I’ve done a handful of cyclosportives in France (the French term for Gran Fondo), and one in Italy. The two that were heads above the others are, not surprisingly, the ones where the pros race the same routes: Strade Bianche & Etape du Tour (2018).
They are also the most expensive: around 110 euros. The local French cyclosportives I’ve done were no more than half that price and a fraction of the size - a few hundred vs several thousands or even >10k for EdT.
Etape du Tour takes the cake for gorgeous scenery and superb organization (Stade Bianche bib pickup was a gong show) and roadside cheering up the mountains with cowbells and chanting. And they get REALLY excited to see a woman as we made up only 5% of participants.
NB: My husband (who had already done a few EdTs) was my ‘crew’. Logistics are a pain with EdT as it’s a point-to-point event. In 2018 the start and end were within 30km of each other, which was a big reason I chose to do it that year. If you don’t have someone to ferry your stuff, spring for a group organizer.
====
Strade Bianche takes the cake for the epic final climb into the old town of Sienna,
and finishing in the Piazza del Campo. Seriously, this was quite the finisher’s chute:
It also provided a jersey that miraculously was not only attractive (unheard of for French cyclosportives), but also good quality - I just wore it for a chilly ride last Sunday.
The views weren’t bad either,
but I remember it more for the nasty short steep climbs!
Also, a bonus for SB is when we picked up our bibs we also ran the gamut of the pro team buses so the fanboys in our group got to pro- and bike-spot to their hearts’ delight. Sorry, no pics, but I did get pics of the final climb for the women’s race, held the day before ‘amateur day’.
Both EdT and SB had really great aid stations, but bland pasta meals at the end…and this holds true for smaller cyclos too. Perhaps this is where the N. American GFs have an edge?