Dolomites Pro Series Bike Tour

French engineers managed to tame their Alps so that roads there rarely passed 8%. Italians and Austrians did not. Some roads were built out of military necessity, others as trade routes to isolated villages, others as… well, maybe a sheer exercise of man against nature. The result is some of the most difficult climbs in road cycling, miles of pain as the oxygen thins and the summer sun glares and glints off the white rock. Why do a tour like this? “Because it’s there,” doesn’t suffice as an answer. The beauty of the Dolomite mountains provides one answer; their striking, uncontrollable peaks seem hewn from fantasy more than natural laws. Biking in the wake of cycling giants like Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, or current legends Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali, might be a response for some. But gorgeous hotels, attentive guides, and nourishing local Dolomiti meals would attract anyone. The question becomes: “Why wouldn’t anyone do this tour!?”