Chris Small is originally from Scotland but moved to Italy 20 years ago to pursue his career as a professional squash player. Now based in Florence with a wife and two kids he has transferred his sporting prowess from squash to cycling. He guides for us all over Italy but his true passion still rests in the hills of Tuscany. His soul ride below is a cracking ride which actually features in part on our Hannibal tour.
Living in Florence, Italy as a cyclist during times of Covid-19 isn’t really a hardship and the choice of rides is infinite. Florence is a city of just under 400000 people and 10 minutes of riding in any direction take you out of the bowl where the city lies up into the hills. As a rule of thumb here every 60km is around 1000m of vertical and my favourite ride is no different.
I start by setting off in the direction of Piazzale Michelangelo which is the postcard viewpoint over the top of Florence before starting the long 10km climb to Imprunetta. On arrival in Imprunetta, I continue south on rolling terrain before starting a beautiful climb called La Panca which is 6km long at 4%. After a short descent from here followed by a 2km climb through the vineyards I get rewarded with an unbelievable 6km fast descent with vineyards and olive groves on either side.
The next 35km is a loop round 4 of the most famous towns of the Chianti Classico wine region, Greve in Chianti, Panzano in Chianti, Radda in Chianti and Castellina in Chianti. Any one of these towns would make for a fantastic week-long holiday and I pass through them all on the one ride. These were the roads that made up a large part of stage 10 of the 2016 Giro D’Italia Timetrial won by a fairly unknown Primos Roglic.
From Castellina its only 40km back to Florence and the terrain is simply a dream. 3 long downhills on silky smooth asphalt and only one gentle climb to the town of San Casciano. 116km with 1600m of vertical and back in the house in time to feed the cat before making a hearty pasta lunch. Riding a bike doesn’t get much better than this and if you are ever in the area I can drop the tcx file or feel free.
