Sa Calobra
Every cyclist who rides to Sa Calobra, on Mallorca, Spain, has to climb back out: the road is a dead end, and it is the most famous climb on the island. It is also one of the great feats of road building in Spain. Designed by the Palma-born engineer Antonio Parietti and opened in the early 1930s, it was cut by hand: workers removed about 31,000 cubic metres of rock, without machines, to wind it through the limestone of the Serra de Tramuntana. At the bottom, Sa Calobra is a tiny cove at the mouth of the Torrent de Pareis, a limestone canyon about 3 km long, protected as a Natural Monument since 2003.
This ride is that climb, from the harbour at sea level to the Coll dels Reis, through some 26 hairpins. Professional teams such as Team Sky and Quick-Step have long used it as a winter test, and in December 2022 Tom Pidcock climbed it in 22 minutes 46 seconds, one of the fastest times on record. The climb’s signature comes near the top: the Nus de sa Corbata, the “tie knot”, a 270-degree bend where the road loops under itself, followed by the steepest ramp of the climb.
Region: Illes Balears
City: Port de Sa Calobra
Distance: 9.89 km
Elevation Gain: 655 m
Elevation Loss: 15 m
Difficulty: 508 (Moderate)
FIETS Index: 4.44 FIETS
Avg Grade: 6.77 %
Max cat climb: 1
Min elevation: 60 m
Max elevation: 716 m
Ride Category: Climb