After 228 km on Sunday, it seems anything less won’t do. Tuesday, after turning west from the Adriatic into the prevailing headwind, we rode hard for 231 km to the old Tuscan town of Lucignano, passing through Umbria and some great climbing towards Arcevia and Scheggia, then into Tuscany on a long but not too steep ridge climb to Cortona. The long ride set us up well to make Florence for lunch on Wednesday.

With 2 plates of pasta (each), 1 kg of bistecca, caprese, endless Montepulciano, hundreds of hanging proscuittos from the ceiling, and varieties of Grappa, Il Latini had concocted the best lunch we’ve ever had in cycling kit and a zigzag ride to a hotel. We spent the rest of the day enjoying this gorgeous city and another massive meal (including Jesse’s 1.2 kg monster bistecca Fiorentina) at Il Brindellone to fuel tomorrow’s ride to the Lingurian coast, Forte dei Marme, Cinque Terre, and up towards France.