | What to Eat | Notes | |------|------------|-------| | 1 | Drink mix (30-40g/hr) + 1 bar or rice cake | Easy absorption, appetite strong, warm-up rolling | | 2 | Drink mix + 1 gel or bar | Eat before the first major climb, not during it | | 3 | Drink mix + gels + feed zone food (pasta, fruit) | Flavour variety prevents nausea in heat — Italian feed zones serve real food | | 4-5 | Drink mix + gels + cola at feed zones | Gut tolerance drops on steep grades — liquid and semi-liquid calories | | 6+ | Gels, cola, whatever stays down | Solid food may revolt — prioritise simple sugars and fluids |

Pre-race. Eat 8-10g of carbohydrate per kg of bodyweight the day before. Breakfast three hours before the start — 2-3g/kg of carbs, moderate protein, low fibre. Start hydrating the evening before with sodium-enhanced drinks. You are in Bergamo. The pre-race dinner is not a problem to solve — it is a gift. Casoncelli alla bergamasca, a plate of risotto, or simple pasta at any local trattoria delivers exactly what you need.

Equipment and Gear

Gearing

A compact crankset (50/34) with a 28 or 30-tooth rear cassette covers every gradient on the Gimondi course. The steepest sustained pitches on Selvino — ramps touching 12 per cent — demand a low gear you can turn at 65-75 RPM without standing. For a 75kg rider producing 2.5-3.0 W/kg, a 34x30 combination gives approximately 68-72 RPM at 10 per cent and 58-62 RPM at 12 per cent — tight but manageable. A 34x28 at the same power and gradient drops your cadence below 60 RPM on the steep ramps, which is viable for strong riders but risky for anyone arriving at Selvino with significant fatigue.

Use the gear ratio calculator to check your specific setup. If you are under 3.0 W/kg, the 30-tooth is not optional — it is the difference between spinning up steep sections and grinding to a halt on the ramps above 10 per cent. If your rear derailleur does not accommodate a 30-tooth, a hanger extender or a long-cage derailleur is a cheaper investment than walking up Selvino.

The flat and rolling valley sections do not require aggressive top-end gearing. A 50x14 or 50x15 handles any group speed on the valley roads.

Tyres

Roads in the Bergamasque Pre-Alps are generally good Italian tarmac — smooth on the main roads, rougher on some of the narrower climbing roads and descents. Run 25-28mm tyres at 5.5-7 bar depending on your weight. Tubeless is preferred for rolling resistance and puncture protection, but clinchers with quality latex inner tubes are perfectly adequate. The descents are technical enough that grip matters more than rolling speed — do not run high pressures to save watts on the flat and then discover your tyres are skating on a tight corner at 60 km/h on the descent from Colle Gallo.

Sun Protection

Six to eight hours of direct Italian sun in May without adequate protection leads to sunburn, increased dehydration, and impaired thermoregulation. Apply SPF 50 before the start. Carry a small tube in a jersey pocket for reapplication at feed zones — sun cream wears off with sweat. White or light-coloured kit reflects more heat than dark colours. A cycling cap under the helmet shades your forehead and channels sweat away from your eyes. This sounds like a minor detail. After hour five in 26-degree sunshine, it is not minor at all.

Bottles and Hydration Equipment

Carry two 750ml bottles. Insulated bottles keep drinks cooler in the heat — warm electrolyte mix at hour five is a morale problem that affects your intake. Plan to refill at every feed zone and at any village fountain the organisers have marked on the route. Running out of water on a 7 per cent climb in 25-degree heat is entirely avoidable and entirely devastating.

Race Day Pacing

Kilometres 0-40: The Departure from Bergamo

The route leaves Bergamo and heads into the foothills on rolling terrain. The bunch is large, the atmosphere is Italian, and the pace is higher than it needs to be. Your job in this section is to sit in the group, draft efficiently, eat and drink, and arrive at the first real climbing with a heart rate that has not exceeded Zone 3. If you are pulling at the front of the bunch in the first 40km, you are spending energy you will need on Selvino.

Target 60-70 per cent FTP. Use the aerodynamic benefit of the group. Eat your first bar or gel within 30 minutes. Drink 500ml in the first hour. The morning air is cooler — by mid-morning, the Lombardy sun will be building, and your window to build a hydration buffer is in these opening kilometres.

Colle Gallo and Colle dei Pasta: Discipline Climbs

Ride Colle Gallo at 78-85 per cent FTP. Ride Colle dei Pasta at 80-88 per cent FTP. Both of these climbs should feel controlled — not easy, but not on the limit. The temptation to attack is real because the legs are still reasonably fresh and riders around you will be racing. Let them. The Gimondi is won or lost on Selvino, not on Colle Gallo.

Between climbs, eat and drink on every descent and valley section. Use the Fuel Planner to pre-calculate your intake targets so you do not have to think about it mid-race. The riders who manage the transitions well arrive at Selvino with full bottles and recently consumed carbohydrate.

Selvino: The Main Event

Target 82-90 per cent of your degraded FTP — the number you can realistically hold after 100+ kilometres. Start the lower section conservatively. The first 3km at 6-7 per cent should feel sustainable, almost comfortable. When the gradient steepens through the middle section, hold your power steady and let your speed drop. Do not surge on the steep ramps unless you are legitimately racing for a time. Standing efforts of 15-20 seconds on the steepest pitches are fine — standing for two minutes at a time is not sustainable after five hours of riding.

The final 2km ease slightly. Do not accelerate. Maintain your pace and let the reduced gradient deliver you to the summit. The descent from Selvino is fast and technical — you need concentration, not exhaustion.

The Return to Bergamo

After the final climbing and descending, the route returns toward Bergamo. The closing kilometres are rolling-to-flat. You are tired. Eat whatever you can stomach, drink, ride at 60-65 per cent FTP, and find a group if possible. The finish in the Citta Bassa is worth arriving at with enough composure to enjoy it.

Common Mistakes

1. Overheating

The single most common race-day failure at Italian May gran fondos. Riders who trained through a northern European spring at 10-16 degrees arrive in Lombardy and discover that 25 degrees on a 7 per cent climb is a profoundly different physiological experience. Their cooling systems are not adapted, their sweat rates are lower than they need to be, and their core temperature rises steadily through the day until power output collapses. The fix is heat acclimatisation training in weeks 8-12 — five to six indoor sessions without a fan in a warm room. Controllable, predictable, and highly effective.

2. Going Too Hard on Colle Gallo

Colle Gallo is the first real climb. The legs are fresh. The group is fast. The gradient is inviting. Riders push to 90-95 per cent FTP and feel good about it. Two hours later, when Selvino arrives, they discover they are 15-20 minutes into a debt they cannot repay. Ride Colle Gallo at 78-85 per cent. It will feel slow. You will finish faster.

3. Underfuelling in the Heat

Heat increases carbohydrate oxidation — you burn more glycogen per hour at the same power output when it is 26 degrees compared to 14 degrees. The fuelling plan that worked on training rides in April may be insufficient on race day. Most riders who bonk on Selvino did not lack fitness. They ate 40g of carbs per hour instead of 70g because the heat suppressed their appetite and they did not follow a plan. Eat to a schedule, not to hunger.

4. Wrong Gearing for Selvino's Steep Ramps

A 34x28 cassette handles 7 per cent gradients adequately. It does not handle 10-12 per cent ramps after 120km of riding, when your sustainable cadence has dropped from 80 RPM to 65 RPM and your FTP has degraded by 10-15 per cent. Riders who could spin a 34x28 on fresh legs in training discover it forces them into a grinding 55 RPM on Selvino's steep sections. The 30-tooth cassette exists for exactly this situation. Check your gearing with the gear ratio calculator before race day, not during it.

5. Not Acclimatising to Heat

Separate from overheating — this is about deliberate preparation. British, Irish, Dutch, German, and Scandinavian riders targeting a May event in northern Italy need to specifically prepare for warmth. Five to six sessions on the indoor trainer without a fan at 28-32 degrees, riding at 65-75 per cent FTP for 60-90 minutes, trigger plasma volume expansion and improved sweat rate within 7-14 days. The cost is low. The return is significant. Riders who complete this protocol perform measurably better in heat than those who do not. Not doing it is choosing to race at a disadvantage.

Travel and Logistics

Getting There

Milan Bergamo Airport (Orio al Serio) is a 10-minute taxi ride from central Bergamo. Ryanair and several other carriers serve Orio al Serio from across Europe. Milan Malpensa is an alternative — roughly 90 minutes by bus or transfer to Bergamo. Milan Linate is similar.

Fly in with your bike in a bike bag or hard case. Italian airport handling of bike bags is generally fine, but hard cases are safer. The taxi from Orio al Serio to central Bergamo accommodates a bike bag without difficulty.

Accommodation

Stay in or near the Citta Bassa — the lower town — where the start and finish are located. Hotels in central Bergamo fill quickly once the event date is announced, so book early. Accommodation in the streets around the start area means you can walk to registration and roll to the start line without loading a bike into a car at 5am.

For a more atmospheric experience, stay in or near Bergamo Alta — the upper town. The funicular connects the two, and the ride down to the start on event morning is two minutes of freewheeling. The restaurants, views, and evening atmosphere in the Citta Alta are worth the slight logistical inconvenience.

Registration and Event Logistics

Registration typically opens on the Friday and Saturday before a Sunday event. Collect your race pack, number, and timing chip in person. Saturday afternoon or evening registration avoids the queues. The organisers provide detailed course maps and route information — study them, particularly the descent profiles.

Italian Cycling Culture Tips

Italian gran fondo culture has specific characteristics worth understanding:

The start is aggressive. Italian riders treat the first 30 minutes of any gran fondo as a race. Bunches form quickly, the pace is high, and positioning is assertive. If this is not your style, let the front groups go and settle into a more sustainable group further back. The time difference is negligible. The energy saving is substantial.

Feed zones serve real food. Pasta, bread, fruit, cake, coffee, cola. Use them. Stop for 3-5 minutes. Eat something solid. Italian feed zone food is carbohydrate-dense and palatable, which makes it functionally superior to choking down your sixth gel.

The atmosphere at the finish matters. Italian gran fondos finish with ceremony — music, crowds, announcements, food, and a genuine sense of celebration. Train hard enough to enjoy this. Staggering across a finish line too depleted to register the atmosphere is a waste of the entry fee.

Entry costs roughly EUR 60-80 depending on how early you register. Early registration is cheaper. The entry typically includes feed zone food, mechanical support on the course, and the post-race meal. By the standards of northern European sportives, the value is exceptional.

Recovery Plan

The 48 hours after the Gimondi determine how quickly you return to normal training. A 162km day with 2,700m of climbing in May heat creates substantial glycogen depletion, muscle damage, and dehydration that takes deliberate management to resolve.

Immediately post-ride: Eat 1-1.5g of carbohydrate per kg of bodyweight within 30 minutes of finishing. The post-race Italian meal helps here — eat it. Drink 1.5 litres of fluid for every kilogram of bodyweight lost during the ride. Add sodium to your recovery drinks.

Day 1 post-race: Complete rest or a 30-minute walk. Continue eating at elevated carbohydrate intake — 6-8g per kg of bodyweight. Hydrate deliberately. Sleep is the most potent recovery tool available — target 8-9 hours.

Day 2 post-race: A 30-45 minute spin at true Zone 1 — heart rate below 60 per cent of max, no resistance, no effort. This promotes blood flow without adding training stress. Continue elevated carbohydrate and fluid intake.

Days 3-5: Gradually reintroduce easy riding. Zone 2, 60-90 minutes. No intensity. Your legs will feel better than they are — the residual fatigue from a long gran fondo sits deeper than surface-level muscle soreness and takes 5-7 days to fully clear.

Day 7 onwards: Resume normal training if fatigue markers (resting heart rate, sleep quality, perceived effort at easy pace) have returned to baseline. If they have not, extend the recovery period. There is no training benefit in rushing back.

If you are in Bergamo for a day or two after the event, gentle rides through the Lombardy countryside are the best possible active recovery — flat, beautiful, and ending at a restaurant.

Frequently Asked Questions

The detail above covers the framework. Here are the questions we hear most from riders inside Not Done Yet who are preparing for the Gimondi.

Let me break this down briefly: the Gimondi lungo is a serious but accessible Italian gran fondo that rewards specific preparation. The climbs are punchy, the heat is real, and the city is magnificent. Riders who prepare for the climbing pattern, train in warm conditions, fuel from the first hour, and pace Colle Gallo conservatively finish well. Riders who treat it as a scaled-down Alpine event and ignore the heat finish badly.

The three route options — lungo (162km), medio (128km), and corto (89km) — mean there is a Gimondi for every fitness level. This guide targets the lungo, but the training principles apply across all three routes with reduced volume emphasis for the shorter options.

For riders stepping up from the Granfondo Campagnolo Roma or comparable events in the 130-150km range, the Gimondi lungo is a natural next target. For riders building toward the Maratona dles Dolomites or the Granfondo Stelvio, the Gimondi is the ideal preparation event — similar effort duration, less total climbing, and the experience of racing an Italian gran fondo in the heat without the altitude variable.

For event-specific preparation advice and plan reviews, the Not Done Yet community is where we work through this in detail with riders targeting specific events.