Via del Sale Loop

100% Gravel ride at high altitude (almost) perfect. Why almost: the tour should ideally be tackled Starting from Brig or Tenda, in this way you would have two advantages, first of all the hardest climb of the route, the one that starts in Brig, including a short downhill stretch that interrupts it in the second part, it would be tackled at the beginning with all the strength still intact, and secondly, once you reached the top of the climb you could avoid descending to Monesi, instead remaining at high altitude, saving yourself a good 500m in altitude and even a few km. The route runs entirely on roads, mostly unpaved (except for the stretch from the middle of the descent from Colle di Tenda to Briga, which still has some dirt sections where road reconstruction work has not yet been completed after the flood of a few years ago) and almost all in excellent condition; the most technically demanding part is represented by the second part of the ascent from Briga which first presents a short downhill stretch a little more irregular and then the last uphill stretch more battered, with a constant gradient of around 12%. For those who then tackle the tour from Monesi, the descent towards Monesi is for a long stretch in a completely broken concrete and with some chasms to which to pay great attention if you are with the Gravel. In my opinion, the ring is basically practicable in both directions; if you opted for the clockwise direction it could also be less tiring as the most demanding climb would at that point be that of Colle di Tenda which however has a perfect bottom, while you could have some more difficulties downhill towards Brig where the battered bottom requires prudence to so much brake. The counter-slope section during the descent towards Brig could be difficult to do uphill in some points, but it could also be bypassed by passing from the Italian side, however I do not know the state and characteristics of the latter variant. It is recommended to bring plenty of water as there is little along the way (in Monesi, Rifugio Don Barbera, Tenda and Briga). Note: the road from Colle di Tenda to France is subject to alternating travel times (since the tunnel is closed it is also open to vehicular traffic on the French side but with restrictions as it is very narrow and partly unpaved); from what I understand they would also apply to bikes but in the end they made me go through the same.

Spectacular route at the same time that it lasts, especially due to the state of the tracks. If you have the opportunity, I recommend doing it with a bike with suspension and wheels that are a little fatter than the 40mm ones we used. Made in this way it could be a stage of the Torino-Nice (in which I was inspired to do it). Until the Colle di Tenda is asphalt and the slope is very steep. From here we will have tracks in different states. Sections with a lot of coarse and loose stone almost to the village of La Brigue. To say that we did not have to put foot on the ground in any section but playing a milk a couple of times. For the return we took the train to Limone-Piemonte for €10 per person with the bike included. Trains have bike racks in almost all carriages.

Via del Sale 🤩 😵 Hard, oh it was hard, oh it was very hard. Beautiful, it was beautiful, oh it was very beautiful. More detailed commentary to follow.

A great classic, this time I wanted to add the curtain variant. Unfortunately it's not that great, it's too broken down and climbs really high, you need an agile gearbox and in any case it's still very demanding, long and from a scenic point of view it's not that great, only when you go further up the hill do things improve. A round of applause to my accomplished wife who did the whole trip with a 10/45 behind her (I had a 10/52XD) However, it is very demanding and there is a lot of dirt, more than 80% of which is dirt. Long-distance suspension essential

It's always a great adventure to ride the Via del Sale on a gravel bike, and I have to say there's no other bike that gives you such great satisfaction on climbs. Gravel bikes have incredible climbing qualities, but the descents are truly demanding, and the Tanarello descent in particular is very physically demanding. After having done it quite a few times, I strongly advise against continuing beyond Monesi unless you take it as a personal challenge.