Following your arrival in Milan Bergamo, we will transfer you to the spa town of San Pellegrino Terme where we will spend our first evening. Once a grand thermal centre, San Pellegrino is still a lively town and sits nestled in a narrow valley in the midst of the soaring mountains.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 2,400 Metres Approx.

We leave San Pellegrino Terme via an old railway line, now converted into a designated cycle path, and head up the valley to Piazza Brembana where we begin to ascend Passo San Marco. A 25km climb reaching almost 2,000m above sea level, this little-known pass is not to be sniffed at. We’ll enjoy a well-deserved lunch at the summit after which a 25km descent takes us down to Morbegno in the Valtellina valley where we spend the rest of the day pedalling along a series of quiet secondary roads and well-surfaced cycle paths until we reach our destination in the town of Tirano.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 3,340 Metres Approx.

Leaving Tirano we have a gentle 10km to warm up before we arrive at an inconspicuous right hand turn which marks the beginning of the infamous Mortirolo. The challenging climb, with its 4 sections of 16% and average gradient of 11%, certainly lives up to its reputation. 8kms into the climb we pass the famous monument honouring Italian hero and Giro and Tour de France winner Marco Pantani who famously launched a blistering attack here and went on to take a stage victory during the 1994 race.

Once we’ve caught our breath at the summit we’ll descend before taking the valley road to Ponte di Legno where the seemingly never-ending and fantastically-scenic slopes of the Gavia await us. A final sweeping descent takes us down to the mountain town of Bormio which will be our home tonight.

• Meals: Breakfast
• Ascent: 1,870 Metres Approx.

Today is, by far, our longest day as we ride into the Dolomites region. We start the day with what is possibly the most famous of all of Italy’s classic climbs.

Peaking at 2,758m above sea level, Passo dello Stelvio is one of highest mountain passes in Europe and is known around the world for its 48, impressively-engineered, tight hairpin bends. We descend the mountain via those bends into the Adige Valley and push on along the river towards Bolzano in the province of Trentino.

The stage finishes with a relatively flat spin along the Val Venosta past apple plantations and small Tyrolean villages leading you to the capital of the region, Bolzano.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 2,830 Metres Approx.

Today we will head into the very heart of the Dolomites via roads less-travelled and a series of lesser-known climbs. The climbs are, nevertheless, outstandingly beautiful and serve as a fitting overture to what lays in wait for us during the next couple of days.

Passo Nigra (1,688m) is our first challenge which we must tackle before rolling gently upwards and then gently downhill to Passo Costalungo. The downward trend continues as we head further down into the Val di Fassa and then onwards to the town of Canazei, a community dominated by the towering vertical cliff faces of the enormous Sella Massif.

The final challenge of the day begins in Canazei as we ascend to the summit of Passo Pordoi (2,239m) after which we cruise down to Arabba where we will be staying for the next two nights.

• Meals: Breakfast
• Ascent: 2,400 Metres Approx.

Our exploration of the roads around the Sella Massif is possibly one of the most spectacular loop rides in the world. The circular route boasts an impressive roll-call of classic climbs including Passo Pordoi (2,239m) which we take on from the opposite direction to yesterday, Passo Sella (2,240m) and Passo Gardena (2,121m).

On reaching the town of Corvara in Badia those of us who have had enough climbing can head directly back to Arabba for an afternoon of relaxation, while others may choose to continue and conquer Passo Valparola (2,168m) and Passo Falzarego (2,109m) before calling it a day.

• Meals: Breakfast
• Ascent: 1,965 Metres Approx.

As we bid farewell to Arabba, we start the day with a welcome 32km of mainly downhill riding after which a sharp change in direction announces the start of our first test of the day, the challenging 20km climb through dense forest to Passo Valles.

From here the road drops away swiftly for 8km until we reach the start the Passo Rolle. As we climb we pass through the Brenta region where we are treated to some of Europe’s most spectacular scenery.

Half way into the exhilarating descent from the summit of the Rolle we pass through the mountain resort town of San Martino di Castrozza, nestled below the towering craggy peaks of the magnificent Pale di San Martino. Descending further we finally reach our hotel near the delightfully scenic town of Siror.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 2,500 Metres Approx.

We’ve reached the final stage of our own mini Giro and it’s another epic ride featuring two more classic and historic mountains. The first is Croce d’Aune, the start of which is in the town of Zorzoi that we reach after approximately 20km of mainly downhill riding. This somewhat unassuming little climb is hugely significant to cyclists worldwide as it is here that Tullio Campagnolo, founder of the revered component manufacturing company, is reputed to have come up with the idea of the quick release skewer while attempting, and apparently failing, to remove the rear wheel from his bicycle.

A monument to the legendary inventor commemorates the occasion and five decades later, after Tullio himself had passed away, the Campagnolo Company named a groupset after the mountain.

We descend via another series of hairpin bends to Pedavena from where we launch our final mountain assault. Monte Grappa, considered by historians to be the place where ‘Italy was made‘, is the site of an historic battle ground that saw significant action during both World Wars. At the summit we’ll pass the second monument of the day, this one, more poignantly than the first commemorates, and holds the remains of some 12,615 soldiers, the identities of which more than 10,000 are unknown.

Whilst we may feel a little reflective as we pass over the summit we can allow the beauty of the landscape to lift our spirits as we embark on a breath-taking final 20km descent which eventually delivers us to our final destination. The beautiful Roman town of Bassano del Grappa sits on the banks of the Brenta River and is the perfect place to finish a remarkable journey and perhaps celebrate with a shot or two of the local grappa.

• Meals: Breakfast

After breakfast this morning we will transfer to Venice Airport in time for homeward or onward flights.