Prelude

Once again in April it was Veneto Gravel time! Last year's experience was incredible despite the rain and the mud, and I was eager to finally ride the whole route.

The 2026 edition saw a steep rise in the number of participants: from over 1300 last year there were now 1600 people that had signed up. During the days before the start my excitement was shooting through the roof as every day the weather forecast for that weekend looked better than before. And it delivered! There was so much sunshine that we've had over 25 degrees during day and I even suffered a mild sunburn. As a last minute decision I ditched the leg warmers and some extra thermo gear which at these temperatures would have been overkill to carry around. In April; unbelievable.

For a warm-up I chose to get off the train already in Trento and ride the remaining ~100 km. With the weather being impeccable I opted for some climbing up to 1083 m where I crossed from Trentino into Veneto via the magnificent Valico della Fricca pass, to reach Bassano del Grappa in the afternoon. That went really well and left me with some time to explore the town some more and watch a classic Star Trek episode with Italian dubbing in my hotel room.

Day 1: Bassano to Portegrandi

Veneto Gravel is more of a brevet type event and emphatically not a race. Thus things are quite relaxed even on the start line: there's no fixed grand départ or cohorts, you can start the course at your own discretion during the daytime hours of Friday and Saturday. My plan was to be back in Bassano on Sunday so I went as early as possible on Friday 08:00 a.m. That is, I would have, if it hadn't been for my Garmin which decided to throw a last minute tantrum that cost me half an hour to fix. I guess loading a 720 km track is asking too much of that device.

Finally, off we went. It's an even numbered year so we were following the track in clockwise direction, which means we went straight into the Alps, only to leave them again. A steep climb launched us up to 430 m altitude near Lago di Corlo, from where we rolled on to the Piave river with its absolutely massive bed, and Belluno with its stunning panorama view of the Dolomites. There we obtained the stamp at the first checkpoint. Turning south we left the mountains behind and after reaching the highes point of the parcours near the Lago di Santa Croce it was almost all downhill all the way to the Adriatic.

A few hills had to be tackled around checkpoint 2 in Conegliano but those were mere speedbumps after our morning foray into the Alps. The track followed a series of canals and dikes which if you were to remove the mountains in the background would remind of the Netherlands. In the late afternoon I suffered somewhat mainly from the heat but presumably also from something I had ingested earlier. I sat down to rest a while at some bar in San Stino, about 30 km from the coast, but struggled to get down even a bite of the delicious toast they served there. In the end, I had it packed for takeaway, strapped the carton box on my aerobars, and got back on the bike again without eating. I slow pedaled until I reached Caorle, at which point it had already gotten dark and the temperature had dropped. This helped me recover and I finally had dinner.

With a full stomach and raised spirit I visited checkpoint 3 before I rode on past the Lagoon looking for a cozy spot to crash for the night. Initially I thought I'd sleep in that wooden birdwatching tower directly on the water that I remembered from last year but had to continue looking when I realized it was teeming with insects. It was only at portegrandi, some 280 km into the route, that I spotted a bench in a churchyard that seemed adequate -- as it turned out I wasn't alone with that assessment, another participant was already fast asleep on another bench in that yard.

Day 2: Portegrandi to Canale Biffis

Four hours later I was back on the bike, following the bikepath on the fiume Sile towards Treviso. In the early morning hours that was a terrific ride and I didn't encounter a single human until the famous Cimitero dei burci segment. It was only me, some herons, geese and other birds, and a lone turtle.

Then at checkpoint 4 in Treviso I encountered Simon from Slovenia with whom I rode together on and off for most of the morning. In Padova we had some ice cream on the Prato della Valle, and then headed on with high intensity towards the Colli Euganei, where I lost Simon, who was the better climber, again. In the famous borgo of Arquà I stopped at Petrarca's tomb for a late lunch break and then headed west towards lake Garda.

That afternoon was even sunnier and hotter than the first one so again I had to take it easier for a while. I latched onto two cheerful guys, Tommaso and Filippo, from around Venice who sadly had to scratch later for health reasons. Before sunset I also shared a few kilometers with Matt/Mathieu from Paris. However I reached Peschiera alone. On a flawless Saturday night I slalomed around tourists and partygoers before I reached the shore of the Lake.

All day I had anticipated jumping into the lake when I would get there, only to be disappointed as the water was way too shallow on the short stretch of shore that the Veneto Gravel tracked passed through. Nevertheless, I walked a few meters into the lake -- at that point maybe shin deep -- and proceeded to clean myself and my clothes. This is the first time I packed a second bib shorts for an ultra and it was without doubt the right decision as it allowed me to do my laundry and have it dry on my seatpack during the course of the next day.

It was already late when I was done washing so I had to hurry to get to a pizzeria, but I reached one just in time for the last call, only minutes before the cook called it a day. There I was served an outstanding pizza Calzone which I devoured in a few minutes.

As on the first day it took me a while to find a place to sleep. I hadn't expected to climb out of Lake Garda again, but I ended up doing exactly that. Unfortunately it involved a nasty gravel section littered with fist sized pebbles where I was overtaken by a large group of riders who were traveling light -- they weren't in the mood for talking but I assumed they did the "Short Beach" loop, leaving me literally in the dust.

I slowly rode on searching without luck until I reached a resting area on the Canale Biffis cycleway which I had known from an earlier trip to the lake. At about kilometer 560 I finally layed down to sleep.

Day 3: Canale Biffis to Bassano

In the dark I had picked the first of the benches at the resting area. In the morning I realized that this was one of the worse decisions as I hadn't noticed there were much more comfortable benches and tables only a few meters later, including one with a roof. Tough luck. Hopefully next time I'll remember that.

Around 06:00 a.m. I reached Verona, the last larger town on the route. At that time of the day the town belongs to the pigeons, even on a Saturday. After the mandatory selfie at the Arena I rolled on to the Adige cycle route which runs on top of a dike from where I could observe the locals tending to the fields left and right already at this early hour.

In Zevio, after I reached the deserted final checkpoint, I took a detour into the town for resupply. The Sunday farmer's market was still in the process of being set up so I grabbed some delicious pastries from the local panificio instead. Still ravenous from the night I devoured these while making my way to the final hills of the route. While I was munching on the pastries I encountered a lost participant who was going in the wrong direction. That was odd, but about half an hour later he caught up to me again and cleared up the confusion: his head unit was overwhelmed with the official GPX file as well so he couldn't navigate; in the morning he thus followed his track from the last day and since he had finished that day in the darkness it took him a while before he noticed the mistake.

The final challenge of the route consisted of the Colli Berici south of Vicenza. These proved harder to pass than they looked on paper. The road over the hills only shortly exceeds 400 m of altitude, but that is deceptive as it undulates over the rolling hills in a rapid succession of short, ultra-steep climbs and equally steep downhills. The hills seem to be very popular with the local road cyclists, an endless stream of which kept coming in the other direction. Which probably shouldn't be much of a surprise given that the ride is quite scenic and located close to the cities of Vicenza, Padova and Verona. A long gravel descent with occasional car traffic concludes this segment and from there it was flat until the finish line.

From the Colli Berici I rode the final 60 km to Bassano without stopping, except for the obligatory picture I took in Piazzola sul Brenta. That was also the point at which the "Short Beach" edition of the Veneto Gravel joined the route so suddenly I was encountering quite a few more participants. Some really fast groups blasted through with still mostly fresh legs. I reached sunny Bassano around 14:00 p.m., got the last stamp in my brevet booklet, and sat down to enjoy the finisher's meal before I finally had a shower. Simon, my companion from day 2, finished not long after me and we briefly shared our experiences.

All the good things

This 2026 edition of Veneto Gravel was superb. The weather, the route, the other riders I interacted with -- everything felt amazing from start to finish with only a few lows.

Fitness wise I felt okay. It certainly wasn't the biggest challenge, of course, which makes it quite ideal for this time early in the season. I wasn't going all-out at any point, but I still managed to complete the 720 km course in about 53 hours including standing time while sleeping 3-4 hours every night.

Sleep is the one thing I could have handled better. The first night I didn't get much of a recovery as I had to take what I could get in terms of sleeping spots and ended up at a larger road that was noisy throughout the night. Second night was okay though, even though I lost some time searching.

To elaborate a bit on the event and what makes it special, it's that it's essentially a kind of free-for-all, "Choose Your Own Adventure" ride through a region with a high density of utterly stunning places. Riders can tackle it however they prefer. The organizers emphasize that it's not a race. There are no trackers, no live info about other riders except from meeting them on the road. You may start on Friday or Saturday, any time during the day; ride the "classic" route or one of the shorter versions; ride solo or in a group; push yourself hard in competitive mode or take it slowly, bike touring style; challenge yourself or treat yourself on a wine and food tasting expedition; heck you can even take an ebike if you want, it's up to you. There's no pressure to commit to one variant of the parcours in advance either, just start on the "classic" route and you can take an early turn for the shortest "Newbie" version, or cut short later after Treviso for the "Short Beach" version. You may do whatever you want, as long as you enjoy it and follow the rules.

10/10, will ride again.