Challenge Sanremo, live.

From the sea to Passo Ghimbegna and back

A middle-distance triathlon that leaves the Ligurian coast, climbs to 1,030 metres in the hills behind it and comes home down the descent of Milano-Sanremo.

Challenge Sanremo holds its fifth edition on 3–4 October 2026, with the headquarters at Portosole in Sanremo. The middle distance is on Sunday 4 October: the men start at 09:00 in a mass start from Antenna beach, the women at 09:05 together with the relays. The 1.9 km swim is in the Portosole area and exits close to the transition zone. The race is a qualifier for The Championship, the Challenge Family final.

The bike leg is one lap of 81 km. It starts east along the coastal cycle path through Riva Ligure and Santo Stefano al Mare, climbs to Terzorio, Pompeiana and Castellaro, drops to Taggia, follows the Argentina stream to Badalucco and then climbs for about 17 km to Passo Ghimbegna at 1,030 m, through Argallo, Zerni and Vignai. The descent runs through Bajardo, Ceriana and Poggio di Sanremo. The organiser puts the climbing at about 1,500 m. The run is flat: two laps of 10.5 km on Sanremo’s seafront cycle path, through the Capo Nero tunnel.

For family on the seafront the bike leg is the long silence: hours in the valleys behind Sanremo, with a 5 h 20 cut-off for swim plus bike. With Livebib the athlete shares a link to their own broadcast; family open it in a browser, with no account or app, and see the position on the course line, the distance covered and a finish estimate that updates as the day goes. In the valleys, where the phone can lose signal, the position is carried forward along the course and marked as estimated instead of freezing.