Nova Eroica Ivrea: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The start is at eight o'clock on Piazza Ottinetti in Ivrea, the town whose industrial architecture has been UNESCO listed since 2018. The first climb comes at kilometre 5.7, 1.53 kilometres at 6.6 percent, and at kilometre 21.5 the longest ascent of the loop follows, 2.58 kilometres at 6.4 percent, taking you up onto the Serra di Ivrea.

After that the course calms considerably. Almost half of it is flat, between kilometre 45 and kilometre 75 there is hardly a significant gradient, and only at kilometre 77.1 do two kilometres at 5.4 percent appear again. Towards the end two moderate climbs follow one another at kilometre 107.7 and kilometre 109.7 before the route touches its high point at 454 metres and runs back to Ivrea.

The terrain is typical Canavese: morainic hills, vineyards, lakes and medieval castles, with long gravel sections on farm and forest tracks in between. Five feed stops support the loop, which is ridden in the Nova format of timed sections and free-pace transfers, on modern gravel, road or cyclocross bikes.

Pacing Strategy

On this route the two hardest climbs come inside the first thirty kilometres, exactly where the field is still together. That is the main trap: go with the group on the Serra at kilometre 21.5 with 118 kilometres still to ride and you pay for it in the flat middle.

Because that middle is not recovery, it is where the speed is made. Across almost half the route without gradient, rolling resistance, shelter and consistency decide the outcome, not climbing power. Ride the gravel sections on a calm line and stay in a group wherever you can.

The finale asks for attention again. The climbs at kilometre 107.7 and 109.7 are moderate but arrive after four to six hours of riding, and the high point of the loop still follows them. Deliberately keep something back for that instead of spending it in the flat middle.

Training plan for Nova Eroica Ivrea: 12-week build

Expect five to seven hours of riding. The demand is largely steady and aerobic, since 46 percent of the loop is flat, interrupted by a handful of climbs lasting five to twenty minutes.

That shifts the training emphasis compared with the Tuscan Eroica routes. Long tempo blocks on rolling and flat terrain matter more here than hill repeats. Build sessions with two or three blocks of twenty to forty minutes just below threshold, ridden on gravel rather than asphalt.

The early climbs onto the Serra and the two ramps from kilometre 107 still decide the day. One or two hill intervals of ten to fifteen minutes a week cover that, ideally at the end of a long ride.

September conditions are mild, but at sixty percent the share of unsealed road is high, and after rain the Canavese forest tracks turn soft. Train on the tyre width you intend to race and practise fast descending on loose ground, because on this course a lot of time is won going down rather than up.