Gran Fondo Colnago Italy

Starting off from Piacenza Expo, after about 8 kilo­me­tres towards Val Trebbia, the rid­ers will join the strada statale to Gossolengo.

After leav­ing Gossolengo behind they will cross the Trebbia river on the bridge in Tuna and reach Rivalta.

Then they will take a right near the cas­tle where Conte Zanardi Landi resides, towards Gazzola, pass­ing through the famous ‘val­loncini’ that the local ama­teurs know so well.

Gazzola is 30 kilo­me­tres from the start; then on to Agazzano and Piozzano.

On this part of the route the rid­ers will get their first taste of the climbs that will prove to be a chal­lenge to the group.

The hard part begins right after Piozzano: after a few kilo­me­tres, in the small vil­lage of S.Gabriele, it is where the Granfondo Colnago wel­comes all riders.

It is here that GanFondo Colnago makes the ini­tial nov­elty: instead of pass­ing from Vidiano, we turn left and climb steadily towards Groppo Arcelli, the beau­ti­ful scenery takes the rid­ers along to Passo Caldarola, on a road with alter­nat­ing small slopes and short but tough climbs (14%).

Once at the Passo Caldarola, the rid­ers will care­fully pro­ceed down­hill back to the Val Trebbia region to the vil­lage of Mezzano Scotti. Then back on the statale 45 towards Piacenza. A few kilo­me­tres ahead lies Perino, one of the most appre­ci­ated towns in the entire val­ley.
After a few Kilometres, the rid­ers will reach the point in which they’ll decide which course to take: the longest route to Passo S. Barbara, or the climb that takes them to Passo del Cerro.
Those who choose the for­mer, the Gran Fondo course, will face climbs for about 18 kilo­me­tres. This will take them to the high­est point of the Granfondo Colnago, its cima Coppi.

The 12 kilo­me­tres from the cross­roads to the Passo has many stretches at a gra­di­ent of over 10% with peaks of 14%, and a few very short moments of rel­a­tive quiet. The beauty of the sur­round­ings will help alle­vi­ate the rid­ers’ dif­fi­cul­ties in the last kilo­me­tres of the climb.

From the top of the cima Coppi starts the descent towards Pradovera, to be taken very care­fully; in a few kilo­me­tres the undu­lat­ing road to Aglio and from there to Passo del Cerro, about 13 kilo­me­tres at an aver­age gra­di­ent of 5% that could be very tough on the legs, com­ing on the back of almost 2,000 metres of climbs and descents. This climb isn’t par­tic­u­larly dif­fi­cult except for a short stretch at 12% three kilo­me­tres short of the Passo.

Once at the Passo, an 8 kilo­me­tres long descent to Bettola, in the Val Nure region, and from there 10 more kilo­me­tres, at high speed, to Ponte dell’ Olio for the last tough hur­dle of the course: the famous Bagnolo ascent, which always ter­ri­fies the local ama­teurs.
While this climb is steep it is not pro­hib­i­tively so (12-13%); what sets it apart from the oth­ers is that it’s a long straight road with only three curves; you may get the impres­sion that you’ll never see the end of it, even if it’s only 1.3 kilo­me­tres, and the last tough stretch of the day.
From this point the road con­tin­ues with no dif­fi­cul­ties until the long descent to Nibbiano and the statale 45, and the 19 kilo­me­tres back to Piacenza Expo, where a well deserved shower and a plate of pasta will be wait­ing after such a long day.