Summary
- Five Italian one-day races run between Saturday 3 and Thursday 8 October, from Ferrara to Bra. Il Lombardia, the 120th edition, closes the season on Saturday 10 October.
- The Giro dell'Emilia starts from Ferrara for the first time and finishes with five ascents of San Luca, four of them on a 9.2 km circuit.
- The Trittico Lombardo is three races on three consecutive days: Coppa Agostoni over 166.7 km, Coppa Bernocchi over 174 km for 1,888 m of climbing, and Tre Valli Varesine over 200 km.
- Gran Piemonte, the 110th edition, covers 185 km from Asti to Bra with around ten climbs and two passes of La Morra.
- Not one of these races is settled on a long mountain pass. They are settled on short climbs ridden again and again.
The week at a glance
| Date | Race | Route | Distance | Where it is decided |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 3 Oct | Giro dell'Emilia | Ferrara to Bologna | not published | Five ascents of San Luca |
| Sun 4 Oct | Coppa Agostoni, 79th | Lissone to Lissone | 166.7 km | Four laps of the Lissolo circuit |
| Mon 5 Oct | Coppa Bernocchi, 107th | Legnano to Legnano | 174 km, 1,888 m | Piccolo Stelvio and Caramamma |
| Tue 6 Oct | Tre Valli Varesine, 105th | Busto Arsizio to Varese | 200 km | Ronchi, Cinque Piante, Barasso |
| Thu 8 Oct | Gran Piemonte, 110th | Asti to Bra | 185 km | La Morra, twice in the finale |
Italy groups these races on purpose. The field is largely the same across all five, and the block works as a rehearsal for Il Lombardia the following Saturday.
Giro dell'Emilia: San Luca, five times
Saturday 3 October. The race leaves Ferrara from the Castello Estense, a first in its history, and crosses the plain towards Bologna. Bicisport reported the route on 23 September 2026, with 27 WorldTour and professional teams entered.
The long approach is a formality. The race is the finishing circuit: 9.2 km a lap, ridden four times after an initial ascent, so five passages of the Colle di San Luca. The climb is roughly 2 km at close to 10% average. The Curva delle Orfanelle is where it bites, and the accounts differ: ProCyclingUK puts the steepest ramps near 18%, Bicisport quotes 20%.
Two earlier climbs set the race up. Loiano is the high point of the day, and Via Belvedere at Pianoro is 1.5 km averaging 11% with pitches above 15%. The women's Giro dell'Emilia BCC Felsinea runs the same day from Ferrara, with two ascents of San Luca.
The Trittico Lombardo: three days, three different questions
Sunday to Tuesday, three races within an hour of each other, each with its own shape. LegnanoNews reported the presentation on 9 September 2026.
Coppa Agostoni, 79th edition, 166.7 km around Lissone. After about 20 km the race joins the Lissolo circuit, 28 km a lap, four times. Each lap holds Sirtori (1.5 km at 4.9%), Colle Brianza (3.8 km at 6%) and Lissolo (5.4 km at 4.3%), so twelve climbs in total. Then 35 mostly flat kilometres back to via Matteotti. In 2025 Adam Yates went clear on the last Lissolo and won alone (Tuttobiciweb, 5 October 2025).
Coppa Bernocchi, 107th edition, 174 km for 1,888 m of climbing around Legnano. It turns on laps of the Valle Olona circuit, where the Piccolo Stelvio and Caramamma ramps measure 1,685 m combined at 7.1% average with sections at 14%. Sources disagree on whether the circuit is covered seven or eight times, so treat the lap count as unconfirmed.
Tre Valli Varesine, 105th edition, is the hardest of the three. It runs 200 km from Busto Arsizio to Varese, over the Ronchi climb, then Cinque Piante from Gavirate and the Barasso ramp. Six laps of the Varese city circuit finish it on via Sacco. Malpensanews gives 25 teams and 175 riders. The Tre Valli Varesine Women's Race, sixth edition, runs the same day.
Gran Piemonte, and what the week is building towards
Gran Piemonte moves the racing west on Thursday 8 October: 185 km from Asti to Bra, the 110th edition, with around ten climbs including Manera, Tre Cunei and Roddino. The finale is a 34.7 km loop that takes in La Morra a second time. The last 1,500 m rise at about 5% with pitches at 8% (Sky Sport, 22 September 2026). Isaac del Toro starts as defending champion. He also won the Giro dell'Emilia in 2025.
Il Lombardia follows on Saturday 10 October, the 120th edition, starting from Bergamo. RCS Sport presented the route on 24 September. At the time of writing the official race site listed the start city and the finishing straight, but not the distance or the climbs. Treat any profile circulating elsewhere as unconfirmed.
What this kind of racing asks of a bike
A race decided on one long pass and a race decided on a dozen short ones load a bike in different ways. Four things separate them.
Gearing, and the ratio that actually matters
A 2 km wall at 10% with corners near 20% is a cadence problem before it is a fitness problem. On a 36 tooth chainring, a 30 tooth sprocket gives 1.20:1, a 34 gives 1.06:1 and a 36 gives 1.00:1. That last step is worth more on the fifth ascent of San Luca than on the first. Professional bikes are geared for professional legs, which is the most common mismatch on an ex-team bike.
Weight, and where the bike carries it
Repeated short climbs reward a bike that changes speed easily, not only one that is light on the scale. Rotating weight at the rim counts twice: once for the mass, once for the effort of spinning it up again after every corner. Our comparison of aero and lightweight wheels goes through the trade-off.
Braking on a descent ridden four times
The Lissolo circuit is climbed and descended four times, the San Luca circuit five. Heat builds in the braking surface on every one. A disc system moves that heat into a steel rotor away from the tyre, while a rim brake puts it into the rim itself. On a second hand bike the question is not which system is better in the abstract. It is how much material is left: rotor thickness, pad depth, rim track wear.
Tyres for October tarmac
Italian autumn roads are damp in the morning and covered in leaf litter under the trees. Grip on a wet 18% ramp comes from contact patch and pressure, not from tread. If a frame or fork you are considering clears only 25 mm, that is a real limitation now that 28 and 30 mm casings are the normal fit on a race bike.
If you are shopping for a climbing bike
If you ride this kind of terrain, the useful filter is not the brand on the down tube. It is gearing range, tyre clearance and the condition of the braking parts, in that order.
Bikeroom lists the full category at road bikes and the second hand selection at pre-owned road bikes. For a climbing frame with an Italian racing history, the Bianchi Specialissima collection is a place to start. Our guide to the punchy climbs of the Montréal Worlds covers the same repeated-effort profile. The used climbing bike guide deals with what to inspect, and how to buy a pre-owned WorldTour bike covers team bikes.
If you are unsure whether a bike you are considering will take the cassette you need for ramps like San Luca, talk to our concierge.
Sources: Bicisport, 23 September 2026; ProCyclingUK, 19 September 2026; SpazioCiclismo, 4 September 2026; LegnanoNews, 9 September 2026; US Legnanese, Coppa Bernocchi official page; Malpensanews, 9 September 2026; Sky Sport, 22 September 2026; ilombardia.it, official site; Tuttobiciweb, 5 October 2025. Cover photo: Dascky81, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
