A polonaise of honking Fiat 500s, plastered buildings with red roofs and cypress trees in the distance. I thought so, but when the waiter makes wild hand gestures because the table next to me dares to order a cappuccino after lunch, I know for sure: I am in Italy! And for a very nice project. We got a sneak preview of the Grand Tour of Italy: Le Vie del Bike. In this article, you will find the first part of that. Le Vie del Bike: Tuscany.
Text: Femke Rotteveel, Photos: Francesco Lasca
Special project
The Italian Ministry of Tourism wants to encourage cycling holidays, of any kind, and they have done so in the most epic way you can think of - with the Le Vie del Bike route. It is a challenging route. The start: near Pisa, then you cycle north via the Dolomites, on to central Italy, including the popular Tuscany and then descend further into the heel of the boot. At the very south of the country you take the ferry for a short crossing to Sicily and, once you have cycled across that island, Sardinia also awaits you.
The figures
In total, the route is 5300 kilometres long, with more than 100,000 altimeters. The route traverses all 20 regions of the country. The latter is special because I soon notice among the largely Italian company that they introduce themselves as residents of Rome or Siena and not Italian. All the regions are very self-centred, so it is special that there is now a route that connects them all.
Focus on part of La Vie del Bike
Our trip concentrates on the regions in central Italy: Tuscany, Umbria and Le Marche because the latter is the lead region for this project & because the route master, former professional cyclist and one of our tour guides this weekend, Andrea Tonti, was born and raised in Le Marche. In this article, you will find the first part of the trip, which starts in Tuscany.
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Tuscany
Our start is in cycling city Siena. Annually the finishing place of the Strade Bianche, but also a walhalla for wine and food lovers. The evening before we leave, we have a guided tour of the city and the Palazzo Publico; the one building in Piazza del Campo where we get to see a fresco that has just been restored and will only be open to visitors from early December. Even the mayor of Siena stops by to tell us what the frescoes showed. We eat a five-course dinner at restaurant Bagoga & the tone is set. This will be a long weekend enjoying Italian wines, kilos of pasta and all in the company of passionate cyclists.
Tuscan roads
The route from Siena to Buonconvento that we cycle takes us over three sectors of the Strade Bianche. Grotti; an unpaved climb over the white roads of 3 kilometres with a gradient of some 5%, Radi: more than 4 kilometres of the best gravel and another 5 kilometres at Buonconvento. This one is special; because instead of the characteristic white gravel, the Crete Sensei has red-coloured gravel, due to certain minerals in the soil. So it is Tuscany, but slightly different.
Typical Italy
Before lunch, we stop briefly in Murlo, a medieval town (more like a castle) with lovely locals who are used to tourists. For instance, we lose our tour guide for more than 20 minutes to an elderly gentleman who hangs out of his shuttered window in such typical fashion to natter with her. Such villages and sights are typical of the Le Vie del Bike route. It is not a race to cycle through Italy as fast as possible, but rather shows the small villages you would otherwise have overlooked.
Special place
Lunch is special: at Podere San Guiseppe atop a hill & completely shrouded in mist. So no view of Tuscany, but a sumptuous lunch with homemade paste & fresh white truffle. Grated onto your plate in front of you. Delicious! The cycling feeling is further enhanced by the shirts with signatures of Anna van der Breggen and Chantal van der Broek-Blaak on the wall. The SD Workx team stays here every year around the Strade Bianche and the rest of the year Gian Paolo (the owner) sends his fresh rice bars to them. If it's good enough for those ladies, it certainly is for our group of amateurs. All we are left with is a bottle of excellent Brunello!
Route Le Vie del Bike: Tuscany
So Le Vie del Bike is 5300 km in total. Too big to upload in Komoot. Here you will find the part between Siena and Buonconvento, which we rode. A beautiful part of Italy and definitely worth travelling to. A link to the complete route can be found here: Percorso Totale. La Vie del Bike: Tuscany is a great insight into the whole route.
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