Passo Manghen

The Passo Manghen is a relatively late edition to the great roads of the Dolomites having been built as late as 1958 over the route of an old mule track. 18 years later it then made its tempestuous debut in the Giro d’Italia largely because the final 12 kilometres were still unpaved. The great Eddy Merckx proclaimed that it was more ‘fit for cyclo cross than a road race’ and he was being polite.

The eventual winner of that year’s Giro, Felice Gimondi, proclaimed that race organiser Vincenzo Torriani “deserved to be truncheoned’ for including it. Such was the uproar the climb didn’t appear on the route again until 1996 when thankfully the upper slopes had been paved, however even though now sealed under a layer of tarmac they are still ferociously steep and to this day present one of the hardest challenges a rider can face.

This is a real tough one, a proper challenge into unpopulated and quiet mountains so make sure you are well fueled and mentally and physically ready for battle. Leaving Borgo Valsugana you head up through Telve on a moderate gradient to begin by passing various villages as you wind through the dark forest.

Although there is the odd spike in the slope there is nothing too demanding until you reach the infamous final seven kilometres. Set almost entirely on a constant gradient of between 10 and 15% on an impossibly narrow road they twist through a multitude of hairpins on a merciless journey into wild isolation.