7. Sintra
I went on holiday to Lisbon, Portugal this year. I took my bike and rode a brilliant loop out into the Sintra national park. Unfortunately I couldn’t take in all the roads due to some being closed because of the risk of wildfires, but it was an incredible place to ride a bike. Such contrasts between sandy beaches and rainforests, riding through the mists of the morning up into the hills where the Portuguese royalty built their holiday escapes.
I fully recommend riding there if you get the chance. You can also ride to the furthest point west on mainland Europe. I think for a short moment I was the most westerly person on the continent.
8. Gorges de la Nesque
Whilst not a climb as such, this loop was one of the best I rode all year, and the climb to Saint Hubert which I’d never done before was the cherry on the cake.
If you don’t know it, the Gorges de la Nesque is a 20km long road at 2% (so lovely for a recovery day) and takes you beside a deep canyon that makes up the Réserve du Biosphère du Mont Ventoux.
Lovely as this is, the highlight for me was when we turned south and rode up to Saint Hubert. I think we saw one car the whole climb, and the views back over the gorges towards Ventoux were simply sensational.
The D5 road skirts around another gorge as you climb, and eventually drops you down around 15km outside of Bedoin. Then there’s a great straight road just heading directly towards the Mont Ventoux. Whilst the mountain takes all the headlines, I adore riding the roads around Bedoin, as well as to the north of Mont Ventoux.
Come ride it with us in May this year.
9. Passo Furcia
Number 9 is a climb many of you may not have heard of. But I can tell it was one of the toughest I rode this year. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so hard when we set out from Corvara on day 5 of our Dolomites Discovery tour in August. The foot of the climb lies in San Vigilio, about 20 km down the road from our hotel.
It starts out nice and easy following the river up the valley to the town, where you turn left and start climbing. Past lovely alpine meadows the tempo was great, and we didn’t really know quite what to expect. The climb ramps up to 8% after 6 km and then fools you with a gentle kilometre at 5% before setting out to destroy you.
The next four kilometres hit 9% then 10% then 11% and finishing off with an easy 8% to the col at 1789 metres of altitude (max gradient is 12.8% over 500m). What made this all the more painful was the knowledge that we had another 95 kilometres yet to ride that day.
But I can tell you that getting over Passo Furcia was more than worth it. We then rode the amazing Pustertal bike path all the way to Dobbiaco before climbing up to Lago Di Landro with great views of the Drei Zinnen peaks. We had some incredible food at the refuge just over the Passo Cimabanche, before descending to Cortina d’Ampezzo and then mastering the Passo Valparola (via the Falzarego).
Get in touch if you want to come test yourself against the Passo Furcia.
