Milan–Munich Gravel 2027 — the historic Alpine ride of 1894

Milan–Munich did not come about because we were looking for two cities for an Alpine crossing. Rediscovering and working through historic distance rides has been a Grevet project for years: we research their routes, open up contemporary sources and try to understand what remains of these rides today. We’ve published the 1894 reports on Milan–Munich in full — read Hirsch, Grüttner and Gerger here.

Milan–Munich is part of this history. On 11 June 1894 the distance ride started in Milan. Its destination was Munich. This direction is not a design choice of ours, but a historical fact.

That is also why the connection can’t simply be reversed and given the same story. Anyone who turns Milan–Munich into Munich–Milan can adopt the two city names. They do not thereby adopt the historic distance ride.

This is not a question of historical pedantry. Without the 1894 ride, the connection of these two cities as an Alpine crossing would hardly be self-evident. Milan lies far out in the Po Valley; the mountains proper end long before. Many classic trans-Alpine lines therefore already end at the northern Italian lakes or at the southern edge of the Alps. Only the historic ride explains why, of all places, Milan and Munich form a shared line.

In our direction, this very plain becomes the start of the story. You leave a city of millions, ride through rice fields towards the mountains and work your way ever deeper into the Alps over several days. Over the Brenner, Mittenwald and the Isar you leave the mountains again to the north. A city connection thus becomes a dramaturgy: plain, mountains, plain. Milan, Alps, Munich.

That is also why, for us, Milan–Munich is not an arbitrarily interchangeable Alpine crossing. Of course you can build a great gravel or bikepacking route between two cities, change it, extend it or even ride it in the opposite direction. It’s just that its history doesn’t automatically travel with it.

This line has something underlying it. It has a date, a start, a destination and the accounts of people who rode it — with names, with a broken chain, storm and the butcher in Branzoll. You can reinterpret it, which is exactly what we do. But its historic direction cannot be reinterpreted: in 1894 it ran from Milan to Munich.

And because this belongs to an honest memory: it did not go unchallenged. Between Oberaudorf, Rosenheim and Ostermünchen it was claimed that the leader had been helped — with a rope or a shoulder support. Protest, arbitration and court proceedings followed. The first great distance ride across the Alps ended not with an image, but with an argument about what counts.

Afterwards the ride was staged several more times — and took on a political dimension in the process. In 1937 it was held as an official national team contest between Germany, Italy and Austria, now over three stages. In 1938 and 1940 the route even ran in the opposite direction, from Munich to Milan, and was open only to riders from the three „Axis countries“. It must be said plainly: the route was centred on Germany and put in the service of the National Socialist zeitgeist. The very order of naming — Germany first — and the German framing made the intent clear, before the war ended the series.

An Alpine crossing can be reversed. History cannot. And to adopt, of all things, the reversal that the National Socialists imposed — Munich first, Milan as the destination — would be symbolically catastrophic.

Our route today interprets the historic ride freely. Pordoi, Kronplatz and Klammljoch were not part of it in 1894. Historical fidelity cannot mean retracing every kilometre of 1894: parts of that transport world no longer exist, others lie today under trunk roads and motorways. We do not reconstruct the roads of 1894. We reconstruct the task. The start and finish, by contrast, are not an interpretation: Milan–Munich.

The Milan–Munich distance ride, first held in 1894, is regarded as the first great trans-Alpine cycling distance ride and as a high point of early cycling history in the German-speaking world. While Wien–Berlin opened up the vastness of the plains and Wien–Triest symbolised the connection of metropolis and sea, Milan–Munich dared the leap into the high mountains – over the Brenner pass, straight through the Alps.

An adventure of extremes

46 riders lined up at the start in Milan. Their destination: the Bavarian capital, 590 kilometres away. The route led through the Lombard plain, past Lake Garda, through the Adige valley and finally over the Brenner pass, before going through the Inn valley and via Rosenheim to Munich. Rain, hail, mud holes and frosty nights turned the ride into an ordeal. Many gave up; only a handful reached the finish.

The winner: Josef Fischer

After 29 hours and 32 minutes the Munich rider Josef Fischer was the first to cross the line. With that – after his victory at Wien–Berlin the previous year – he definitively crowned himself the outstanding distance rider of his time. Celebrated by thousands who cheered him and showered him with prizes, Fischer wrote another chapter of cycling history.

The rival: Max Reheis

Just about an hour and a half later came his perennial rival Max Reheis from Wasserburg. He was regarded as a tireless fighter, reaching the finish despite technical problems and the most adverse circumstances – and was received at home as a hero. But soon accusations and protests would overshadow the sporting achievement.

Sequels and later editions

Milan–Munich did not remain a one-off adventure. In the years after 1894 the distance ride was revived several times – partly as an official race, partly as a popular distance ride for amateurs. Especially around the turn of the century it was regarded as the supreme test of the long distance, on a par with Wien–Berlin and Paris–Brest–Paris. With each edition its symbolic power grew: the Alpine crossing was more than a sporting challenge, it stood for the connection of nations and cultures, for technical innovation and for the determination of a whole generation to push the limits of the bicycle ever further. Over time, however, Milan–Munich disappeared from the calendar again. Growing road traffic and the professionalisation of cycling shifted the big races to other formats. But the memory remained – as a milestone, from which the history of cycling can still be read today.

From one-day race to stage format

While the first edition in 1894 was a one-day race across the Alps, Milan–Munich developed over the following decades into an irregularly held classic. The distance stayed the same at just under 590 kilometres, but the format varied: sometimes as a one-day distance ride, sometimes as a multi-day stage test.

Palmarès – the winners of Milan–Munich

• 1894 Josef Fischer (Germany)
• 1910 Peter Strasser (Austria)
• 1912 Georg Schmid (Germany)
• 1937 Richard Menapace (Austria)
• 1938 Mario De Benedetti (Italy)
• 1939 Aldo Ronconi (Italy)
• 1940 Doro Morigi (Italy)

A myth fades

With the outbreak of the Second World War the tradition died out. After 1940 Milan–Munich was no longer held. Yet the memory of this race remains alive: as a pioneering feat across the Alps, as a stage for international rivalry – and as an emblem of a time when bike races were at once technical progress projects, sporting heroics and socio-political symbolic acts.

A legacy for cycling

Despite all the scandals, Milan–Munich marked a turning point. It showed that the bicycle could conquer even the Alps. Fischer’s victory stood for technical progress, the duels with Reheis for the passion and drama of a young sport. So Milan–Munich remains a symbol of the pioneering era of cycling: a blend of early distance ride, sporting limit experience and human drama that resonated for decades and keeps the myth alive to this day. *Note on the route: the line described is the reference route of the last edition. For 2027 we are re-checking it on test rides; course, length and elevation may change in the process, as may happen due to weather, rideability, closures or official requirements. We make sure that the overall effort and riding time stay within the announced range. All participants receive the final track in event week, together with the route handbook listing supply and control points – deliberately not earlier, because we check the routes once more shortly before the start.