Marcialonga Cycling Craft: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The start is at eight in the morning on the Piazza SS. Apostoli in the middle of Predazzo. The first sixteen kilometres through Moena to Sen Jan di Fassa rise only gently and roll along in the bunch, then at kilometre 13.8 the route turns onto the Passo Costalunga: seven kilometres at 6.7 percent, the first four the steepest, followed by a long false flat to a summit that sits on the border between Trentino and South Tyrol, between the Latemar and the Rosengarten. A ten kilometre descent past the Lago di Carezza and through Nova Levante follows, then a short kick up to San Valentino and the drop to Ponte Nova, at 805 metres the lowest point of the day.

That is where the heart of the race begins. The Passo Pampeago is climbed from the South Tyrolean side via Obereggen, close to fourteen kilometres and around 1,100 metres of gain whose core is a seven and a half kilometre stretch averaging 9.6 percent. From Obereggen the road is closed to traffic all the way to the pass and on the descent down to the Alpe di Pampeago, and that descent is the fastest and most technical of the race. Just before Predazzo, at kilometre 80, the decision is made: take the Mediofondo finish or carry on.

Carrying on means starting again from scratch. From Moena the Passo San Pellegrino climbs for almost ten kilometres at 6.4 percent, Giro d'Italia terrain whose famous hairpins this race takes in the descent towards Falcade. Then comes the shortest and hardest climb of the day, the Passo Valles, seven kilometres at 8.7 percent with ramps to sixteen percent, at 2,038 metres also the high point and finishing right beneath the Pale di San Martino. The descent through the old growth of the Paneveggio nature park returns you to Predazzo, where the finish, the expo and the pasta party all sit in the village. Around 1,500 riders from fifteen countries started in 2026, and there is a supporter point with music at the Passo Pampeago.

Pacing Strategy

The number that shapes your plan is not the distance, it is the share of flat road: about ten percent. There are almost no kilometres here where a group carries you for free. That is why the day is decided on the Costalunga rather than on the Valles. At 6.7 percent the climb is friendly enough to be dragged up in someone else's rhythm, and that is exactly the trap: ride its steeper opening four kilometres on another rider's terms and you pay for it twenty five kilometres later.

The race itself is settled on the Passo Pampeago. From the low point at Ponte Nova almost 1,100 metres of climbing go by in one piece, with a middle section around nine to ten percent that offers no place to sit up. Ride it clearly below what felt possible on the Costalunga, and account for the closed road from Obereggen upwards, which invites you to chase wheels. The descent that follows is fast and technical: ridden under control it costs you little, ridden beyond your skill it costs you a great deal.

The second half is a race of its own. From Moena the San Pellegrino and the Valles come back to back with only the short drop to Falcade between them, and the last ramp of the day carries the steepest average of all at 8.7 percent. Plan to drink and eat deliberately at the San Pellegrino summit and at the feed on the Valles, because after that there is only descending and the run home. The eight and a half hour limit and the checkpoints at Pampeago (kilometre 60), Predazzo (kilometre 80) and San Pellegrino (kilometre 100) are not a footnote: arrive late at Pampeago and you are diverted to the Mediofondo finish at kilometre 80.

Training plan for Marcialonga Cycling Craft: 12-week build

For a committed age group rider expect five and a half to seven hours in the saddle, and up to the eight and a half hour limit at a steadier pace. The demand is unusually easy to read: four long, continuous climbs, fast descents between them and almost no rolling terrain. In practice that is four blocks of forty to seventy minutes at tempo to threshold, separated by recovery you do not get to choose.

The Pampeago and the San Pellegrino plus Valles pairing decide the race. The Pampeago asks for a long, even effort with a core around nine to ten percent where cadence inevitably drops, so prepare it with twenty to forty minute climbing intervals, deliberately including low cadence seated work. The closing double ramp is best trained as a coupling: one long climb, a short technical descent, then straight into a shorter and steeper climb, ridden after four to five hours on the bike.

Descending is a training topic here, not a by-product. The drops from the Pampeago and the Valles are steep, fast and full of corners, and time is lost through hesitation rather than through fitness. Practise descending with tired legs, on the bike and tyre pressures you will actually race.

Conditions drive the equipment decisions. At the end of May the Dolomite passes have only just opened, the high point is 2,038 metres and the eight o'clock start in Predazzo sits at just over 1,000 metres. Fifteen degrees can separate a cold morning, a warm valley at midday and the wind on a pass summit, so plan a gilet and arm warmers for the descents and carry your own food between feed stations. Outside support is banned and you must be able to repair the bike yourself, and outside the road closure windows the route is open to normal traffic.