Port de Pollenca - Cap Formentor

I'll say it straight: this might be the best 40 km you'll ever ride. From Port de Pollença the road rolls flat along the bay, past the marina waking up and the first cafés dragging chairs onto the pavement. If you've done what I'd recommend — left early — the Ma-2210 will be almost yours when it peels north onto the peninsula.

The first real effort is the climb up to Mirador des Colomer, essentially the Coll de la Creueta. Pine forest, stacked hairpins you can glimpse through the trees, and then that balustraded terrace bursts open above the Es Colomer islet. Everyone leans their bike against the same stone railing and takes the same photo. Do it anyway.

Past the mirador the peninsula becomes a spine of short stingers and fast descents. Rock arches have been cut straight through the limestone — one in particular, the cinematic tunnel-arch, is the signature frame of the ride. You ride out of shadow into sky and the road keeps twisting. There's no rhythm to settle into; it's a conversation with the terrain the whole way out.

The final ramp to Far de Formentor is rocky and exposed, scrub and stone, until the white lighthouse finally shows itself at the end of the cape — still a climb away. There's a photographer who plants himself at the last hairpin where you get your first proper view of the tower. Smile when you see it, he's earned it. The café at the lighthouse opens around 9.30, so pace accordingly — Tommy's tip: the coffee is good, the selection is fine, and the terrace drops straight to the Mediterranean a couple of hundred metres below. A cortado with that view is worth the climb twice over.

The return leg rides like a different route. Descents become climbs, climbs become descents, and eventually the Badia de Pollença opens up ahead with the harbour, the town, and the Serra de Tramuntana glowing behind it. Roll back into Port de Pollença for an ensaïmada on the seafront. You'll already be planning the next one.