Catria Ride

A Granfondo with a Giro d'Italia Feel

The Catria Ride is a highly anticipated event for endurance cycling enthusiasts seeking a true challenge. Starting from Cantiano, a small municipality in the province of Pesaro and Urbino nestled at the foot of Monte Catria, this non-competitive cycling tour faithfully retraces the route of one of the toughest stages of the 2009 Giro d'Italia, the Centenary edition, remembered as a true queen stage.

A Trilogy of Legendary Climbs

The heart of the Catria Ride is the sequence of three major climbs in the central Apennines, tackled in order over the nearly 180 kilometers of the route:

• Monte Petrano (1,101 meters), the first real difficulty of the day
• Monte Nerone (1,417 meters), the highest climb on the route
• Monte Catria (1,368 meters), which towers a few kilometers from the finish and offers a final breathtaking view

Along the way, you'll also encounter the Passo della Scheggia and the climb to Fonte Avellana, in a succession of hairpin bends, forests, and ridges. The total elevation gain exceeds 4,300 meters: a true mountain stage, reserved for those with trained legs and minds.

Audax Spirit, Not Competition

The Catria Ride is not a race: it is an ARI-Audax Italia homologated brevet, where there are no rankings or stopwatches. The goal is to finish, enjoy the scenery, and share the effort with other participants. The start follows the classic randonnée style, with cyclists setting off in a staggered manner from early morning from Piazza Luceoli, in the center of Cantiano.

Cantiano and the Apennines of the Marche

Organized by ASD Italiana Occhiali, the event showcases an authentic and uncrowded territory in the mountainous heart of the Marche Region. Monte Catria, with its unmistakable mass and the statue of Christ the Redeemer at its summit, is one of the landscape symbols of the province of Pesaro and Urbino: cycling at its foot and around its valleys means discovering a silent and genuine Italy, made of villages, beech forests, and panoramas stretching to the Adriatic on clear days.