Cycle Puerto Del Sol in Spain

A cycling tour not for the feint-hearted!

I love this ride. I love it for the simple reason that you get to feel like you are riding a closed road event over the vast majority of the 88 miles.

Essentially a three peaks challenge as you have a fairly gentle climb to get the legs going up to the neighbouring village of Corumbela which sits 650m above sea level. This part of the ride is in the shadows while the sun rises over the mountains and makes for a very serene start to the day.

The twisty descent, down into the town of Velez-Malaga, continues to give glimpses of the coast before hiding the view away again in the mountain valleys. All the time, the tarmac will be adding to your smile by never having to worry about any potholes. This part of the ride will have you wondering where the inhabitants hide away as you go can the 9 miles without seeing another vehicle on the road on some days.

Leaving the town takes the ride on a quiet road, adjacent to the main road, up to the village of Puente Don Manuel, the start of the second peak. Here we’ll make a stop for pan con tomate or a chocolate mousse coupled with the local specialty of a café bonbon (coffee with condensed milk, making it very sweet), before heading off towards the next town of Periana. This part of the ride covers just over 12 miles of climbing but at an average of just 2.6% gradient, however the tough bit comes about a mile after the coffee stop where we then start to see the gradient racking up through the 5, 6 & 7%.

Once at Periana you’ll be able to take in the breath-taking views over Lake Vinuela, the reservoir that provides water for the region, before finishing the climb on the oft used La Vuelta climb to the summit of the Puerto Del Sol. This is 1085m high and your legs will know every meter of it as the climb is basically from sea level.

The descent through the villages of Alfarnate, Alfarnatejo and Riogordo will provide you with the biggest smiles you’ll have on a bike. A word of caution here as you do feel like these are closed roads because there is so little traffic (on one ride I literally saw 2 cars from Periana to Riogordo) so, while you’ll want to be taking the apex, do remember that there could be something coming the other way.

Once back to the coast, we have the gentle climb of the third peak, back up to the village, through Algarrobo and Sayalonga. For those who’ve had enough by this point we can provide transport back from the coast to rest those weary legs.