Dolomitenrundfahrt: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

Start and finish are on the Lienzer Hauptplatz. The first eighteen kilometres roll gently downhill east along the Drau valley and cost almost nothing, until the Gailbergsattel opens the day at kilometre 18.3: 5.6 kilometres at 5.9 percent average with ramps to sixteen percent, cresting at 982 metres.

After the descent to Kötschach-Mauthen the loop turns west, and this is where the race takes its character. From kilometre 32 to kilometre 76 the road works up the Lesachtal past Maria Luggau and Obertilliach to the Kartitscher Sattel at 1,514 metres: some 800 metres of climbing spread over 44 kilometres, in short steps of one to three kilometres separated by stretches of false flat. Not one of those sections is hard on its own. Together they are the ride.

From the col the course drops into the Pustertal, and the last thirty kilometres run slightly downhill along the Drau back to Lienz. Almost half the loop is flat, and the scenery changes completely on the way round: a tight mountain valley heading west, a wide open basin coming home. Villages in the Lesachtal play the field through, which has been part of the day for decades.

Pacing Strategy

This loop rewards patience on a course with no obvious place to suffer. The Gailbergsattel after eighteen fast kilometres is the first trap: it is short enough to ride at race pace, and you pay for it 50 kilometres later. Ride it at the top of your endurance range and let the group go if it wants to.

The day is decided in the Lesachtal. Forty-four kilometres of climbing at under two percent average means you are fast enough for drafting to matter and climbing for long enough that too many watts accumulate unnoticed. Sitting in a group that is too strong here means arriving empty at the Kartitscher Sattel. Hold your own number even if it briefly costs you places.

The descent into the Pustertal and the last thirty gently falling kilometres are the only part where riding in a group genuinely buys time. Having something left when you get there is the whole job. Mid-June can already be warm on the valley floor while the Kartitscher Sattel at 1,500 metres stays cool and windy: plan your drinking for the valley, and carry a gilet for the descent.

Training plan for Dolomitenrundfahrt: 12-week build

Expect four to six hours of riding depending on your level. The demand is remarkably even: almost half the course is flat and only seven percent sits in the steep-uphill band. This is not a race of anaerobic spikes but one long, densely ridden tempo effort with a single real climb in it.

Training should therefore emphasise pedalling cleanly just below threshold for hours. Long rides of three to five hours with tempo blocks of 30 to 60 minutes fit the demand better than short hard intervals. Build in at least two sessions where a long shallow climb or a headwind section falls at the end of a long ride, because that is exactly how the Lesachtal arrives.

The Gailbergsattel additionally asks for a climb of around twenty minutes with short ramps in it, ridden straight out of a fast valley section. Simulate the transition, not just the climb: 45 minutes brisk on the flat, then straight up with no break between.

On conditions: mid-June is summer in the Drau valley and not yet summer at 1,500 metres on the Kartitscher Sattel. Get used to rides spanning a wide temperature range, ride your local descents in cool weather too, and practise drinking on the move on gently rising terrain, because the Lesachtal offers almost no place where it feels convenient.