L'Eroica in Gaiole in Chianti

The event combining history and cycling returns on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October

There is dust, fatigue, bicycles cared for with maniacal passion. There are nature, dirt roads, glasses with round and dark lenses to make accountant Filini envious and unforgettable names and symbols for those who love cycling or simply know who Coppi and Bartali were.

It is the Eroica, the cycling event born more than twenty years ago from an intuition of Giancarlo Brocci to recall the stages raced on dirt roads by the greats of cycling that returns on time with its colorful and varied platoon of fans in Gaiole in Chianti, where it was born and where it branched out to bring the experience around the world.
But wheels and pedals are above all tools to enhance the environment, to exalt a sustainable lifestyle, to keep clean the image of a sport that, in other contexts and situations, has lost some of the light that animates it for more than a century.

So here are the vintage bicycles, the wool or acrylic uniforms embroidered with the names of the sponsors, the water bottle holders on the handlebars, the lunch in the jute bag on the shoulder and everything that reminds us of cycling in the past.
5,000 cyclists, from the 92 who began the adventure, will meet behind the starting line to ride along the white roads of Chianti, the preservation of which is one of the priorities of the Eroica Foundation: five routes, from the 46 kilometers of the walk to the 209 of the long route, through valleys, woods, vineyards, along daring descents and exhausting climbs.

Brolio, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Montalcino, Murlo, Siena, Castellina and Radda are among the towns crossed where cyclists can find hospitality, refreshments and accommodation that remain so every day of the year, in order to experience the Eroica also with the permanent route. Kid Road Book to the hand is in fact possible to be affixed the stamps: to the sixth one comes "rewarded" with the diploma of "Eroico" to feel a little bit Coppi. Or Bartali. An eternal dilemma.

Five routes are available: the longest, with 209 kilometres and about 4000 metres of altitude difference, is also a permanent route that can be used all year round, starting and finishing in Gaiole in Chianti. In 2024, L'Eroica dedicates the 106-kilometre route (Sunday 6 October) to the ‘100 years of radio’.

If you want to stop in Gaiole for lunch or to visit this little pearl of Chianti, here you will find all our suggestions!

Running times
Saturday 5 October
km 209: from 4.30 to 5.00 a.m. for bicycles built before 1930
Km 209: from 5.00 to 6.00 am
Km 135: from 6.00 am to 7.00 am

Sunday 6 October
Km 106: from 7 am to 7.30 am
Km 81: from 8 am to 9.30 am
Km 46: from 8.00 am to 9.30 am

The heroic weekend programme

Friday 4 October
09.00 a.m. - 8.00 p.m. HEROIC MARKET SHOW ‘THE GAME
09.00 - 20.00 HEROIC MARKET SHOW
09.00 - 20.00 VILLAGE GLOBAL SPONSOR
09.00 - 20.00 BARBERIA PRORASO, Piazza Ricasoli
09.00 - BICYCLE ELEGANCE COMPETITION, Piazza Ricasoli
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. / 2 p.m. - 6.30 p.m. Appointment with the bio-mechanic for posturological anamnesis - GENERALI stand
10.30 a.m. - TALES OF HEROIC EARTH: VOICES FROM THE TERRITORY - Casa Eroica
11.30 am - EROICA CLASSIC Press Conference - Casa Eroica, Auditorium
2.30 pm - EROICA CLUB RIDE DEPARTURE, Luciano Berruti Monument
15.00 - MINI EROICA DEPARTURE, The Rooster
5.00 p.m. - DOCUFILM PROOF ‘Ottavio Bottecchia - El Furlan de Fero’ - Casa Eroica, Auditorium
6.45 pm - BARBA, BAFFI and MUSIC COMPETITION - Piazza Ricasoli

Saturday 5 October
09.00 - 19.00 EROIC EARTH & BIKE CHANNEL LOUNGE - Casa Eroica
9 a.m. - 8 p.m. HEROIC MARKETSHIP
09.00 a.m. - 8.00 p.m. HEROIC MARKET ‘THE GAME
09.00 - 20.00 GLOBAL SPONSOR VILLAGE
09.00 - 20.00 PRORASO BARBERRY, Piazza Ricasoli
09.30 - 12.00 WALKING HEROES, Casa Eroica
10.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. / 2.00 p.m. - 6.30 p.m. Appointment with the nutritionist and bio-impedancemetry examination - GENERALI stand
10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Clean up your bike - NUNCAS stand (Ex Consorzio Agrario)
4 p.m. - Abus 100th Anniversary - ABUS Stand
17.00 - Holy Mass and Blessing of the Heroes - Parish Church of Gaiole in Chianti

Sunday 6 October
09.00 - 18.00 EROICA EARTH & BIKE CHANNEL LOUNGE - Casa Eroica
09.00 a.m. - 7.00 p.m. HEROIC MARKET ‘THE GAME
09.00 - 19.00 HEROIC MARKET SHOW
09.00 - 19.00 VILLAGE GLOBAL SPONSOR
09.00 - 15.00 PRORASO BARBERIA, Piazza Ricasoli
09.30 - 12.00 WALKING HEROES, Casa Eroica
10.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. / 2.00 p.m. - 5.00 p.m. Appointment with the nutritionist and bio-impedancemetry examination - GENERALI stand
10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Clean up your bike - NUNCAS stand (Ex Consorzio Agrario)
19.00 - Closing Salute XXVII EDITION L'EROICA 2024 - Arrival