Stage 7: Valle del Chiese – Riva del Garda
The Sarca, the river that feeds Lake Garda in the north, now sets the direction. Riva is not far away. But the ‘Direttissima’ is boring. We'd rather play around a bit above the river.
The starting point of the last stage, Roncone, is still part of the Valle del Chiese, but strictly speaking it is not. It is not on the river that gives the valley its name. Roncone belongs to the municipality of Sella Giudicarie, a community of several villages on the saddle that separates the Chiese valley from the neighbouring Val Rendena. The Chiese itself flows in from the side of the Val Daone and turns right below this saddle towards Lake Idro. We came from there in the south on stage 6. The Chiese valley, otherwise lined with valley sides and peaks up to 2000 metres, has a wide opening to the neighbouring valley in the north. And this is exactly where this last stage starts, over this saddle down to Tione on the banks of the Sarca. Now all the water flows into Lake Garda, the Sarca flows into it after another 50 kilometres at Torbole. Now it can't be far to the finish. However, there is still time for a little detour in the shadow of the mighty Brenta massif. Around the Brenta, you would now collect 140 kilometres, that's how far this mighty massif stretches. There are no tarmac roads between Tione in the south and Cles in the north. With one tiny exception. Only here in the very south-west is the huge piece of cake cut a little. The Passo Daone does not really penetrate the massif, at most it plays a little with its southern flank. Nevertheless, it is an attractive road bike pass, above all because the sweeping descent is fun when it goes back down to the banks of the Sarca, when the mountain spits you out again on the other side of Tione, in Preore.
The attraction of the Brenta continues for a few more kilometres. A country road now winds along its southern foot, past the Val d'Algone, where you could cycle a little further into the cul-de-sac on a racing bike. But straight ahead is Stenico and the sunny meadow balcony above the Sarca, which has long since dug itself into a dark gorge below. The place is wide open, the view falls freely into the green-covered Lake Garda mountains, you can see the last wooded hills that still separate the Val Lomasone over there above the Sarca from Lake Garda. It's not far now.
A brisk descent, an airy bridge over the Sarca Gorge, and the last climb of the 2025 TOUR Transalp is already waiting in Ponte Arche. The road now digs its way up through the wide, sunny basin of the Val Lomasone, past fields and meadows, through the hinterland of Lake Garda, through farmland. The very last pass before the finish, the Passo del Ballino, now makes a mighty effort to put one last challenge in the way with its altitude of 775 metres. But it doesn't really want to succeed with its flat ascent. The attraction of the finish is now too great, no-one has yet struggled on the Ballino. Past the turquoise Lago di Tenno, the route no longer takes a diversion to Lake Garda. Soon the view over the lake lifts the spirits and the joy reaches its peak at the finish line in the centre of Riva on the shores of Lake Garda. Now is the time to celebrate, to pop the corks, or would you prefer a dip in the lake first?
