L'Eroica 2025: 9,000 cyclists hunt for glory (and taste) on the white roads at the weekend

Everything is now ready! Over nine thousand cyclists, with their vintage jerseys and bicycles, will peacefully invade Gaiole in Chianti during the first weekend in October. In fact, L'Eroica, the event that has been combining sport, culture and conviviality since 1997, and has since conquered fans, not only of cycling, of all ages and from all over the world, is back.

It is not a simple L'Eroica race, but a real journey back in time and immersed in memory and beauty. Along the famous white roads of Chianti and Val d'Orcia that draw the landscape like brushstrokes, one pedals on steel bicycles and wears woollen jerseys that smell of history: a return to the origins of cycling, when fatigue was part of poetry and every climb had the flavour of a feat.

Strade bianche

Colline del Chianti, L'Eroica è una manifestazione cicloturistica che ha la particolarità di rievocare il ciclismo di un tempo, con percorsi che si svolgono in buona parte su strade bianche con biciclette e abbigliamento d'epoca. (Agf)

Forget chronometers and rankings, because at the 'Eroica' you are racing against time, but the time of memory. Each route is a personal challenge that smacks of an epic feat: from the 209 km 'Eroico' with almost 4,000 metres of altitude difference that goes beyond Montalcino and its vineyards to the 46 km 'Valle del Chianti', designed for those who just prefer to sample the magic of the event, via the intermediate (but equally demanding) 81 km 'Gallo Nero', 106 km 'Val d'Arbia' and 135 km 'Crete Senesi'. All divided into two days, between Saturday and Sunday, to allow everyone to savour the experience with more gusto.

Colline del Chianti, L'Eroica è una manifestazione cicloturistica che ha la particolarità di rievocare il ciclismo di un tempo, con percorsi che si svolgono in buona parte su strade bianche con biciclette e abbigliamento d'epoca. (Agf)

For an entire weekend, Gaiole in Chianti is therefore preparing to become a widespread village: Casa Eroica will welcome cyclists and the curious, with a vintage market that smells of the past, and the villages will come alive with music and encounters. It is the festival of a community that celebrates itself by opening its doors to the world. Because the Eroica is indeed rooted in Tuscany, but it speaks a universal language: in 2025 fans from 50 different countries will arrive, from Europe to America, from Australia to Japan. And all generations will also be represented: from Diana, who at 14 years of age will tackle the route through the Chianti vineyards for the first time, to 85-year-old Emilio, who is ready to take on the 100-kilometre route for the tenth time.

Gaiole in Chianti - Ciclismo Amatoriale - L’Eroica - Manifestazione Bici d’epoca - Strade Sterrate (Photo Luigi Sestili /LaPresse)

And then there are the refreshments, obligatory stops on this journey. Banish the sad energy bars, and give way to bread (strictly 'sciocco' or without salt, as is the custom in Tuscany) to accompany ham, salami, eggs and pecorino cheese, but also pappa al pomodoro to be washed down (why not?) with a few good glasses of wine. Just be careful not to overdo it with the ribollita at the Asciano refreshment point, if you don't want to end up with your legs in the air in the infamous 'Sante Marie' ramps that begin shortly thereafter. It is in those places that fatigue turns into conviviality: you stop, laugh, toast with strangers who in a few minutes become friends. It is no coincidence that Giancarlo Brocci, creator of the initiative, likes to joke, reminding us that 'L'Eroica makes you arrive heavier than when you left'.