Granfondo Squali: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The start is on Corso Italia at 07:30, and the first twenty kilometres are still prelude: a ramp at kilometre twelve, the castle at Gradara shortly after, then a second rise at kilometre 20. At kilometre 24, in Saludecio, the two competitive routes separate - the long one stays low and carries on into the Valconca.

The hard part sits between kilometre 47 and 56: first Monte Altavelio, a good three kilometres at eight per cent for 257 metres of gain, then almost immediately another three at six and a half. That is the route's high point at 622 metres, and where the field sorts itself out. Two further blocks follow - nearly four kilometres at six per cent at kilometre 76, and two more at a good six at kilometre 97 - before the road runs back through Tavullia towards the coast.

The ending is the real reason to ride here: the last fifteen kilometres take the Panoramica through the Monte San Bartolo nature park, the clifftop road above the sea, past Fiorenzuola di Focara and Casteldimezzo, on a profile that saws between forty and nearly two hundred metres - and then climbs to the finish at Gabicce Monte. Around it runs a three-day festival, with about 3,150 finishers the year before and an expo beside the aquarium; the finish feed is blue fish and piadina rather than gel.

Pacing Strategy

The whole field rides the first 24 kilometres to Saludecio together, and they are fast. Sitting in the front group there because the road is rolling is paid for on the Altavelio. Treat the run to the split as an approach rather than a race - the 08:30 cut-off at that point is never tight for a properly trained rider.

The day is decided between kilometre 47 and 56. The Altavelio demands twelve to twenty minutes at your limit, and the second climb comes too soon to recover from it. Ride the first one knowing you will have to work again immediately at the top - because you will.

The second half rewards whoever has something left: the blocks at kilometre 76 and 97 are shorter but meet tired legs, and then comes the stretch where plenty of races fall apart - the Panoramica above the sea, rolling, exposed and windy, with the climb to Gabicce Monte at the end. The finish closes at 13:30. Ride the clifftop road in a group, eat before it, and deliberately keep something for the final kilometre.

Training plan for Granfondo Squali: 12-week build

For an age-group rider this is four and a half to six and a half hours with around 1,900 metres of climbing. The character is not that of a mountain stage but of a rolling race: eight climbs of between one and four kilometres, constant changes, barely any real recovery - a good third of the route is flat and the rest goes up or down.

Training therefore centres on repeated medium climbs: intervals of eight to twenty minutes at threshold, three to five of them inside one long ride, with short descents between. A single long mountain pass prepares you worse for this course than five clean hill repetitions.

Two things are specific. First the Altavelio-plus-follow-up pairing - deliberately train pairs of climbs with only a few minutes of descent between them. Second the closing fifteen kilometres: rolling, exposed coastal terrain after more than a hundred kilometres. Put the broken ground at the end of your long rides, not in the middle.

Mid-May on the Adriatic is mild to warm, and the clifftop road is open to the sea breeze. For many riders this is the first warm ride of the year: fluid and salt belong in the plan, and your last long sessions should not all happen at ten degrees in spring rain.