Sardinia is the second largest Mediterranean island with a north-south extension of around 270 kilometres and a width of around 130 kilometres. With only 1.6 million inhabitants, it is very sparsely populated. A good 200 kilometres separate it from the Italian mainland and Tunisia to the south. The highest mountains, at around 1,800 metres, are in the Gennargentu Mountains in the eastern interior. Our base in Alghero, the fifth largest city on the island with a good 40,000 inhabitants, is located on the north-west coast. Alghero is an important tourist destination due to its attractive old town and long beaches.
All tours start and end at Alghero harbour. A pink racing bike on a pedestal there commemorates the start of the first stage of the Giro 2017. In the east and south-east of Alghero, where three of the four tours run, the coast rises rapidly to between 500 and 800 metres above sea level. Even the coastal road to the south is very mountainous. The landscape is only flatter to the north. This means that over 100 kilometres, you can easily climb 1,500 to 2,000 metres in altitude - but almost always at a comfortable gradient of less than ten percent. The maximum gradient of 18 per cent that we specified for three tours usually only applies to very short ramps. When planning the route, we placed particular emphasis on scenic routes with little traffic - sometimes at the expense of the quality of the tarmac, which is sometimes on the rougher side. Wide tyres and large sprockets increase the fun.
