Girona - Rocacorba

Rolling out of Girona in the early light, you slip through the farmland north of the city on narrow secondary roads — poplar lines, stone masies, the Guilleries and Collsacabra ridges slowly sharpening on the horizon. It's the kind of warm-up that lets you spin the legs loose without having to think. Traffic is almost non-existent once you're past the first roundabouts, and the road tilts so gently you barely notice the elevation creeping in.

Through Canet d'Adri the character shifts. The pavement narrows, oak woodland closes in, and little hamlets tick by. You can feel the climb waiting. The brown El Matamors sign at a shaded hairpin is the unofficial start gun — from here it's proper Rocacorba, the same pitches that Pogačar, Van Vleuten and half the Girona pro scene use as their benchmark. Tough, but a fantastic climb.

And tough it is. The gradient is never consistent. You settle into a rhythm, the road kicks up, you stand, it flattens briefly, you sit, another ramp. Holm-oak and chestnut overhead, damp patches under the tyres, leaf litter in the corners even in dry weather. There's no traffic — it's essentially a dead-end road to the antennas at the top — so you can use the full width through the hairpins and focus on pacing rather than looking over your shoulder.

The forest opens near the summit and suddenly you're at the telecom towers and the sticker-plastered Rocacorba Arribada sign, the one every rider who comes to Girona eventually photographs. The view is the payoff: the Garrotxa volcanic hills rolling north, Lake Banyoles catching the light down on the Pla de l'Estany, and on a clear day the Costa Brava as a thin blue line to the east. Worth taking ten minutes up here before pulling on a gilet for the descent.

Going back down the same road demands attention — damp hairpins, gravel washed across the apex, and the occasional pine cone. Once you're back through Canet d'Adri the route opens onto the plain again and the final run home is fast and rolling under big Empordà skies, often with a tailwind pushing you toward the spires of the cathedral.