There is a monument to Fausto Coppi in the centre of Cuneo. It is understated, as monuments in Piedmont tend to be. But the real monument is the event that bears his name — 179km through the valleys and over the passes of his home province, finishing with a climb that Coppi himself would have understood. The Colle Fauniera, 2,481 metres, a road that narrows to almost nothing above the tree line, where the Pantani memorial sits in silence near the summit and the air is thin enough that you notice it in your legs before you notice it in your lungs.
The Fausto Coppi Gran Fondo — also known as La Fausto Coppi — is not a commercial sportive dressed in a champion's name. It is a race through some of the most demanding and least-visited terrain in the Italian Alps, with 4,700m of climbing packed into a route that starts and finishes in Cuneo and takes in three major cols, including one of the highest and most remote passes accessible by road in the whole of Italy.
Entry costs EUR50-70. The field is smaller than the Maratona or the Stelvio. The infrastructure is leaner. And the riding is relentless. Here is how to prepare for it across 14 weeks, with the climbing specificity, pacing discipline, and altitude awareness that the Fauniera demands.
Key Takeaways
- 179km and 4,700m of climbing through the Piedmont Alps — headlined by the Colle Fauniera at 2,481m
- 14-week build peaking at 10-12 hours per week with long rides of 6-7 hours
- Target 3.0 W/kg minimum for a comfortable finish, 3.5+ W/kg for a strong ride
- The Fauniera demands 60-90 minutes of sustained climbing at altitude — pace by heart rate above 2,000m, not power
- July in Piedmont means 28-35 degrees in the valleys — heat management is not optional
- Fuel 60-90g of carbs per hour and carry extra food for the Fauniera's remote upper reaches
- Carry a gilet and arm warmers for the summit descent — it is cold and technical despite valley heat
Course Profile and Key Sections
The route from Cuneo loops through the Stura and Grana valleys before heading into the high Alps. The climbing is back-loaded. The first 60-70km include rolling terrain and the early climbs, but the day builds towards the Fauniera, which arrives at approximately km 130-140 when the legs already have several hours of accumulated load.
Colle d'Esischie (~1,700m)
The first major climb comes in the opening third of the route. Approximately 12km at 5-6% average, with a steady gradient that rarely surprises. This is the col that separates riders who pace from riders who race. At 5-6%, it feels gentle on fresh legs and the temptation is to push. The riders who go ten watts above target here are borrowing from the Fauniera's bank, and the Fauniera charges interest.
Pacing target: High Zone 2, no higher. Use the VAM calculator to set a climbing rate that you can hold for the entire ascent without drifting above your target heart rate. This is a warm-up climb, not a statement.
Colle della Maddalena (Col de Larche, ~1,996m)
The Maddalena is the second major col — approximately 18km of climbing at a steady 5-6% average, crossing the French border at the summit before the route loops back into Italy. The road surface is good, the gradient is consistent, and the scenery is spectacular in a way that can make you forget you are spending watts.
Here is where it gets really interesting. The Maddalena sits at nearly 2,000m, which means you are climbing into the altitude band where oxygen delivery starts declining. At this point in the day, you have probably been riding for four to five hours. Your legs feel the altitude before your head does — power drifts down 3-5% even though the road hasn't changed.
Pacing target: Steady Zone 2 to low Zone 3. Eat before the descent. Fill both bottles at the summit feed if one is available. You are fuelling for the Fauniera, not for the Maddalena.
Colle Fauniera (2,481m) — The Defining Climb
The Fauniera is the day. Everything before it is the prologue.
From the valley floor, the climb is approximately 22km with an average gradient of 6-7%. That average hides significant variation. The first half sits at 5-6%, with wide roads and reasonable surfaces. Then, above 1,800m, the road narrows, the gradient kicks to sustained sections at 8-10%, and the surface begins to deteriorate. The final 5km above 2,200m are ridden on a road that feels abandoned — because for most of the year, it is.
The Pantani memorial sits near the summit. It is a fitting landmark. The Fauniera rewards the same qualities that defined Pantani — low body weight, exceptional climbing ability, and the willingness to suffer in isolation on a remote mountain road.
At 2,481m, the summit sits in the altitude band where amateur physiology changes measurably. Oxygen availability is roughly 75% of sea level. Even acclimatised riders lose 5-8% of their sustainable power output. Riders from sea level who have never climbed above 2,000m will feel the final third of the Fauniera considerably harder than the gradient alone would suggest. This is not a mental issue. It is a physiological one. The climb time calculator can model your projected ascent, but apply a meaningful altitude discount to any estimate for the upper Fauniera.
There are no feed stations on the upper reaches of the climb. Whatever you are going to eat and drink for the final 60-90 minutes of climbing, you need to be carrying it when you leave the valley floor. This is where the Fauniera is different from a commercially supported col like the Galibier or the Stelvio. You are on your own up there.
Pacing target: Start at 75-78% FTP and let it drift down as altitude increases. Above 2,000m, pace by heart rate and perceived effort, not power. If your heart rate is rising while your power drops, you are already above your altitude-adjusted ceiling. Dial it back. The summit is not going anywhere.
The Descents
The descent off the Fauniera is technical, narrow, and arrives when you are at your most fatigued. The road surface is variable. The corners are tight. And despite the valley being 28-35 degrees, the summit can be 10-15 degrees cooler with wind chill from the descent dropping the effective temperature further.
The earlier descents — off the Esischie and the Maddalena — are more conventional. Good surfaces, wider roads, predictable corners. Treat them as recovery. Spin lightly. Eat. Drink. Save the mental energy for the Fauniera descent, where concentration and brake modulation matter more than speed.
Fitness Benchmarks
Your power-to-weight ratio determines how the Fauniera will go. These benchmarks assume disciplined pacing and consistent fuelling across the full 179km.
| Target | W/kg (sustained climbing) | Approximate Fauniera Time | Notes | |--------|--------------------------|--------------------------|-------| | Strong ride | 3.5+ W/kg | ~60-75 min | Experienced climber, altitude-aware, dialled nutrition | | Comfortable finish | 3.0-3.4 W/kg | ~75-95 min | Solid amateur, disciplined pacing, gearing appropriate | | Completion | 2.6-2.9 W/kg | ~100-120 min | Conservative effort, full use of feeds, 34x34 gearing | | Below target | <2.6 W/kg | 120+ min | Consider the medio fondo route (106km) |
Two things to note. First, these are sustained climbing watts at altitude after 130km of riding — not your fresh-legs FTP from a turbo session at home. Your FTP might test at 3.5 W/kg in the garage. At 2,300m on the Fauniera, after five hours in the saddle, your real sustainable output will be 70-80% of that number. Use the race predictor to model your full event, but apply the altitude discount honestly.
Second, weight matters disproportionately on a climb this long. A rider at 3.2 W/kg and 72kg will climb the Fauniera faster than a rider at 3.2 W/kg and 85kg — not because the W/kg is different but because the absolute watts needed to move the heavier system up 22km of gradient are higher, and higher absolute watts at altitude cost more in terms of oxygen delivery. If you are carrying weight you can lose through four months of sensible nutrition, lose it. The Fauniera will thank you.
14-Week Training Plan Overview
The plan follows a base-build-sharpen-taper structure. It assumes you are riding 7-9 hours per week with some climbing experience. If your starting base is lower, add 4-6 weeks of aerobic foundation before beginning week one.
Phase 1: Base (Weeks 1-4)
Volume: 8-10 hours per week. Four to five rides. 80% in Zone 2.
The goal is aerobic endurance, saddle time, and the early development of climbing-specific fitness. Your easy riding must be properly easy — if you cannot hold a conversation, it is not Zone 2.
Weekly structure:
- 3-4 Zone 2 rides (1-2 hours midweek, building the weekend long ride progressively)
- 1 quality session: sweet spot work, 2x20 minutes at 88-93% FTP
- 1 long ride building from 3 hours to 4.5 hours, with 600-1,000m of climbing
- 1-2 gym sessions: lunges, step-ups, Bulgarian split squats, single-leg press, core work (planks, side planks, dead bugs) — posterior chain support for climbing posture without excessive joint load
Key metric: By the end of week 4, your long ride should be 4.5 hours with sustained climbing at a conversational pace. If that feels like a race effort, stay in base longer.
Phase 2: Build (Weeks 5-9)
Volume: 10-12 hours per week. The climbing-specific work starts in earnest.
This is where the training starts to look like the event. Two quality sessions per week, long rides building to 5-6 hours with serious vertical gain, and at least two weekends where you stack back-to-back climbing days.
Weekly structure:
- 2 quality sessions (see Key Sessions below)
- 2-3 Zone 2 rides
- 1 long ride building to 5-6 hours with 1,200-1,800m of climbing
- 1 gym session (maintain strength, do not build it — reduce to once a week)
Quality session 1 — threshold climbing: 3x12 minutes at 92-97% FTP on a real gradient (6-8%), progressing to 2x20 minutes by week 8. Recover 5-7 minutes between efforts. This builds the sustained power you need for the Fauniera's lower slopes. The gradient through the mid-section demands a strong sub-threshold effort even at conservative pacing.
Quality session 2 — VO2max intervals: 5x4 minutes at 106-115% FTP with 4 minutes recovery. The VO2max work raises the aerobic ceiling that makes your threshold efforts more sustainable. At altitude, where the air does less of the work for you, that ceiling matters more.
The stacked weekend: At least twice in the build phase, ride a 4-5 hour Saturday with 1,200m+ of climbing followed by a 3-4 hour Sunday with 800m+ of climbing. This teaches the body to recover overnight and produce power again on fatigued legs — the same pattern the Fauniera demands after hours of earlier riding.
Phase 3: Sharpen (Weeks 10-12)
Volume: 10-12 hours per week. Quality over quantity.
This phase refines the fitness you built. The long ride peaks at 6-7 hours with 1,500m+ of climbing. The intensity sessions become more specific — longer sustained efforts, heat exposure if possible, and at least one session that simulates the fatigue-plus-altitude pattern of the Fauniera.
Weekly structure:
- 1 long ride: 6-7 hours with 1,500m+ of climbing and the final 90 minutes ridden at a steady sub-threshold effort
- 1 threshold session: 2x25 minutes at 90-95% FTP on gradient
- 1 VO2max session: 4x5 minutes at 105-112% FTP
- 2-3 Zone 2 rides
- Low-cadence torque work once every two weeks: 3-4 efforts of 6-8 minutes at 55-65 RPM on a moderate gradient (5-7%). This builds the neuromuscular capacity for grinding through the 8-10% pitches on the upper Fauniera without your pedal stroke falling apart.
The over-distance test: By week 11, you should have completed at least one ride of 6+ hours with 1,500m+ of climbing. This is the closest single-day analogue to the Fausto Coppi's first 140km. Riders who have only done 4-hour rides walk into the Fauniera guessing about how the back half of the day feels. The guess is almost always wrong.
Phase 4: Taper (Weeks 13-14)
Volume drops 30% in week 13, 50% in week 14. Keep short sharp efforts to maintain leg speed — 3x5 minutes at threshold, 4x90 seconds at VO2max — but strip volume aggressively.
The common mistake is panic. Riders feel fitness slipping and add volume in the final week. The taper does not build fitness. It sheds fatigue. A well-executed taper is worth 5-10 watts on race day. A botched one — training hard on Wednesday of race week — costs you those watts and more, and you feel it at km 18 on the Fauniera.
Use the training load calculator to track your training stress through the taper. The TSS should drop while the form number rises. If both are dropping, you have tapered too aggressively. If neither is dropping, you have not tapered at all.
Key Sessions
Climbing Repeats
The bread and butter of Fausto Coppi preparation. Find the longest sustained gradient you can access — ideally 20-30 minutes at 6-8%. If you live somewhere flat, use the turbo trainer with gradient simulation or an overgeared protocol on a long drag.
Session: 3x15 minutes at 88-93% FTP on gradient, building to 2x25 minutes by week 10. Recover for 6-8 minutes on the descent. These efforts train the sustained sub-threshold power the Fauniera demands.
Sustained Tempo on Long Climbs
Once per build block, extend one climb effort to 40-50 minutes at 80-85% FTP. This is the closest simulation of what the lower Fauniera feels like — a long, steady, unrelenting effort at a pace that feels manageable at minute 10 and truly hard at minute 40.
Heat Acclimatisation
The event is in early July. Piedmont in July means 28-35 degrees in the valleys with strong sun. If you live in Northern Europe or the UK, you need deliberate heat exposure.
Protocol: 5-7 sessions of 60-90 minutes at Zone 2 in an artificially heated environment (turbo with the windows closed, no fan, extra layers) in the three weeks before the event. This is not pleasant. It is effective. The adaptations — lower resting core temperature, earlier sweat onset, expanded plasma volume — take 10-14 days to develop meaningfully. Start heat sessions by week 11 at the latest.
Use the hydration calculator to model your sweat rate at elevated temperatures. The fluid demands in the Piedmont valleys are 30-50% higher than what you are accustomed to in British or Northern European conditions.
Altitude Simulation
If you have access to an altitude tent or a gym with simulated altitude, sessions at 2,000-2,500m equivalent during weeks 10-12 familiarise your body with the reduced oxygen environment of the upper Fauniera. These do not produce full acclimatisation in two weeks. What they do is reduce the shock. The first time your legs feel that altitude drag should not be on the Fauniera itself.
If you do not have access to altitude simulation, build a larger aerobic margin instead. Train your threshold higher so that climbing at 75-80% of your sea-level FTP still represents a sustainable effort even with a 5-8% altitude penalty.
Nutrition Strategy
The Fausto Coppi is a 6-9 hour day for most amateurs. A 75kg rider finishing in 8 hours burns somewhere around 4,500-5,500 kcal. You cannot replace all of it on the bike. What you can do is close the gap enough that glycogen stores and fat oxidation cover the deficit — and at altitude, where the body burns through glycogen faster, the margin for under-fuelling is razor thin.
Target: 60-90g of carbohydrate per hour from kilometre one. Not from the base of the Fauniera. Not from when you feel hungry. From the start. Use the fuel planner to set the exact quantities against your projected ride time.
| Hour | What to Eat | Notes | |------|------------|-------| | 1-2 | Drink mix (40-50g/hr) + 1 gel or bar per hour | Easy to absorb early, build the base | | 3-4 | Drink mix + real food (rice cakes, banana, Italian feed-zone panini) | Flavour variety prevents nausea — Italian feeds are excellent | | 5-6 | Gels and drink mix, whatever sits comfortably | Gut tolerance drops, especially in the heat | | 7+ | Small gels and liquid carbs, frequent sips | Solid food may not stay down at altitude on tired legs |
Pre-Fauniera fuelling. This is the most important fuelling moment of the day. At the base of the Fauniera, eat a gel and drink 200-300ml of carb mix. Fill your bottles. Pocket two extra gels and a bar. You will be climbing for 60-90 minutes with no reliable feed station in the upper half. Whatever food you will eat on the Fauniera, you need to be carrying it when the road tilts up.
Hydration in the heat. 500-750ml per hour in normal conditions, up to 1,000ml in the valley heat. Piedmont in July is hot. The first 60-70km of rolling terrain in 30+ degrees will dehydrate you faster than the climbing will. Pre-cool with cold water over the neck and wrists at every opportunity. Target 500-700mg of sodium per litre to replace electrolytes lost through sweat.
At altitude on the Fauniera, the air is cooler but drier. Thirst signals may suppress. Force-drink anyway. Dehydration compounds the altitude-related power loss and makes the descent more dangerous because your reaction times slow.
Pre-race. 8-10g of carbohydrate per kg of bodyweight the day before. Breakfast 3-4 hours before the start — 2-3g/kg of carbs, moderate protein, low fibre, low fat. Italian hotel breakfasts are typically pastry, coffee, and not much else for endurance needs. Bring your own porridge or rice if the hotel spread is thin.
Gut training. At least four long training rides in the build phase should include the full 60-90g/hour protocol. The Fauniera at altitude is not the place to discover that your stomach rejects a new gel brand when the air gets thin.
Equipment and Gear
Gearing
Run a compact crankset (50/34) with a 32-tooth or 34-tooth cassette as the minimum. Riders under 3.5 W/kg should run 34x34 — and experienced riders who know the Fauniera often use a sub-compact (48/31 or 46/30) specifically for this event.
Here is the practical calculation. A 75kg rider (plus 8kg of bike and gear) climbing a 9% gradient at 34x28 needs roughly 270 watts to maintain 65 RPM. At 34x34, the same cadence needs roughly 220 watts. At km 150, at 2,300m altitude, where your sustainable power is already down 15-20% from sea level, those 50 watts are the difference between climbing and walking. Run the numbers through the gear ratio calculator to see exactly what cadence and speed each combination gives you on the Fauniera's gradients.
Test your gearing early. Swap the cassette by week 8 at the latest so you train on what you race. Your legs need to adapt to the cadence pattern of a 34x34 at 8-10% — it feels different from a 34x28, and different is fine as long as it is familiar by race day.
Tyres
The Fauniera's road surface deteriorates above the tree line. Run 28mm or 30mm tyres if your frame clears them. The extra comfort and grip on variable surfaces is worth the negligible weight penalty. Tyre pressure should be lower than you would run on smooth roads — 70-75 psi for a 75kg rider on 28mm tyres. The rougher the surface, the more a lower pressure helps.
Sun Protection
July in Piedmont means strong UV, particularly at altitude. Sunscreen rated SPF50, reapplied at every stop. A cycling cap under the helmet. Clear or photochromic lenses for the early start, with enough coverage for the bright alpine sun on exposed cols.
Summit Descent Layers
The temperature swing between the Piedmont valleys and the Fauniera summit can exceed 20 degrees. What to carry in your back pockets:
- Arm warmers (worn rolled down in the valleys, pulled up above 1,800m)
- A lightweight gilet — wind-blocking, packable, non-negotiable
- Long-finger gloves for the descent (optional but strongly recommended)
Put the gilet and arm warmers on before the final 3km to the summit, while your hands still have dexterity. Riders who wait until the summit to layer up are fumbling with zips in 10-degree air with hands that have been gripping bars for six hours.
Race Day Pacing
The Fausto Coppi is paced backwards from the Fauniera. Every watt you spend before its base is a watt you will wish you had at 2,200m.
Km 0-60: The Opening (Cuneo and the Valleys)
Target effort: Zone 2, nothing above it. The rolling terrain out of Cuneo feels easy. The roads are wide, the group is fresh, the Italian morning light makes you want to ride. Resist the pull to go with the fast group. You are not racing km 30. You are racing km 160.
Eat from the first hour. Drink aggressively in the heat. Sit in the wheels where you can. Save every match.
Km 60-100: Colle d'Esischie and Colle della Maddalena
Target effort: High Zone 2 to low Zone 3. These climbs are long and steady. Ride them at a pace that feels almost too easy. Your VAM through these sections should be 15-20% below your peak sustainable climbing rate. The riders who race the Esischie and the Maddalena are the riders who crack on the Fauniera.
Eat at every opportunity. The Italian feed zones are typically excellent — fresh bread, fruit, energy food, water. Use them. You are loading fuel for the Fauniera.
Km 100-130: Valley Approach to the Fauniera
Target effort: Active recovery to Zone 2. This section is your last opportunity to eat solid food comfortably, drink freely, and lower your core temperature. If there is a village fountain, douse your head and fill a bottle. Pre-cool aggressively. The Fauniera starts in the heat and finishes in the cold — managing the transition is part of the race.
Km 130-155: The Fauniera
Target effort: 75-78% FTP, drifting down as altitude increases. The first 10km at 5-6% should feel controlled. Almost boring. That is the correct sensation.
Above 1,800m, the gradient kicks and the altitude starts working. Switch from pacing by power to pacing by heart rate and perceived effort. If your heart rate is rising while your speed drops on the same gradient, you are above your altitude-adjusted ceiling. Pull back 5-10 watts immediately. The summit is coming.
The final 5km above 2,200m are where the day reveals itself. The road narrows. The surface roughens. The air thins. Riders who paced the lower slopes correctly arrive here with enough left to grind steadily to the summit. Riders who did not are stopping every 2km, watching their heart rate spike into Zone 5 on efforts that should be Zone 3.
When you reach the summit, stop for three minutes. Layer up completely. Eat something. Drink. Let your heart rate drop before the descent. Those three minutes are the difference between a controlled technical descent and a white-knuckled survival exercise.
The Fauniera Descent
Brake before corners, not through them. The road is narrow, the surface is variable, and you are tired. Alternate two-finger braking between hands every five or six corners to prevent forearm pump. Stay wide on blind corners. The outside line gives you a wider radius, better sight lines, and more margin.
The descent is not a race. It is the part of the day where the consequences of a mistake are highest.
Common Mistakes
1. Going Too Hard Before the Fauniera
The single most common error. The Esischie and the Maddalena feel manageable on fresh legs, the group around you is riding at pace, and the Italian scenery makes you want to push. Every watt above Zone 2 on those early climbs is borrowed from the Fauniera. The Fauniera does not lend generously. Riders who pace the first 130km like adults arrive at the Fauniera with the ability to climb it steadily. Riders who raced the early cols arrive at the Fauniera with a 22km problem.
2. Not Carrying Enough Food for the Fauniera
The upper Fauniera is remote. There are no reliable feed stations above the tree line. If you reach the base of the climb with one gel and a half-empty bottle, you are spending 60-90 minutes at altitude with inadequate fuel. Pocket two extra gels, a bar, and a full bottle at the last available opportunity before the climb starts.
3. Ignoring Altitude Effects
If you have never ridden above 2,000m, the Fauniera's final third will feel harder than you expect. This is not a fitness problem — it is a physics problem. At 2,481m, the air contains roughly 25% less oxygen than at sea level. Your power drops 5-8% even if your effort stays constant. Pace by feel above 2,000m. Accept the lower speed. Do not chase the numbers you trained to at home.
4. Insufficient Gearing
A 34x28 cassette is inadequate for most amateurs on the Fauniera. At km 150, on a 9% gradient, at 2,300m altitude, you need to be able to spin at 60-65 RPM without exceeding your sustainable power ceiling. That means 34x32 at minimum, 34x34 for riders under 3.5 W/kg. Test this before the event, not during it.
5. Underestimating the July Heat
Piedmont in July is hot. The valley sections before and between the climbs can exceed 30 degrees with strong sun. Riders who under-hydrate in the first three hours, who skip sunscreen, who fail to pre-cool before the Fauniera are the riders whose power fades disproportionately on the upper slopes. Heat and altitude compound each other — dehydration at sea level costs performance; dehydration at altitude costs substantially more.
Travel and Logistics
Getting There
By air: Turin airport (Caselle) is the closest major airport, approximately 90 minutes by car to Cuneo. Milan Malpensa is roughly 3 hours. Both are well-served by European carriers. Turin is the better option — shorter drive, less fatigue, and Cuneo is a manageable navigation from the airport.
By car: Cuneo sits at the southern edge of Piedmont, near the French border. The A33 motorway connects it to Turin. Parking at the event is typically straightforward — Cuneo is a mid-sized Italian town, not a resort village, and the event logistics are organised by people who understand that 2,000 cyclists need somewhere to put their cars.
Accommodation
Book in Cuneo itself. The town has hotels, B&Bs, and agriturismi within easy riding distance of the start. Cuneo is a proper Piedmontese town — good restaurants, excellent coffee, an arcaded centre that rewards an evening walk the night before the event. It is not a cycling tourist hub in the way that Bormio or Corvara are, which means accommodation is available and affordable.
Arrive at least one day before the event. Two days is better if you can manage it — the drive from Turin is not long, but arriving the afternoon before allows registration, a short spin on the opening kilometres of the route, and a proper meal the night before.
Italian Cycling Culture
The feed zones at Italian gran fondos are an experience in themselves. Fresh focaccia, fruit, ham, cheese, espresso. The volunteers take genuine pride in the food. Eat everything they offer. The nutritional strategy is not gels-only — it is gels supplemented by whatever the Italians are handing you, because the Italians know what cyclists need.
Registration typically includes a pasta party the evening before. The pasta is carb-loading in its ideal cultural form. Eat well, drink water, sleep early.
Off-Bike Strength Work
Climbing fitness lives on the bike, but the supporting structures — hip stability, core endurance, single-leg power — are built in the gym. The goal is not to build mass. It is to build the structural resilience that lets you climb for 90 minutes without your pelvis rocking, your lower back seizing, or your knees complaining.
Exercises (weeks 1-9, twice per week; weeks 10-14, once per week):
- Lunges: 3x12 per leg, bodyweight or light dumbbells
- Step-ups: 3x10 per leg on a 40-50cm box
- Bulgarian split squats: 3x10 per leg — the single best cycling-specific lower body exercise
- Single-leg press: 3x12 per leg, moderate load
- Planks: 3x45 seconds, progressing to 3x60 seconds
- Side planks: 3x30 seconds per side
- Dead bugs: 3x10 per side — trains anti-extension core stability, which is what your torso does for 90 minutes on the Fauniera
No heavy compound lifts. The audience for this event is 35-55 year old amateur cyclists. The injury risk from barbell work is not justified by the marginal strength gains. Single-leg work with moderate loads builds the same climbing-specific strength with a fraction of the injury exposure.
Recovery Plan
The Fausto Coppi inflicts real muscular damage across a 6-9 hour day. The recovery plan starts before you get off the bike.
Immediately post-finish (0-30 minutes): 1-1.5g/kg of carbohydrate plus 0.3-0.4g/kg of protein. A recovery shake, a panini, whatever the finish-line feed offers. The glycogen resynthesis window is real — your muscles are most receptive to carbohydrate in the first 30 minutes after exercise.
Day of the event (evening): A proper meal. Protein, carbohydrates, vegetables. Hydrate aggressively. Italy makes this easy — a plate of pasta, some grilled meat, a salad, a litre of water. Sleep as much as you can.
Day 1 after: Complete rest or a very gentle 30-minute spin. No climbing. No intensity. Walk around Cuneo. Drink espresso. The legs will feel worse on day 1 than they did at the finish.
Days 2-3: If riding, stay under 60 minutes at Zone 1. The delayed onset muscle soreness from 4,700m of climbing peaks at 48-72 hours. Light movement helps. Intensity does not.
Day 4-7: Gradually return to normal riding. No intensity before day 5. The TSS calculator will show the accumulated training load from the event — it will be significant. Your body needs 5-7 days to absorb it.
Post-event blood work. If you are tracking markers like ferritin, CRP, or cortisol, take a rest-state draw at 7-10 days post-event. A single day of extreme endurance exercise can suppress immune markers for up to a week. Do not interpret a day-3 blood draw as your baseline.
Frequently Asked Questions
The detailed FAQ answers are above, but these are the questions we work through most often with riders inside Not Done Yet targeting the Fausto Coppi. The event sits in the same tier as the Maratona dles Dolomites, the Granfondo Stelvio, and La Marmotte — all demand event-specific preparation, and all punish riders who treat them as generic sportives.
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.