Tour de Madeloc (France)
Last year in May, we went to Costa Brava to ride some heavy climbs. This one-day route took us along the beautiful coast of Costa Brava and to some of the steepest climbs I’ve ridden in Catalonia, so far.
On the way to the Tour de Madeloc
Starting in Llançà, a small town by the coast, the N-260 road goes up and down through a few villages. You can expect gorgeous views over the sea and a serpentine asphalt that always makes me feel as in an amusement park.
The initial kilometers.
After leaving the town of Colera, the road goes up and takes you to the first proper climb of the route: the Coll de Frare (4 km that goes from sea level to 200m of altitude). Passing the Coll you can already see Portbou and the pretty bay that involves it. Seems this was an important town during the Spanish civil war because of its strategic location right next to the French border. From what I read, the town was one of the few places where supplies from abroad were coming into the country during war times. Another curiosity is that was also here the German philosopher Walter Benjamin died in 1940, and where you can visit an interesting monument in his tribute.
Walter Benjamin’s memorial created by Dani Karavan (images found on Google)
After crossing the border and leaving the town of Cerebra, we took a slight left and entered a secondary road with almost no cars. Maybe because of that, this climb felt slightly easier than the one before. It felt like a good warm-up for the next climb, the Tour de Madelloc. I had seen a few photos of the place and was really excited about the hairpins that were showing in most of those photos, but I never imagined it would be so tough.
The climb starts slightly after the town of Banyuls-sur-Mer and ends on a tower from the XIII century, with a view that allows you to see a big part of the Catalonian coast. The segment has an average of 6% but you can expect 12%,14% and 16% on the final kilometres of the climb. I remember the last part of it to be particularly painful because, although I could see the tower slowly approaching, there was not a single moment where I could catch my breath and recover. The road constantly goes up and there’s only a plateau where it’s possible to recover a bit. I remember going around a few times and taking a few deep breaths before doing the final push to the top. Up there the 360 views are obviously incredible and worth all the effort. Would be great to have some water or snacks left at that point, but we were mostly empty pockets at that time.
Although more relaxing, the way down was also challenging because of the narrow and steep road, but we managed to make it to the bottom and decide to have a refreshing drink at Banyuls-sur-Mer. A few cold drinks and a portion of Bravas felt like the perfect reward after such effort. The weather was quite hot by this time and we thought the hardest part of the route was done and there was not much to worry about for the rest of the day. We were obviously wrong. :)
Leaving Banyuls-sur-Mer after such effort felt like the day was done and there was only one more climb but nothing compared to what we did. Well, we clearly underestimated it and after relaxing our legs for approximately 7 km on mostly flat roads, we faced a wall called Coll de Banyuls. These were 6 km that felt like 12 probably because of the gradients that, again, reached 13%. After this and already totally destroyed. We went full gas with what was left in the tank and arrived at Figueres exhausted, thirsty and hungry. But after a few cold drinks, a delicious falafel sandwich, and jumping on the train back home, we were happy again. :)
