Italy
The white roads of Umbria

Day one started the way every KTM rally starts: under the Red Bull arch, one rider at a time. From Gubbio the route went onto gravel almost straight away and headed west towards Lake Trasimeno, Italy's fourth largest lake: through farmland and past old stone farmhouses, then up onto dusty hilltop tracks with all of Umbria laid out below. 157 kilometres and 4,019 metres of climbing, which says a lot about how rarely Umbria is flat. My Garmin agrees: it was the hardest day of the three on my heart, averaging 135 bpm and peaking at 194.

For the Black route riders, parts of the day used sections of the Italian Hard Enduro Championship. Umbrian gravel has its own character: hard-packed and fast where it is used, loose and dusty on the climbs, and always framed by oak trees and terracotta hill towns.

The second day was the big one: 222 kilometres south through Umbria and 7,044 metres of climbing, following the land of St. Francis. Through Gualdo Tadino, up to the highest point of the whole rally at 1,299 metres on Monte Subasio, and down into Assisi itself.

Much of it ran through olive country: fast white gravel between the trees, a cloud of dust hanging behind every bike, and corners that look like they were designed for photos. Then the viewpoints, where you stop for a minute just to look across the valley before the next section.

The shortest day on paper, 145 kilometres, but the one that went vertical: 4,660 metres of climbing. Straight up Monte Foce above Gubbio, then north through the Apennines past Cantiano towards Monte Nerone.

Ridge tracks with clouds sitting on the peaks, groups strung out along the trail, views back over Gubbio, and long white gravel roads through the forest on the way down to the closing evening at base camp.