San Michele all'Adige (206 m)

Maso Roncador

To get there by bicycle however you need good legs, the kind of legs of the great champions to whom the ascent is dedicated. Because this is a real climb, a tough one. The first two kilometres make you understand straight away that you will have to use your strength sparingly and not burn all your energy at once. The average slope is over 8 percent, with stretches exceeding 12 percent.  On the valley floor, the river Adige draws its course through the vineyards, with the imposing building of the Fondazione Mach, the agricultural institute that reveals the farming vocation of this land.  At the junction to Faedo you turn right, and here the climb gets less tough. One and a half kilometres flanked by a rural landscape that tells the history of people used to working hard.  Even when they entered cycling legends, they never stopped believing in the values of their land. Small fields reclaimed from the mountain with the help of dry-stone walls. A labour of centuries looking, at each pedal stroke, like an Impressionist painting. At the junction to Verla, 4 kilometres have gone by and the road steepens up. Your legs produce an awful lot of lactic acid, but that is nothing compared to the superhuman efforts of those who left this valley to conquer the greatest races in the world. As you arrive at the junction to Ville you are nearly there: just 500 metres, holding your breath to go through the last spurt on an 8 percent slope and reach Maso Roncador.  Not far away is Palù di Giovo and it is easy to imagine in the distance the raised arms of the great champions.  Men of steel: as hard as porphyry, as good as wine.