GiroSardegna Gravel

After three seasons as a round of the UCI Gravel World Series, the gravel stage of the GiroSardegna becomes the Italian Gravel Championship in 2027, with tricolore jerseys for elite and under-23 riders and for every amateur age group. It also opens the GiroSardegna week of seven races, so riders can stay on for more.

The start and finish sit on the limestone promontory of Capo Caccia near Alghero, inside the Porto Conte regional park and a marine protected area. From there the race climbs Monte Timidone, follows a sandy firebreak along the coves of the north-west coast, skirts Lake Baratz, the only natural lake in Sardinia, and threads through the Porto Ferro dunes and the Monte Girat pine forest on a circuit ridden two or three times.

About 70 percent of the course is gravel, and the organisers describe it as fast and free of real technical difficulty, with sand as the main thing to manage. It is run under federation rules by ASD Mare e Monti, the club behind the GiroSardegna, and mountain bikes and e-bikes are not allowed.