Chased by Pro Teams on the Road to Livigno - Italian Alps TdP Stage 5

The sun was barely over the Rhaetian peaks when I rolled out of Bormio for Stage 5 of Tour de Pasta 2026 — and I had no idea a pack of WorldTour riders would be the least surprising thing about this day.

Bormio isn't just a start line. This town has been drawing people to its thermal waters for two thousand years — even Pliny the Elder wrote about the springs here, and centuries later a Gothic secretary was still recommending them to kings. I didn't stop for a soak (the legs needed saving), but riding out through Premadio and up onto the strada statale, you can feel why this valley has always been a crossroads.

The real climbing starts with Passo Foscagno, and it does not hold back on the views — Cima Piazzi's glacier dominates the skyline, especially around Arnoga, where the valley opens up and the road just points straight at the mountain. This isn't an old road, either: the route between Bormio and Livigno over Foscagno was only completed in 1912, and for decades after that it was buried under snow for half the year. Ride through the tunnel section near the top and you pop out onto the pass itself at 2,291m — one of the few ways into Livigno that doesn't require a Swiss passport stamp.

From the summit, it's a rolling descent through Trepalle — a village so high it's sometimes called the highest parish in Europe — up and over Passo d'Eira, and down into Livigno itself. And Livigno is where this ride gets its nickname: locals still call it "Little Tibet," a name earned over centuries of isolation at altitude, and the town's duty-free status dates all the way back to the 16th century — which is why the main street is lined with shops selling everything from ski gear to chocolate at prices that make no sense anywhere else in Italy. I stopped for a krapfen (when in Rome — or in this case, when in the Alps) and did a slow lap of the tourist strip before turning the bike around.

The way back is where the day earned its name. Climbing back over Eira and up the short, sharp final ramp to Foscagno, I got swarmed — twice — by riders in UAE Team Emirates and Polti Kometa kit, clearly deep in an altitude training block. It's not a coincidence you see so many pro teams up here in summer: Livigno's elevation is exactly what WorldTour squads look for when they want thin air and quiet roads. Getting dropped by them was humbling. Watching them disappear up the switchbacks was still one of the best moments I've filmed all year.

The final descent from Foscagno back down to Isolaccia closes the loop — legs cooked, camera roll full, and one more stage of Tour de Pasta in the bag.

📍 Route: Bormio → Premadio → Isolaccia → Passo Foscagno → Trepalle → Passo d'Eira → Livigno → (return) → Passo d'Eira → Passo Foscagno → Isolaccia 📅 Ridden: 10 July 2026 Strava Activity : https://www.strava.com/activities/19253454406

Follow the rest of Tour de Pasta 2026: 🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/when_in_doubt_cycle/ 🔗 Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/86551840 🔗 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PaoloTagliaferri