NorthCape4000 Edition IX
4000 km of Absolute Splendor through 8 Nations
Registrations for Edition IX – 2026 will open on December 1st, 2025
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Edition IX - The Route
Hundreds of different stories, new protagonists from all over the world, and the most Beautiful Europe you’ve ever dreamed of.
4,000 km, 8 Nations, one single direction: the Far North.
Nothing compares to the NorthCape4000. Each Edition is an original score, impossible to replicate.
Ask those who have already taken part: this is the Adventure of a Lifetime.
Famous worldwide and followed, in Edition VIII alone, by over ten million people, the NorthCape4000 is not just a cycling event — it is a true game-changer, a human experience so powerful that it often leaves a permanent mark on the lives of those who ride it.
Here, it doesn’t matter who you are in everyday life.
For a couple of weeks, you have the extraordinary opportunity to rediscover the value of time, to let go of roles, obligations, and the frenzy of daily life — and return to the truest, purest essence of what you are: a human being.
Together with people of all ages and from every language, you will live an experience that transcends geography and surpasses any other sporting event in the world — becoming the protagonist of the greatest story ever written from the saddle of a bicycle.
The sum of all our Experience, and the perfect expression of the most Beautiful, Harmonious, and Safe route ever seen in eight years of NorthCape4000 — Edition IX carries your name engraved on it.
The picturesque town of Cheb in the Czech Republic, Gate 3 in the charming village of Gränna on the shores of the magical Lake Vättern, and dozens of other gems that made Edition VIII unforgettable, will return as protagonists in Edition IX.
But this time, joined by a splendid series of brand-new sections, they will create a new chapter in this story — once again fresh, once again waiting to be discovered.
Edition IX – Official Start from Rovereto: July 25th, 2026
How many times have you dreamed of this moment?
And above all: when was the last time you felt so incredibly alive?
You are surrounded by voices and languages from every corner of the globe, by faces you would never — not even in a million years — have crossed in your everyday life.
But now you are here, a full-fledged member of a great family of Dreamers.
A family with Adventure in its heart and its compass set to the North.
It begins.
Endless stretches of vineyards, apple orchards, and fruit fields roll toward the horizon, while flawless bike paths follow the winding course of the Adige and the Isarco, surrounded by the scent of mountain water and the crystal light of Trentino. This is the perfect place to begin the greatest adventure of your life.
Adrenaline. Pure joy. Euphoria.
Feelings so rare in everyday life become the standard here. You will feel more alive than ever, and as you catch the eyes of your new companions, you’ll realize that something is already there between you: a bond. The invisible bond of those who choose to believe in dreams.
The first pedal strokes, and Rovereto is already a memory. Ahead of you: 180 km and about 1,000 meters of elevation gain, leading to a sign that is not just a border, but Italy’s farewell. Austria presents itself in grand style. The clear signal that your legs are warm, the dream has begun, and you’ve already conquered your first miles.
A moment to breathe, take a photo, refuel, and celebrate your first border. Then down through the mountains — a 45 km descent that carries you straight into Innsbruck, the beating heart of Tyrol.
Green meadows, postcard-perfect valleys, and lonely alpine huts dotting the slopes: the road into Innsbruck is as sweet as honey. You feel as happy as a child holding their first ice cream cone.
You ride through the elegant Tyrolean city, then let yourself be carried by the current of the Inn, the silver river that flows past wooden bridges, balconies overflowing with petunias, and the scent of warm bread rising from village bakeries.
Then the road climbs again: a magnificent ascent leads you to Mittenwald, in the heart of the Alps, straddling Austria and Germany. It is your triumphant entrance into the third nation.
Bavaria greets you with the smell of butter, jam, and freshly cut wood. Hard to believe, but beneath your wheels already rolls Bavaria, and Germany — a land that immediately embraces you with an endless, breathtaking descent. Alpine pastures, poetic countryside Gasthöfe, and herds grazing in the fields — paradise exists.
And it is here, in this landscape that radiates peace and well-being, that you approach the first Gate of your magnificent Adventure: Munich. A city that is not just beer, parks, and Gothic architecture, but a place that exudes civic pride and a rare sense of balance and well-being.
Time to get your first stamp in the heart of the city, then you set off again — full of energy and motivation. You ride through the Englischer Garten and once more set your compass north, towards a new frontier.
The Czech Republic greets you with a beautiful cycle path deep in the forest, and then, as if by magic, you arrive in Cheb, the capital of Karlovy Vary — a city where time has left behind traces of history and authentic beauty. Its old town, with colorful facades and the sharp spires of St. Nicholas Cathedral, looks like something out of a fairy tale.
But the thirst for discovery pushes you onward, rewarded first with a breathtaking countryside, unlike anything you’ve just crossed, and then with a lush forest that almost feels like a preview of Sweden. Soon you are back in Germany.
In Saxony, the landscape shifts between rolling cultivated hills, dense conifer forests, and villages nestled in silent valleys. Every road seems to tell ancient stories, and every curve reveals fragments of an authentic and little-known Europe.
You pause only for an ice-cold beer and some cheerful conversation with your fellow riders, sharing laughter and stories under the clear sky.
A thousand kilometers — only a thousand kilometers — and from the saddle of your bike you roll into one of the most modern and fascinating European capitals imaginable: Berlin.
You cross avenues heavy with history, pass the world’s most famous zoo, admire the Victory Column, and finally arrive at the majestic Brandenburg Gate with its poetic Hotel Adlon — once a hideout for spies and the stage for legendary love stories.
And it is here, at the Brandenburg Gate, with the Intermediate Start on July 30th, that hundreds of other riders join the group — each carrying their own story to tell, but above all, a story to write.
A story to be written together with you, across the 3,000 magnificent kilometers still waiting ahead.
Berlin, the only city in the world that has lived two lives and embodied two identities. Its streets pulse with creative energy, and its air is steeped in a past that fuses seamlessly with a future in constant motion.
After securing your second control stamp at the Brandenburg Gate, you finally have time to savour a juicy currywurst and an ice-cold weissbier. As you taste these delights, something rises inside you like a river in flood: a strange awareness — the awareness of someone who, against all odds, has bent the world beneath their wheels.
It is an indescribable feeling, one that only Dreamers and Adventurers are fortunate enough to experience. Because in the end, believe it, the NorthCape4000 is exactly this: an Extraordinary Human Experience that turns an impossible vision into reality.
You are here for this. To live the unrepeatable and to discover yourself along roads never ridden before.
The distance separating Berlin from the shores of the Baltic Sea, where you will board the ferry to Sweden, gifts you with a chain of tiny villages hidden in the clearings, poetic medieval towns, and the unmistakable spirit of Northern Germany. But now your compass points east, brushing past the city of Szczecin in Poland, and further on to the port of Świnoujście, where you will set sail for Ystad, Sweden.
The entry into Poland — brief but powerful — offers you a landscape that feels as if it were taken straight from one of the finest cinematic settings: you will ride along a narrow strip of land suspended between sky and water, halfway between the Baltic Sea and two spectacular lagoons.
On one side, the Szczecin Lagoon, on the Polish shore. On the other, the Achterwasser Lagoon, on the German side. A passage so scenic it seems imagined by a film director.
Just a few hours of sailing are enough to relax on the ship’s deck and, together with your fellow riders, replay in your mind the many kilometers already conquered beneath your wheels.
Here we are at last in Sweden, the first Scandinavian country on the route to North Cape.
It is here, in this remote and luminous corner of the continent, that the NorthCape4000 fairy tale becomes real.
Here, where hundreds of people from every corner of the world marvel together — finally free to wonder, to slow down, to touch a beauty that in our hectic, noisy lives we too often forget even to seek.
The Swedish countryside is a silent manifesto of balance and harmony. Large farmhouses painted in red and white stand across the meadows like a Nordic painting, while vast open spaces stretch into infinity, inviting your wheels to roll light and free.
The air is crisp, scented with pine, moss, and freedom. The sky feels so close it seems you could reach out and touch it — a deep, radiant blue that fills both your eyes and your heart.
By now you have covered a third of the route.
The tires of your bicycle, like the gentle wrinkles on the faces of Scandinavian fishermen, bear the marks of time, of wind, of the road.
The deeper meaning of what you are doing is everywhere, even in the smallest details:
In the smile of a child waving from the roadside.
In the sweet, buttery taste of a kanelbulle savored in a wooden café.
In the silence shared before a fire under a sky studded with stars.
In the families who offer food and drinks along the way to the riders of the NorthCape4000.
And then, like in a dream, Gränna appears.
Small, perfect, nestled on the eastern shore of the spectacular Lake Vättern, the second largest in all of Sweden.
Confirmed once again for Edition IX as Gate number 3, Gränna is a place heavy with poetry: cobblestone streets, colorful wooden houses, the scent of freshly made polkagris. Founded in 1652 by Count Per Brahe, this little town feels like an unexpected gift along the journey.
A formidable sight. A moment that stays.
Walking along its cobblestone streets, you can watch the artisanal making of sweets that have become an icon: master confectioners shaping them before your eyes, turning every shop into a small theatre of taste and tradition.
You immerse yourself in this fairy-tale town, suspended between lake and hills, made famous by its candies and its authentically Nordic soul.
But once your carnet is stamped, it is time to move on.
Imagine a land of clear, untouched mirrors of water, where endless skies stretch above you like a hypnotic, perpetual curtain.
Here, the hours of light multiply. Night dissolves, kilometer after kilometer, slowly retreating.
The road to the Great North is a bath of light that seeps into your skin and your soul — a luminous caress that changes the way you see the world, and yourself.
Sweden, with its silent grace and natural power, embraces you like a refuge.
Here you can rethink your life — without noise, without notifications, without distractions.
You can redraw your priorities, listen to the questions you never had time to ask.
This is the secret gift of the NorthCape4000: a timeless mental space where everything can be seen from a new perspective.
At last you reach the Gulf of Bothnia, the stretch of sea that separates Sweden from Finland.
A gentle expanse of water, dotted with untouched islands, with a climate that soothes and a scent that carries moss, salt, and clean northern wind.
It is a silent companion, following you through your days and making them light, almost dancing.
After more than 1,500 km of fairy-tale Sweden — with its quaint villages, romantic bays, and postcard-perfect inlets — your wheels finally touch the land of a thousand lakes: Finland.
You ride 125 km, and along that stretch, you feel that something has truly changed.
When you pass the sign that reads Rovaniemi — in Sami, “wooded hill,” or, according to others, “pile of stones” — you know you have entered the Arctic Circle.
Rovaniemi is home to the historic Gate 4 of the NorthCape4000, and it is a symbolic threshold: from here, your encounter with the Far North begins.
All around you, nature speaks another language.
No words are needed. No explanations required. Silence is enough.
Lapland unfolds before you like an ancient tale: made of moss, reindeer, wind, and legends.
A land where life still follows the rhythms of light and the elements.
Now only 700 km remain to North Cape.
The most charged with emotion, with meaning. You will replay in your mind every mile already conquered — more incredulous, more determined, more joyful with each pedal stroke.
That dream which once seemed impossible, distant, too great — is now there.
Closer and closer.
More real with every breath.
In front of you, as the road narrows into the final kilometers and the wind of the North brushes against your skin, the last headland appears.
And in the distance, through mist and light, a sign. First blurred, then sharper, clearer.
One single word, written in letters that now — and forever — belong only to you: Nordkapp.
You have gone beyond limits. You have broken the rules of the “possible.”
You have done something damn Extraordinary — for yourself, and for no one else.
You have crossed an entire continent with the strength of your legs and the faith in your dream.
And now you are here, face to face with the Great North, your heart pounding, your mind soaring free. Your life has already changed.
Your prize is not just a point on the map.
It is so much more.
It is the indelible awareness that you truly can reach any goal — even the ones others cannot see, even the ones that frighten you just to name them.
Nordkapp will stay with you like an invisible tattoo, carved into your skin and your soul.
It will live within you every time you feel lost. Every time you search for direction. Every time you need to remember what you are made of.
And from that day on, there will not be a moment when you won’t long to return there.
There, where the light is purest.
Where time stands still.
Where you met the truest part of yourself.
It has been this way for us. It has been this way for thousands in past editions.
And now, it is this way for you.
Nothing compares to the NorthCape4000.
Conceived to give all cycling and Adventure lovers the chance to live an Extraordinary Human Experience, the NorthCape4000 has been open to different philosophies and performances since its very beginning. Also for the upcoming edition, you will therefore continue to be free to ride the route with the utmost freedom, and you may still reach North Cape even after the official time windows have expired — enjoying the event and its magical atmosphere in every aspect, regardless of your personal schedule.
However, you must know that in order to obtain the title of Finisher or Extra Time Finisher of Edition IX 2026, you will need to respect the following time windows:
Earliest time to depart from Gate 4 in Rovaniemi: 14:00, Tuesday, August 4, 2026
Minimum time to reach North Cape after leaving Rovaniemi: 11:00, Thursday, August 6, 2026
Deadline to achieve the title of Finisher: Thursday, August 13, 2026
Deadline to achieve the title of Extra Time Finisher: Thursday, August 20, 2026
Every year we invest enormous resources and a great deal of time to ensure the highest quality standards for the event — and first and foremost, this means guaranteeing the safety of our participants.
The time windows were introduced with a dual purpose: to increase the sharing of the experience among riders and to prevent the covering of distances that are incompatible with both safety and the philosophy of the event.
Remember: the NorthCape4000 is not a Race.
Gates
There are 4 Control Gates along the route. The Gates are strategically placed in areas of major geographical, natural, or cultural importance. At each Gate, participants will be required to validate their passage.
If, for any reason, one or more Gates are missed, the participant will be automatically disqualified.
In case a Gate is closed at the time of passage, validation will be carried out through the official Tracking App.
The 4 Control Gates planned for the upcoming edition are:
- G1 – Munich (Germany)
- G2 – Berlin (Germany)
- G3 – Gränna (Sweden)
- G4 – Rovaniemi (Finland)
Ferries
The only permitted ferry, which must be booked independently by each participant, is:
- Świnoujście (Poland) – Ystad (Sweden)
All other sea crossings are prohibited.
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A One-of-a-Kind Event, for Countless Reason
With thousands upon thousands of sporting events around the world — each promising a “unique experience” but, in truth, often nothing more than copies of one another — it was never easy to create something truly capable of offering a completely new adventure. An experience so all-encompassing it could transform lives at their very core.
We succeeded in 2017, when the NorthCape4000 was born.
Today, at the dawn of its Ninth Edition, it stands as the most attended Ultra-Distance cycling adventure in the world, attracting every year riders from more than 50 Nations.
Extraordinary Nature. The absolute Safety of the routes. A concept of Beauty so vast that it often escapes full understanding until you are immersed within it. And a powerful live Storytelling, bringing both participants and those following from home into the heart of the journey, step by step, emotion by emotion.
These are just some of the reasons why the NorthCape4000 is so Special, Unique, and Inimitable.
You will pedal alongside peaceful families of reindeer, under the perpetual light of the Arctic summer and the rays of the Midnight Sun. You will feel the thrill of crossing ancestral lands like Lapland and majestic landscapes like the Alps.
A magnificent geographical evolution awaits you, where kilometer after kilometer, from the saddle of your bicycle, you will feel on your skin the mystical and ever-stronger call of the Great North.
Each year, a new and extraordinary Route comes to life — designed only after hundreds of hours spent on maps and scouting across Europe — with a single purpose: to take you and your bicycle to the most beautiful, safe, and unforgettable places on the continent.
You will share this Grand Experience with people from all over the world, and thanks to what you live together, many will become Friends — and in some cases, Brothers.
It is a rare pause of Freedom, an irrepeatable Human and Sporting Experience that, since its very first edition, has left an incredibly powerful mark on the lives of people across the globe.
Expect the Maximum. This is the NorthCape4000.
Athletes, Randonneurs and Everyday Enthusiasts. An Extraordinary Experience for All
All lovers of Ultracycling, Brevets, and unsupported Adventure should have the chance to live an extraordinary experience like reaching North Cape by bicycle.
For this reason, at the NorthCape4000 — the most attended Ultra-Distance cycling adventure in the world — there is space and freedom for different performances and philosophies.
Athletes capable of riding 300 km a day, randonneurs from the randonnée world, or simple two-wheeled dreamers who long for a campfire beneath a sky filled with millions of stars — the NorthCape4000 guarantees every participant the chance to live and share a formidable experience from every point of view, each with their own personal approach.
Together with hundreds of Riders from dozens of nations around the world, you will set off from Rovereto and from Berlin — but only you will decide if, and with whom, to share your road.
In the same way, you will carry full responsibility for every other aspect of the challenge: from managing your stages and choosing where to rest, to setting up your bike and selecting the best equipment to face the distance and the incredible variety of landscapes and conditions on the way to North Cape.
You will follow a fixed route, identical for all participants, provided directly by the organization. A carefully designed track that will guide you for about 4,000 km across 8 nations all the way to North Cape.
For all these reasons — beyond the sheer beauty of what you will see — the NorthCape4000 is a challenge that brings with it a wealth of experience and self-reliance unmatched in the world of bikepacking.
So, whatever your reason for choosing to be at the start —Rovereto or Berlin — we guarantee that you will return as a more conscious and mature athlete and adventurer, with a story that will change you deeply and that you will hardly ever forget.
The Experience of a Lifetime
The only Ultra-Distance Adventure in the world that managed to take place regularly in 2021, in the midst of the global Covid emergency, the NorthCape4000 is not just a sporting event. It is an indelible experience that will stay with you for a long time, one you will treasure every single day — quite possibly for the rest of your life.
Ask those who have already taken part. Do your research. Discover why this is the reference event in the world of Ultra-Distance Bikepacking.
Light-years away from races and from the fanaticism that now pollutes almost every corner of sport, the NorthCape4000 welcomes you whether you want to push your limits or simply enjoy the journey — or both. What unites all our participants is respect, fair play, and a pure desire to have fun, values that make this event truly unique and inimitable.
So the choice is yours: ride with your eyes fixed on the wheel in front, or ride through dreamlike landscapes alongside companions who will make all the difference.
The Route
We do not draw a simple line from A to B, nor do we find our routes on the internet or in travel forums.
Every year, the NorthCape4000 Staff brings to life a completely new event — in numbers and in route — designed through dozens and dozens of hours spent studying maps with the most advanced cartography and the most meticulous on-the-ground scouting.
Each year, we bring you new faces, atmospheres, and impressions of a Europe that is never the same, a continent that will move you and make you feel like a pioneer — even in the age of smartphones.
Every year, we take you to a place beyond comparison.
A place that makes everything feel damn Special.
Media Coverage. The Event’s Pedigree
In the world of Bikepacking, the numbers speak for themselves: there is no event covered and followed like the NorthCape4000.
If you have sporting ambitions, seek visibility, or simply want to be at the heart of a Fantastic Story told live across all of Europe — we are waiting for you.
Two service cars crossing the European continent without pause, with a permanent Staff of 8 professionals following the participants. Equipped with the most advanced and powerful Media tools, they produce daily content that reaches an audience of more than 10 million views across our website and social media channels.
With a significant budget dedicated to every edition, by participating you can be sure you are taking part in a truly unique event, organized by the finest sports management currently active in the Bikepacking world.
Copywriters, videomakers, photographers, social media managers, cartography experts, and above all Adventurers — this is our Staff.
The world of two-wheeled Adventure had never seen anything so structured and professional.
This is why, every year, the NorthCape4000 delivers experiences and memories that cannot be erased.
Nordkapp: Where the NorthCape4000 Belongs
North Cape — or Nordkapp in Norwegian, or Davvenjárga in Sami — is located on the northern coast of the island of Magerøya, in the far north of Norway.
Lying within the Arctic Circle, it is the last edge of European land before the North Pole and the ultimate destination of the NorthCape4000. A perfect witness to a land of staggering beauty, capable — with its power and enchantment — of awakening the senses and the human imagination like no other place in the world.
A destination made for adventurers, travelers, and all those who wish to test themselves against an unsupported Ultracycling challenge of more than 4,000 km.
We created the NorthCape4000 with this in mind above all: the wonder of a mystical land where dream and reality have always lived in perfect balance and symbiosis. Against the backdrop of a geography so rare in beauty — stretching from Italy to the lush forests of Lapland and the Arctic headlands of the Barents Sea — we have stitched together the most surprising and exhilarating bikepacking adventure on the entire European continent.
Prepare yourself for an experience without equal — a challenge for the body, and a journey for the mind and the soul.
Preparation & Essential Info
By registering for the NorthCape4000, you are ready to take part in the most exciting event on the entire European Bikepacking calendar.
You will ride from the shores of the Mediterranean Basin to the last edge of European land before the North Pole.
This also means you will encounter vastly different landscapes, scenarios, and conditions along the way.
The NorthCape4000 is an Ultra-Distance Adventure in complete self-support.
This means participants are required to be conscious and meticulous in preparing every aspect of the journey.
The world of Adventure demands flexibility, adaptability, and responsibility.
On this website you will find many useful resources, and all participants will also receive detailed information — both general event guidelines and field planning notes, including support points and progressive mileage of the territories crossed, with special focus on the final part through Lapland and the Arctic Circle.
The NorthCape4000 unfolds entirely within one of the safest, most modern, and best-served continents in the world: Europe.
But remember — it is always the responsibility of each participant to plan and study the route provided, as well as all aspects of the challenge: from understanding the climate and selecting the right equipment, to planning stages and identifying support points.
For more information, consult the FAQ page or write to us at [email protected] — and start dreaming today of your next NorthCape4000.
