Curated place guides

Trier

Trier — West Loop via Welschbillig, Echternach & Mertert

West of Trier the border softens: German vineyard roads give way to Luxembourg’s Sauer valley at Echternach, then the Mosel again at Mertert — a cross-border loop measured in quiet climbs rather than famous cols.

Trier

Trier — Mosel Loop via Schweich, Fell & Föhren

From the Roman bridge in Trier the Mosel does most of the talking — vineyards, ferry rocks, and quiet climbs inland through Schweich, Fell and Föhren before the river gathers you again.

Girona

Girona — Sant Martí Sacalm

Out of Girona into the Guilleries for the classic local rite of passage: the Pujada a Sant Martí Sacalm — about 9 km near 7% to 815 m — on a 90.8 km loop with 1,268 m of climbing and coffee waiting at La Fábrica.

Marbella

Marbella — Ronda — Marbella

A 151.2 km escape from Marbella into the Serranía de Ronda: Puerto del Madroño’s long grind to the clifftop town above El Tajo, lunch worth taking seriously, then a windswept plateau return before the Mediterranean drop — 2,985 m of climbing.

Calp

Calpe — Guadalest & Vall d'Ebo

From Calpe a front-loaded epic climbs the Guadalest valley to Puerto de Confrides, crosses the quiet inland plateau, then takes Vall d'Ebo from the easy west — 137 km and 2,681 m, finished with one of Spain’s finest descents toward Pego and the glittering Mediterranean.

Aime

Aime to La Plagne

From the Isère valley floor at Aime the D221 climbs hairpin after hairpin through Savoyard forest to La Plagne — 41.8 km out-and-back, 1,472 m of ascent, the same road the Tour used in 2025, then a fast flowing descent home.

Ugine

Côte d'Héry-sur-Ugine & Col des Saisies

From Ugine a Savoie loop pairs two very different climbs: the narrow, irregular Côte d'Héry-sur-Ugine and the steady Col des Saisies at 1,662 m — 70.2 km, 1,705 m, Mont Blanc on the horizon, and a long Beaufortain descent home.

Le Bourg-d'Oisans

Alpe d'Huez & Col de Sarenne

From Bourg-d'Oisans the pilgrimage is obvious: twenty-one numbered lacets to Alpe d'Huez. The loop that makes the day is what follows — the wild, quiet Col de Sarenne at 1,999 m and a technical return past Lac du Chambon.

Le Bourg-d'Oisans

Croix de Fer & Glandon

Two Tour de France cols linked from Bourg-d'Oisans in one loop: up the Combe d'Olle to the iron cross at 2,067 m, a short spur to the Glandon, then thirty-seven kilometres back past turquoise reservoirs — 79.1 km and 1,908 m of climbing that never quite finish when the descent begins.

Averbode

Best of Gravel Vlaams-Brabant

From Averbode Abbey, this 251-kilometre gravel circuit strings together Hageland fruit country, the Brabant forests, and the Pajottenland hills — ride it as an ultra day or break it into two or three stages.

Oudenaarde

Gravel Classics: De Ronde

The names are familiar — Koppenberg, Kwaremont, Oudenaarde — but the surfaces are not. This gravel reading of De Ronde turns the Flemish Ardennes sideways, mixing iconic cobbles with singletrack and farm tracks that most road riders never see.

Oudenaarde

Spartacus Route : Flemish Ardennes

Clockwise through the Flemish Ardennes, the Spartacus route is built for riders who want the bergs stacked in the right direction — and who are willing to finish on the Koppenberg when the day has already taken everything else.

Oslo

Maridalen Loop

North of the city, a protected valley opens around Maridalsvannet — smooth asphalt, almost no cars, and the loop every Oslo rider already knows by heart.

Oslo

Son Loop

Quiet Follo lanes through Kråkstad, Kroer and Garder, then the coastal hinge at Son — a long Oslo loop with a real destination halfway.

Skjolden

Sognefjellet & Tindevegen

At the head of Lustrafjorden the air still smells of salt and meltwater, and the road ahead rises toward a pass that Northern Europe treats as its roof. Two hors catégorie climbs — Sognefjellet and Tindevegen — ask for the same day, and neither offers much kindness between them.

Heuvelland

Gravel classics: Gent-Wevelgem

An off-road reimagining of Gent–Wevelgem starting and finishing in Ypres, trading most of the race's tarmac for unmarked gravel and dirt tracks through the Flanders Fields countryside, with the Kemmelberg and the Ploegsteert plugstreets still very much intact.

Heuvelland

Gent-Wevelgem - In Flanders Fields

A signposted 84-kilometre loop through the West Flemish hills that recreates the decisive climbs of Gent–Wevelgem — cobbles, plugstreets, and a double ascent of the Kemmelberg — without following the professional race's actual start or finish towns.

Oudenaarde

Ultimate Flanders 525

A 525-kilometre bikepacking pilgrimage across Flanders, its distance a nod to Eddy Merckx's 525 career wins, stringing together the finales of the region's spring classics from the orchards of Haspengouw to the war-scarred fields around Ypres.

Oudenaarde

Muur van Geraardsbergen, Bosberg : Tour of Flanders red route

The longer road to the Muur. At 115 kilometres and over 1,600 metres of climbing, the Red Loop is the most demanding of the three signposted routes out of Oudenaarde, built around a single destination: the Muur van Geraardsbergen. Getting there, though, means working through a string of climbs that rarely make headlines outside the Flemish Ardennes.

Oudenaarde

Paddestraat, Molenberg and Kerkgate: Tour of Flanders yellow route

A 102-kilometre loop built almost entirely around cobbles — Huisepontweg, Doorn, the historic Paddestraat, and the pivotal Molenberg — guided in spirit by Sep Vanmarcke, one of the finest cobble specialists never to win the Ronde outright.

Oudenaarde

Kwaremont, Koppenberg, Taaienberg: Tour of Flanders blue route

The shortest of the three signposted Tour of Flanders loops, an 80-kilometre circuit out of Oudenaarde that opens with the race's most iconic trio — Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg, Koppenberg — and doesn't let up much after that.

Menton

Milano–San Remo: Cipressa & Poggio

A 102-kilometre loop from Menton that rides the actual finale of cycling's longest Monument — the Cipressa and the Poggio, the two climbs that decide Milano–San Remo every March — on fresh legs rather than after 250 kilometres of racing.

Bénodet

Three Days Across Western Brittany

The Journey — Three days. Several different Brittanys.

Genève

Tour du Lac Léman — Around Lake Geneva in a Day

175 kilometres around the largest natural lake in the Alps — clockwise from Geneva, through Lausanne and Montreux, across into France at Evian, and back through Thonon and Yvoire. One loop, two countries, three languages, one long day.

Calp

Calpe — Finestrat, Guadalest & Confrides — Five Climbs on the Costa Blanca

154 kilometres and 3,137 metres across five categorised climbs in the Costa Blanca interior. Finestrat, Port de Tudons, Torremanzanas, Benifallim, Confrides. No single climb breaks you — the accumulation does.

Calp

Calpe to Cumbre del Sol

There are climbs that punish you over hours, and there are climbs that punish you in a single concentrated dose.

Nice

Col de Vence & Gourdon — Loop from Cagnes

The Riviera has a way of hiding its mountains until you go looking for them.

Palma de Mallorca

Palma — Andratx Coastal Loop

Most rides give you a few kilometres to settle in. This one does not.

Girona

Girona — Banyoles

There is a version of Girona cycling that has nothing to do with climbing.

Girona

Girona — Rocacorba

There is a climb outside Girona that professional cyclists use as a measuring stick. Not for its length, not for its views, though both are considerable — but for its honesty. Rocacorba gives you exactly what you put in, no more.

Barcelona

The Barcelona Weekend Loop — Tibidabo, Sant Cugat, Vallvidrera

The loop every Barcelona cyclist knows. Up the Tibidabo via l'Arrabassada, over to Sant Cugat, back through Vallvidrera. 37 km, 762 metres, two hours. The city behind you before the coffee is finished.

Nice

Riviera Gravel — Vinaigrier, Col d'Èze, Plateau de la Justice

A gravel loop above Nice in three hours — Mont Boron, the Parc du Vinaigrier, the Route Stratégique, Col d'Èze, Plateau de la Justice. The Côte d'Azur without the traffic.

Mont Ventoux

Mont Ventoux from Malaucène — The Northern Approach

The northern face of Mont Ventoux — 21 kilometres from Malaucène to 1,909 metres. More technical than Bédoin, less crowded, open earlier in spring. The version of Ventoux that most cyclists never ride.

Girona

The Girona Gravel 100 — Empordà and the Gavarres

A hundred kilometres east and south of Girona through the Empordà plains and the Gavarres hills. Fast farm tracks, cork oak forest, medieval villages, and a finish back in the city along the Ter river.

Girona

The Girona Gravel 200 — Three Landscapes, One Long Day

Two hundred kilometres of gravel north, east, and south of Girona — through the Pla de l'Estany, across the Empordà plains, and back through the Gavarres. Three distinct landscapes, 84% unpaved, and the best way to understand what this corner of Catalonia actually is.

Alcudia

The Mallorca 312 — Everything the Island Has

312 kilometres. 4,260 metres of climbing. The entire island in one day. Sa Calobra, Puig Major, Cap Formentor, the MA-10 coast. The Mallorca 312 doesn't ask whether you're ready.

Nice

Nice to Vence — The Col and the Artists' Town

Ninety-five kilometres from Nice into the hinterland and back. The Col de Vence is the reason — 9.6 kilometres of south-facing climbing above an artists' town, with the Mediterranean laid out below at the top.

Alcudia

The Mallorca 167 — Puig Major, Sa Calobra, and the Long Way Back

The Mallorca 167 is not the short version of anything. Puig Major, Sa Calobra, the Coll de Femenia — three climbs that have nothing to prove, on an island that knows exactly what it's doing to you.

Puigcerda

Cerdanya by Four Cols — The Alpinum Endurance

Four cols, two countries, one plateau. The Alpinum Endurance crosses Cerdanya and the Capcir all the way to the Catalan border — a long-distance route for riders who know mountains are earned in stages.

Mont Ventoux

Mont Ventoux from Sault

The lavender road

Nice

Via del Sale

Tende · Casterino · Refuge Don Barbera · Passo di Tanarello

Barcelona

The Southern Loop Barcelona — Gavà — Sitges — Garraf

Where the city dissolves into the sea

Andorra La Vella

Quick Andorra Loop: Andorra la Vella – Encamp – Sispony

A compact training loop that packs a remarkable amount of climbing into a short ride and showcases why Andorra is a cyclist's playground.

Encamp

Andorra Loop: Collada de Beixalís & Coll d'Ordino

A compact Pyrenean classic featuring two iconic climbs, outstanding scenery, and a true taste of cycling in Andorra.

Andorra La Vella

The 3 Nations Route — Puigcerdà, Andorra, France

Three countries, one day.

Cannes

L'Estérel — La Route des Cols

Take a breath. Col de Théoule, Col des Trayas, Col de la Cadière, Col des Trois Termes, Col des Suvières, Col de l'Aire de l'Olivier, Col de l'Essuyadou, Col du Mistral, Col du Baldou, Col du Perthus.

Nice

Mont Férion — The Ventoux of the Riviera Gravel

Fifteen kilometres from the Promenade des Anglais, above the traffic and the sea light, there is a mountain that most visitors to Nice will never see. The Mont Férion sits at 1 412 metres in the pre-Alps behind the coast, connected to the villages of Levens, Coaraze, and Duranus by a network of DFCI forest roads built for fire prevention and discovered, inevitably, by the cyclists who live here and needed somewhere to go that wasn't tarmac.

Mont Ventoux

Mont Ventoux from Bédoin

There is no climb in cycling quite like Ventoux. Not because it is the hardest — there are longer climbs, steeper climbs, climbs with more brutal gradients. But no other mountain concentrates so much cycling mythology into a single road. Coppi rode here. Simpson died here. Pantani and Armstrong had their reckoning here. Every serious cyclist who comes to Provence eventually stands at the bottom of the Bédoin road, looks up at the white summit visible from thirty kilometres away, and begins.

Inca

On the Inca Trail — The Interior Labyrinth

This route starts and finishes in Inca, the island's third city, and heads south into a landscape of dry stone walls, almond and carob orchards, and lanes so narrow they could be mistaken for private driveways. They are not. They belong to everyone willing to explore.

Palma de Mallorca

Sineu to the Mountains — Castell d'Alaró

The ride begins on flat agricultural roads before the terrain changes character completely. Somewhere near Lloseta, on the other side of the railway tracks, the mountains begin. What follows is one of the most varied gravel routes on the island — fire roads, hidden singletrack, concrete switchbacks, and eventually the medieval castle of Alaró perched on its improbable rock.

Palma de Mallorca

Sa Creu & Galilea — Palma's Backyard

This is Mallorca for people who live here. Not the Tramuntana classics with their processions of rental bikes and team buses — just a good morning out, back before the city gets properly started.

Alcudia

To the Lighthouse — Cap de Formentor

If Sa Calobra is the king of Mallorcan roads, Cap de Formentor is the queen. Less brutal, more theatrical. Where Sa Calobra earns its reputation through pure suffering, Formentor earns it through spectacle — a road that climbs, drops, twists and disappears around corners that reveal views so abrupt you forget to breathe.

Stresa

The Mottarone

What the lake looks like from 1 491 metres — and how hard you have to work to get there.

Stresa

The lake loop — riding Lago Maggiore

Two countries, one shoreline, and 160 kilometres that remind you why you own a road bike.

Nice

Coastal rides in Nice

Promenade spins and Madone days — where the Côte d'Azur peloton recovers.

Barcelona

Gravel stops near Barcelona

Montserrat trails and coastal gravel — essential checkpoints for Barcelona's off-road scene.

Nice

Braus & Turini Challenge: Two Legendary Climbs Above Nice

Two cols above Nice in a single loop — the elegant Col de Braus and the legendary Col de Turini, 1,604 metres, home of the Monte Carlo Rally. Sospel in between. 112 km, 2,497 metres of climbing.

Menton - Col de Vescavo and Col de Castillon

63 km · 1,191 m · Menton

Col de Femenia - Sa Batalla

83 km · 823 m · Alcudia