Gran Fondo Training Plan: What It Is and How to Prepare
A gran fondo is a big organised ride: a signed route, a mass start, feed stations and thousands of other riders, most of them there to finish rather than to win. Here’s what the day is like, which distance to choose, and how to train for it, from an hour or two of riding today to a medio fondo (the middle-length route, about 100 km) in twelve weeks, or from two or three hours to a full granfondo of up to 160 km in sixteen.
Etapa lists thousands of upcoming rides, gran fondos and sportives among them. Pick the one you’ve entered and your guide is built to its date.
What is a gran fondo?
Gran fondo is Italian, roughly “long distance”, and the format started in Italy: a long road ride open to anyone with an entry, on a signed route, with food along the way and a crowd at the finish. It has since spread around the world, and in the US, Canada and much of Europe it’s the usual name for this kind of event. In the UK the same thing is called a sportive.
What you get for your entry: a number and a timing chip, a mass start (often in pens, grouped by expected speed), a marked route, sometimes on closed or partly closed roads, feed stations every 30 to 50 km, mechanical support, and a broom wagon, the vehicle at the very back that picks up anyone who can’t finish in time. At the end there’s usually a meal, a medal and a result with your time on it.
It’s timed, and a few riders at the front race it. Almost everyone else is riding to get round, to beat their own time, or for a charity. The thing that matters is the cut-off: many events close their checkpoints at set times, so look up how long you have to reach each one. For a beginner on a sensible route, the cut-offs are rarely tight.
How long is a gran fondo?
Most events run two or three routes on the same day, from the same start. The names vary from event to event, but they usually look like this.
| Route | Typical distance | Who it suits | How long it takes a first-timer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short route (where there is one) | 40 to 60 km | Riders on hour-long rides who want the day without the distance | 2 to 3 hours |
| Medio fondo | 60 to 100 km | Most first-timers. At 100 km it’s a metric century (about 62 miles), called a 100 km sportive in the UK | 3 to 6 hours |
| Granfondo | 120 to 160 km or more, often with a lot of climbing | Riders already comfortable on two- to three-hour rides | 6 to 9 hours |
Look at the climbing as well as the distance. The total height climbed is on every event’s route page, and a hilly 100 km can take longer than a flat 130. As a rough guide, every 1,000 metres of climbing adds an hour or so to a beginner’s day.
If you have a health condition, a history of heart or joint problems, or get pain on the bike that isn’t ordinary muscle soreness, see a doctor before you start training. This is general guidance, not medical advice, and the app that personalises it isn’t a medical service.
Pick your distance
Start from what you can ride today, not the route that sounds best. If an hour or two is comfortable now, the medio fondo is your event, and the 12-week metric century plan is the training. If you’re already riding two to three hours, the full granfondo is realistic in sixteen weeks. If half an hour is your limit, start with 50 km and enter the short route, or next year’s medio fondo.
Medio fondo: metric century (100 km) · 12 weeks
For riders already doing an hour or two. Three or four rides a week, a long ride that peaks at three and a half hours, and a taper: a shorter, easier last fortnight so you arrive fresh.
See the plan →Granfondo: century (160 km) · 16 weeks
For riders on two- to three-hour rides. Four sessions a week, two easier weeks, a long ride that reaches five hours, and a lot about food.
See the plan →Not there yet: your first 50 km · 8 weeks
From 30-minute rides to 50 km in one go, on three rides a week. The short route, or the first step towards a medio fondo.
See the plan →What the training looks like
Whichever distance you choose, the shape is the same: base (lots of easy riding), build (hills and event pace added), peak (the longest rides) and taper (shorter, easier riding at the end so you arrive fresh), with easier weeks in between so the work has time to sink in. The long ride grows by 10 to 15 minutes a week, never more and never reaches the full distance; the feed stations, fresh legs from the taper and the crowd on the day carry you the rest of the way.
| Phase | Medio fondo, 12 weeks | Granfondo, 16 weeks | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Weeks 1–5. Long ride 1 h 30 → 2 h 30 | Weeks 1–4. Long ride 2 h 30 → 3 h 15 | Riding more, easily. Chatting pace on almost everything. |
| Easier week | Week 6 | Weeks 5 and 10 | Less riding, all of it easy. The fitness shows up here. |
| Build | Weeks 7–8. Long ride 2 h 45 → 3 h | Weeks 6–9. Long ride 3 h 30 → 4 h 15 | Hills and stretches at the pace you’ll ride on the day. |
| Peak | Weeks 9–10. Long ride 3 h 15 → 3 h 30 (60 to 70 km) | Weeks 11–13. Long ride 4 h 30 → 5 h (100 to 110 km) | Full rehearsals: food, stops, kit and pacing. |
| Taper | Weeks 11–12 | Weeks 14–16 | Shorter and easier, so you arrive fresh. |
Tuesday: 45 minutes easy, with whatever hills your roads have. Thursday: an hour easy. Saturday: an hour and a half easy, with a snack in your pocket for the last half hour so the eating habit starts now. Four rest days. Week two adds fifteen minutes to Saturday and nothing else.
A sample week
Week eight of the medio fondo plan, for an event with real hills in it. If you only have three days, drop Wednesday.
| Day | Session | How long | How it should feel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Rest | — | Off the bike. |
| Tuesday | Hills: 4 × 5 min climbing | 1 h 15 | Seated, in a low gear, at an effort you could hold for fifteen minutes. Roll down easy between each. |
| Wednesday | Easy spin or strength | 45 min | Genuinely easy, or twenty minutes of squats, lunges and planks. |
| Thursday | Event pace: 2 × 15 min steady | 1 h 15 | The pace you’ll ride on the day: short sentences, not chat. Easy before, between and after. |
| Friday | Rest | — | Check the bike and plan Saturday’s route, hills included. |
| Saturday | Long ride | 3 h | Easy throughout, on the hilliest roads near you. Eat something every 30 to 45 minutes from the first hour, and drink regularly. |
| Sunday | Rest | — | A walk is fine. |
Your gran fondo has a date. Your guide should end on it.
Pick your event in Etapa and it builds the weeks backwards from the start line, with the base, build, peak and taper in the right places. The sessions are built around your week, and move when your week changes.
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Training for the climbs
Gran fondos often go where the hills are, and the climbs are where a first-timer’s day is won or lost. Train on the steepest and longest hills you have, and ride them seated in your lowest gear at a pace you could keep going for twenty minutes. If you find yourself standing and gasping on every climb, your bike may need easier gears: a bike shop can tell you whether a larger cassette (the cluster of cogs on the back wheel) will fit, and it’s often the best money a new rider spends before a hilly event.
Practise the descents too. Brake before the bend, not in it, look where you want to go, and keep your weight low and back. There’s no prize for coming down quickly, and on the day nobody will mind if you take it steady.
Riding in a big group
Most first-timers have never ridden with hundreds of people around them. A few habits make it easy: hold a straight line rather than weaving, look over your shoulder before moving out, point out holes in the road to the rider behind you, and leave a gap rather than riding with your front wheel overlapping someone’s back wheel. Riding behind another rider saves a lot of effort, but only do it with people riding steadily. If a group is going faster than you’d like, let it go; another will come along.
The day itself
The week before, ride 45 minutes easy on Tuesday and 30 on Thursday, then rest. Eat a bit more bread, pasta, rice or potatoes in the last two days, pick up your number, and lay your kit out the night before.
On the morning: breakfast two to three hours before the start, something you’ve eaten before long rides. Expect a slow, bunched start and let the adrenaline go past you; most of the riders who sprint off in the first 20 km come back to you later. Eat something every 30 to 45 minutes from the first hour, drink regularly, and stop at the feed stations even if you feel fine. Pace the long climbs as if there’s another one after them, because there usually is. Know the cut-off times and where the checkpoints are, and if you’re running close, it’s the stops you shorten, not the effort you raise.
Afterwards, two or three days of nothing much, eat well, and expect to feel flat for a week. Then look at next year’s calendar. More in our guides to what to eat before, during and after a ride and how to find events near you.
What is a gran fondo?
A gran fondo is a big organised road ride with a signed route, a mass start, timing, feed stations and support vehicles. The name is Italian, roughly “long distance”, and the format started in Italy before spreading around the world. In the UK the same kind of event is usually called a sportive. A few riders at the front race it; almost everyone else rides to finish.
How long is a gran fondo?
It depends on the event and the route. Most offer two or three on the same day: a medio fondo of roughly 60 to 100 km, and the full granfondo of around 120 to 160 km or more, often with a lot of climbing. Some add a shorter route for beginners. Check the distance and the total climbing of the route you enter, because the climbing changes the day as much as the distance does.
Is a gran fondo a race?
For most people, no. Gran fondos are timed with a chip, and there are prizes for the quickest riders, but the vast majority ride at their own pace to finish, set a personal time or raise money. The one thing to respect is the cut-off: many events close checkpoints at set times, so know how long you have to reach each one.
What is the difference between a gran fondo and a sportive?
Very little. Both are organised, mass-participation rides with signed routes and feed stations. Gran fondo is the Italian name and the usual one in the US, Canada and much of Europe; sportive is the usual name in the UK. Gran fondos more often have a mass start, closed or partly closed roads and a timed result, but the training is the same.
How long does it take to train for a gran fondo?
About twelve weeks for a medio fondo of up to 100 km if you can already ride an hour or two, and about sixteen weeks for a full granfondo of 120 to 160 km if you’re already riding two to three hours. Starting from shorter rides, add an eight-week block first to build up to 50 km. The more climbing the route has, the more of your training should be on hills.
A long way to train for. A guide that keeps up.
Twelve or sixteen weeks is long enough for something to go wrong. Tell your companion what happened, a cold, a work trip, a lost weekend, and the weeks left are rebuilt around it, with the taper kept where it belongs.
Free to download. Subscriptions start with a 7-day free trial where your app store account is eligible.