This article was produced in collaboration with Stelvio Epic Rides and was first published in Rouleur Issue 140
For those who love to ride with the mountain landscapes spanning out in front of them, Bormio is an unrivalled base camp. Peripheral on the Italian map, this town sits right at the heart of the Alpine arc.
In early 2026, Bormio will host the men’s alpine skiing events and ski mountaineering competitions of the Winter Olympic Games. But once the snow melts at the end of next spring, bikes will reclaim the spotlight with the Stelvio Epic Rides.
Making full use of its extraordinary surroundings, Bormio Tourism launched this new challenge last summer, linking three legendary climbs that have written cycling history – the Stelvio, Gavia, and Mortirolo – with seven shorter but equally demanding ascents: Laghi di Cancano, Bormio 2000, Fumero, Monte, Forte di Oga, Strada dei Forni, and Passo Forcola.
There are no stopwatches and there is no competition – the challenge is, simply, against yourself. It can be completed at any time during the open season for the passes, even across different calendar years. At the end of each climb, a photo taken in front of the Stelvio Epic Rides totem certifies that the ascent has been completed, and once you’ve conquered nine of the ten climbs, you earn the exclusive Explorer Challenge trophy.
Rouleur set out to explore the two highest peaks of this high-altitude challenge – the Stelvio and Gavia passes – but also had our hearts stolen by the lesser-known climb that leads to Fumero.
Even though I’ve been tackling Alpine passes for 20 years, I’ll never forget the sensations and emotions I felt climbing them for the first time. Roads that, until then, had existed only in my imagination, evoked feelings of curiosity, awe, fear, wonder, exhaustion, exhilaration, fulfilment.
Firstly, we come to the mighty Stelvio. Standing at 2,758 metres, it is the second-highest paved mountain pass in Europe, making its inclusion in the Giro d’Italia route an automatic qualifier for the Cima Coppi prize – awarded to the first rider to crest the summit.
The year 2025 marked the bicentenary of this spectacular road, designed by Carlo Donegani to facilitate trade between Tyrol and the Lombard-Venetian Kingdom. Construction began in 1820 and was completed five years later thanks to the efforts of two thousand workers.
Two centuries on, its 88 hairpin bends – 40 on the Valtellina side and 48 on the South Tyrol side – still define the ascent to one of the most coveted summits in the cycling world.
Credit should go to the engineer Donegani who traced its serpentine lines, creating straight sections and switchbacks to conquer the seemingly insurmountable. And to the army of labourers, who blasted through the mountain using five barrels of gunpowder a day for five years, and later the cyclists, whose efforts created legendary exploits high in the Eastern Alps.
When, on June 1st, 1953, the Giro d’Italia reached the foot of the Stelvio Pass for the very first time, the race already seemed to have its winner: Hugo Koblet. No Italian cycling competition had ever climbed so high before, and the peloton looked up at this giant of a mountain with awe.
Prompted by the pink jersey’s reaction to an attack from Nino Defilippis, Fausto Coppi launched one of his trademark accelerations, using the hairpins on the South Tyrolean side to rewrite the story of that Giro. The Stelvio gave Coppi his fifth and final victory in La Corsa Rosa – and in doing so, became an instant icon.
In 1975, Vincenzo Torriani, the Giro’s legendary director for four decades, achieved the impossible: finishing both the stage and the three week race at the summit of the Stelvio. Another Fausto triumphed that day – Fausto Bertoglio. His final duel with Spain’s Francisco Galdos was electrifying and ended with a memorable image: Galdos crossed the line first, but it was Bertoglio who raised his arms in triumph, having defended the pink jersey all the way to the top.
No matter how many tough climbs you’ve conquered before, when you come face to face with the Stelvio for the first time, it’s impossible not to feel the history written on these slopes.
Just outside of the village, the countdown of hairpins begins – forty in total over the 21 kilometres of the Valtellina ascent. Trees accompany you only for the first three kilometres, up to the short tunnel that marks the end of the forest.
Beyond that point, the road alternates between long straight stretches and tight switchbacks, winding its way up the Valle del Braulio, framed by Monte Braulio on the left and Cima di Reit on the right.
Along this straight section – from which you can glimpse the snaking flurry of hairpins halfway up the climb – you pass through seven tunnels, most of them naturally lit thanks to openings cut into the left-hand wall.
The sequence of fourteen hairpins leading up to the Casino dei Rotteri is a stretch of panoramic views where you can take in all the effort you’ve left behind on the road, and this creates new energy to finish what you’ve started.
A brief respite comes soon after, a gentle kilometre-and-a-half where, in the late afternoon, the silence is broken only by the whistling of marmots. The road then begins to rise again, its gradients sharpening as you approach the junction for the nearby Giogo di Santa Maria – or Umbrail Pass.
The final three kilometres average a 9.3 per cent gradient, unfolding in a string of tight bends that open up spectacular views of the surrounding peaks.
The Valtellina side of the Stelvio is a brutally beautiful climb — in its rhythm, in its difficulty, and in its scenery. Its road alternates between long straight stretches, switchbacks and tunnels with gradients fluctuating between manageable ramps and double-digit slopes.
The summit is more anthropicized than the other European passes above 2,700 metres – the Col de l’Iseran, Colle dell’Agnello, and Col de la Bonette. Up here you’ll find hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops and market stalls.
Locals from Bormio recommend starting at dawn or climbing in the late afternoon to reach the summit at sunset. Experiencing this ascent in slanting light is as good as it gets – I was lucky enough to complete my first climb at the end of the day, a solitary finale in a landscape that takes your breath away no matter which way you look.
The other giant of the Stelvio Epic Rides is the Passo di Gavia. The climb from the Valfurva was first featured in the 1960 Giro d’Italia, but it remains forever linked to the stage finishing in Bormio during the race’s 71st edition.
On June 5, 1988, ignoring dire weather forecasts, race director Vincenzo Torriani decided to send the riders over the 2,618 metre summit of the Gavia all the same. Under heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures, Johan van der Velde attacked, dropping all the main contenders for the overall win.
After cresting the pass, the Dutchman began his descent with only the ciclamino jersey to fend off the freezing wind from his torso. Halfway down, he sought refuge in a camper van, drank a cup of hot tea, and got back on his bike 15 minutes later – crossing the finish line almost 47 minutes behind stage winner Erik Breukink.
Equipped with proper winter clothing supplied by his team, including neoprene gloves, Andy Hampsten finished just a few seconds behind Breukink, gaining enough time to become the first American ever to win the Giro d’Italia.
Despite its ten appearances in the Giro, the Gavia will forever be remembered for that day of epic struggle, immortalised even in a song by the Italian band Offlaga Disco Pax, titled Tulipani. The electronic soundtrack narrates that day, not through the triumph of Breukink, but through the courage and impatience of the Dutch “tulip”, Van der Velde.
At the start of the road that climbs through the Valfurva to the Gavia Pass stands the striking Ponte di Combo, its elegant stone arch resting directly on the rock face.
Following the right bank of the Adda River, the road rises gently for five kilometres to Sant’Antonio Valfurva, without any particular difficulties. The next 12 kilometres, leading to Santa Caterina Valfurva, follow a wide main road with an average gradient of 5.5 per cent and an average uphill slope of 6.6 per cent.
That’s where the real climb begins. The road narrows, the hairpins appear, and the gradients invite you out of the saddle. The five kilometres of pine forest that lead up to the 2,200-metre tree line are the prelude to the most demanding section of the ascent.
From Malga dell’Alpe, the road kicks up to 15 per cent, a final burn of effort before an ending that lets you spin easily once more. Over the last four kilometres, the gradient eases to an average of 4 per cent – the perfect chance to lift your eyes and take in the Dosegù Glacier, still clinging on in the face of a warming climate that is erasing many of the Alps’ once-permanent snows.
The plateau before the summit cradles the crystalline waters of Lago Bianco. Beyond the usual road signs and the Stelvio Epic Rides totem, the Gavia’s bond with cycling is celebrated by four monuments: a stone marker commemorating Tarcisio Persegona’s 550 ascents, and, a short walk away, the statues of Fausto Coppi, Vincenzo Torriani, and the Madonna delle Vette, protector of cyclists.
In this sanctuary of nature, among peaks, glaciers and high-altitude lakes, even the stones seem to tell you that the bicycle belongs here.
Before tackling the two highest climbs of the Stelvio Epic Ride challenge, we went to explore the ascent that leads to the 1,496 metres of Fumero. Among farmers preparing hay for the cold season and the lingering warmth of late summer, we found ourselves facing what felt like a miniature Stelvio.
Over its 6.9 kilometres, the climb gains 550 metres of elevation with an average gradient of 8 per cent. The resemblance to the flagship ascent of the challenge lies not only in its difficulty but also in its twenty hairpin bends, evenly spread between the stretch before and after the hamlet of Frontale.
The Stelvio Epic Rides project was created to encourage riders to discover all the climbs in the area — not just its three legendary passes, but also seven shorter ascents that are equally challenging. The idea is to invite visitors to extend their stay in Bormio and, in doing so, to enjoy everything this Valtellina town has to offer.
The healing thermal waters – flowing from nine springs at temperatures between 36°C and 41°C – merited mentions from the likes of Pliny the Elder and Leonardo da Vinci. Bormio’s millennial-old history makes its old town one of the most notable in the entire Alpine region, with its palaces, towers, ancient farmhouses, churches and fortifications.
Post-ride recovery refreshment is not forgotten either: the local food and wine culture in this area of Italy is exceptional. The Valtellina cuisine restores the calories burned in the saddle, offering a rich and tempting variety – from pizzoccheri to bresaola, from sciatt to polenta taragna, from cheeses to honey. Not to mention the Valtellina wines and Braulio, the amaro liqueur named after the valley that leads up to the Stelvio.
Those who love untamed nature can also wander the trails of the Stelvio National Park, and with a bit of luck, spot chamois, ibex, golden eagles, and marmots in their natural habitat.
RIDING THE LEGEND
Launched at the beginning of July 2025, the Stelvio Epic Rides challenge was well received by cyclists who rode the climbs around Bormio during the summer season. The Gold package sold out, and even the most regular visitors to the Alta Valtellina were pleasantly surprised by the lesser-known climbs, such as Monte or the Lakes of Cancano.
With the reopening of the Alpine passes between the end of May and October, the Stelvio Epic Rides challenge returns in 2026 — a special opportunity to test yourself on some of the most iconic (and surprising) climbs in the Alps.
The creators of the challenge are keen to highlight its inclusive spirit: the main target is road cyclists, but the climbs can also be tackled on gravel bikes, mountain bikes or e-bikes. It is a challenge against yourself, so everyone is free to experience it in their own way and to take as much time as they require. Some riders have completed all nine climbs in two days, while others will achieve it over multiple seasons. The only time restriction is set by the closure of the higher passes between autumn and spring.
For lovers of high-mountain cycling, it is time to start studying the maps for both passes that have made cycling history and new ascents still to be discovered. Bormio is the perfect base camp to expand your collection of climbs.
To complete the Stelvio Epic Rides challenge, it is necessary to climb nine of the ten ascents in the series: Stelvio, Gavia, Mortirolo, Laghi di Cancano, Bormio 2000, Fumero, Monte, Forte di Oga, Strada dei Forni and Passo Forcola. The challenge can be completed over different calendar years. Before setting off, it is advisable to check that the higher passes are open. To validate the climbs, participants simply need to send photos taken with the Stelvio Epic Rides totems placed at the summits, or share their GPX track.
There are three registration levels: Bronze (€35, including a welcome kit, Santini technical socks, coupons and discount vouchers); Silver (€60, with a welcome kit, Santini technical T-shirt, Santini technical socks, coupons and vouchers); and Gold (€80, including a welcome kit, Santini Apex technical kit, Santini technical socks, coupons and vouchers). According to the chosen option, participants receive an exclusive kit designed by Santini Cycling Wear.
Those who complete the challenge by climbing nine of the ten ascents receive a unique commemorative sculpture created by the local artist Rasiga-Lab. Prizes can be collected at the Bormio Info Point, after verification of the completed rides.
More information at stelvioepicrides.bormio.eu
