Gran Fondo Strade Bianche

The day after the professionals race the Strade Bianche, thousands of amateurs roll out of Siena's Medici fortress onto the very same white roads. The pro classic only dates from 2007, but it grew out of L'Eroica, the vintage-bike ride that has kept Tuscany's gravel lanes in use since 1997, and the gran fondo finishes exactly where the pros do: in Piazza del Campo, after a steep last climb over Siena's medieval paving stones.

The ground is the Crete Senesi, pale clay hills with cypress-lined lanes, farmland and vineyards, where the packed gravel turns to dust in a dry spring and to grey mud when it rains. The gravel sectors are short but punchy, with double-digit ramps, and the pace is that of an Italian gran fondo, fast from the gun, so it rewards a winter of proper training.

It is run by RCS Sports & Events, the company behind the Giro d'Italia and the pro race itself, and has become one of the largest mass-participation gravel days in Europe, with a strongly international field and former professionals lining up among the amateurs. After the finish, riders head back to the village for a shared pasta party.