Gates open on August 18 for the 2025 edition of the ISDE, held in Italy’ s highaltitude region of Lombardy. Situated at the northern extremity of Italy, the region borders Switzerland and has no shortage of challenging terrain, some of which just happens to be in the middle of Bergamo itself. The paddock will be set up at the city’ s fairgrounds and the event is designed to challenge the 700 riders and bedazzle the crowds with viewpoints and stands galore to turn the ISDE 2025 into a showpiece event with the stunning scenery of the region as the backdrop. Of those 700 entrants, there is a mix of top pros and a majority who are non-professional and all classes are represented. It is a team event and has long held a special prestige, so it will be a hard-fought competition and an amazing 33 countries will be represented. The Italian hosts have high hopes but last year’ s junior competition winners, Sweden, will also be confident of a top finish. Can the young guns topple the old guard?