What awaits you in 2025:
The sky is the limit, as the saying goes. But the Stelvio Pass, with its breathtaking pass height of 2757 metres above sea level, doesn't seem to respect this limit. The festival of hairpin bends with 48 changes of direction takes your breath away twice. The air gets thinner and thinner ‘turn by turn’ and the mountain world gets bigger and bigger, so big that you want to stand in front of the broad glacier ridge of the Ortler with your mouth open in amazement. Even today, mastering this road is a act of strength, but building it 200 years ago was far more than that - a courageous adventure by men and women who refused to accept the sky as the limit. The road was finally opened in 1825 and we crown the multi-event anniversary gala in our stage destination of Bormio with the Transalp. Between Innsbruck and Riva del Garda, the Stilfserjoch looks down proudly on the other passes of the 2025 Transalp.
It never goes up as high as it does on the Stelvio. But what lies beyond that – via Imst in the Inn valley, Pfunds in the Tiroler Oberland, Bormio, Aprica, Darfo Boario Terme and Roncone in the Valle del Chiese – is far from being labelled as fallen fruit.
Cycling legends are not just written in thin air, the 1852 metres of the Passo Mortirolo are also sufficient, firmly engraved in the history of the Giro d'Italia and just as firmly anchored in the history of the TOUR Transalp. This is a pass where you can really suffer, even more so - although much smaller - than on the Stilfserjoch. Yes, the Mortirolo is also a great pass.
Also the Passo Crocedomini lurks, with its road, that connects the Valcamonica with the Valle del Chiese. Anyone attempting to climb the Crocedomini on a bike, however, will fall more and more into the belief that the pass separates the two valleys: ‘How the hell am I supposed to get over there?’ On day 6 of 7, some may well be asking themselves this question, bathed in lactate, and shout ‘Damned Pass!’ at this mountain road – that also deserves the label "great". But these damnded passes are also just marvellously beautiful. Just like the secret favourite, hidden in the backcountry of the Bergamo Alps, the Passo del Vivione, a terribly beautiful little road that soon robs you of the belief that there is any further to go in no man's land. But then the arrows point the way into the quiet, almost unspoilt nature on the way to the tranquil Valle di Scalve. This is also a pass for great emotions. It is precisely these insider tips, the hidden, mystical passes.
Those passes that make the Transalp adventure a great experience. So watch out! If you run out of breath while blowing out the 200 candles on the Stelvio birthday cake, you run the risk of not having enough air left for the other big passes on the TOUR Transalp 2025. So be ready for this extravagant pass gala.
Which – as a side note – will also be celebrated in two completely new stage towns that have never been part of the TOUR Transalp: Pfunds and Darfo Boario Terme. This is another reason why one of the most exciting routes in Transalp history awaits next year - or perhaps even the most exciting? To find out, you have to conquer it - goosebumps guaranteed!