Cyclist
Mallorca’s secret climb: Riding the Kill the Hill sportive
If you’ve ever been riding in Mallorca you’ve probably ticked off all the main climbs: Cap de Formentor, Sa Calobra and the biggest of them all, Puig Major. It’s the only HC climb on the island, and once you’ve made your way up its 14km ascent from Sóller and posed for the obligatory pictures by the tunnel entrance, you’ve made it to the very highest point accessible by road on Mallorca. Or have you?
Look up and you will see a golden dome sitting atop the true summit of the mountain – a Bond villain-esque radar station that is visible from a long way off, and which has a narrow road leading up to it. The problem is that the road in question is hidden behind locked gates inside a military base and so isn’t accessible to cyclists. Or at least it isn’t most of the time.
That’s why I’m sipping coffee at Mallorca’s other military base, the Aeròdrom Militar de Pollença, near Port de Pollença in the north of the island, as I wait for the start for the first ever edition of Kill the Hill. Today I’ll be one of a couple of hundred people allowed to climb Puig Major, the real Puig Major.
The nature of the event requires strict military precision to pull off successfully. Everyone needs to set off together and arrive at the entry to the Puig Major base at the same time. That means a very official rolling roadblock and a controlled speed all the way to the bottom of the climb. It may sound a bit too controlled for a sportive, but when the gates open we’ll be set free to race to the top of the mountain.
Every rider has a timing chip that will record from the gates of the base to the entrance of the radar station at the summit. Most importantly, the lack of historical activity on the road means that Strava records are up for grabs.
And so, at 9am on the dot, we roll out.
Slow march
Everyone is wearing matching helmets provided by event sponsor Abus, with a name and national flag decal on the side. It’s immediately apparent I’m almost entirely surrounded by Germans and it soon becomes clear why. Alongside Abus, Kill the Hill is sponsored by two other German companies – clothing brand Ryzon and haircare company Alpecin – and each of them have plenty of representatives in our peloton.
Amid the sound of freehubs, however, I hear British voices. Curiously, one has a German flag on his helmet, so I ask the question. Turns out he was born and brought up in Yorkshire, lived most of his life in Germany and now lives in Mallorca knocking out triathlons in retirement. Alright for some. He tells me his son-in-law is also riding but is right at the front and apparently has a full leadout and strategy planned right down to the nearest watt to try to take the KoM later today. The only problem with that plan is that a few riders from Ineos Grenadiers are expected to join us.
The road leading south from Pollença is entirely flat initially and very easy going, especially riding in a big group like this. By the time the golden dome of the radar station comes into view we’ve barely broken sweat, so it’s time to warm up for the main event.
With the pace controlled by a lead car, the only chance to stretch the legs comes on the Coll de Femenia, a 7.6km climb averaging 5.5%. I think I should take it easy to save energy for Puig Major but once the road starts going up it’s impossible not to get carried away – closed roads, sunshine and silky-smooth tarmac, might as well enjoy it.
The group inevitably spreads out as we climb, with the biggest hitters sat behind the pace car. I settle into a manageable pace and enjoy the second half. It’s the perfect climb, not just for a warm-up but for the fact that as soon as we cross the summit, Puig Major is dead ahead in the distance to remind us that the day is going to get a lot harder later on.
There is a feed stop not long after the Coll de Femenia, and as the riders gather for sweet treats, it’s our first chance for star-spotting. Among the Ryzon group is André Greipel, looking very smart in normal cycling kit and, although he plied his trade as a sprinter, looking like he could break some hearts uphill today should he fancy it.
We continue to the foot of Puig Major, passing the top of Sa Calobra as we go. It feels sacrilegious to skip it, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry, and it’s nice to stand apart from the masses in a place so packed with cyclists.
After about 40km, and a few clicks into the eastern ascent of Puig Major, we roll into another feed stop right by the stunning Cúber lake. It hasn’t been long since the last feed stop but the aim is to gather everyone together, as now we are just a short distance from the gate to the military base.
The lake shimmers invitingly in the sunshine, and on any other day it would be a perfect opportunity to figuratively drink it in, but all eyes are looking upwards from here. The dome has gone from being a distant speck to a dominant landmark, and we can see the road etched into the side of the mountain. Things are getting exciting.
Behind closed doors
There’s no pacing anymore. As I roll over the start of the timed section it’s just me, the mountain and a handful of Germans. It’s 7km to the top with a 9% average gradient and I can see the most of climb ahead, including the dome, which is both the summit and our lunch spot. That’s all the motivation I need.
The road is only about a car’s width and isn’t evenly tarmacked like most of Mallorca’s hotspots; it’s smooth enough but there is the odd pothole to contend with. The maximum gradient is stated as 16.2% but the steepest bits are hidden within the multiple hairpins, so it’s not too hard. Once my heart gets used to the effort, I manage to settle into a good rhythm. I don’t want to push it so much that I can’t enjoy the scenery, but it’s a timed effort, so I’m definitely not dawdling.
The hairpins tick by. I overtake a few people and get overtaken by a few more. Eventually I end up just behind someone riding a little above my comfortable pace, so I use him as a carrot for the middle section.
As we climb higher the views get better, looking down onto Cúber lake and beyond that to the flat mass of central Mallorca. Just past halfway I hear a very loud and deep wheezing getting closer and closer until a rider passes me looking on the point of collapse. My knowledge of German is limited, but even I can understand when my carrot turns to Herr Wheeze and says, ‘You know there’s still 3km to go, right?’ He brushes it off and trudges on, and I don’t see him again, so he presumably judged it to perfection.
Edging closer to the top I notice that a huge bird of prey has started circling above me, which is motivation enough to push harder for the final couple of kilometres. The final hairpin takes me over the shoulder of the mountain and reveals the view on the other side – pure sea. The last few metres circle the dome before turning in to enter the radar station’s car park. There are already a fair few people tucking into burgers so I sprint across the finish line and raise an arm in celebration.
Getting most of the attention under the glow of the dome are Ineos’s Ethan Hayter, Connor Swift and Michał Kwiatkowski. They skipped the processional part of our ride and joined us for the last bit to Puig Major’s true summit, but that didn’t prevent them from racing apparently. Swift tells me he got outsprinted by Hayter at the top.
Lunch eaten, views drunk and stars spotted, we descend carefully and gather at the bottom to be let out of the gates before another procession back the same way we came, to Hotel Viva Blue on the island’s north coast where a meal and awards ceremony await later on. Official timing backs up Swift’s story, as does Strava, and Greipel wasn’t too far behind the Ineos pair. Unfortunately for Hayter, Strava only places him third, with Danish Uno-X pro Niklas Eg killing the hill a good 34 seconds faster.
By chickening out of going full gas, my time for the climb is a full 17 minutes slower than Eg. So I guess that answers that question.
The details
How to Kill the Hill
What Kill the Hill
Where Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
How far 126km (the 2024 event will start from the Hotel Viva Blue)
Elevation 2,843m
Next one 4th May 2024
Price €200 (approx £172)
More info killthehill.cc
Whose climb is it anyway?
The history of Mallorca’s secret road
While there’s no doubting Mallorca is a Spanish island, the Puig Major military base is not Spanish. It was built by the United States Air Force in the late 1950s during the Cold War and covers 60,000 square metres of land that previously belonged to the still-enormous Son Torrella estate, a medieval property that has actually been owned by an English family since the 1930s.
Unsurprisingly, local people have not always been happy about hosting the American military, and there have been organised protests with demands including ‘Yankies out’ and ‘hamburgers no, sobrasada yes’. The Americans did start to withdraw, and from 1993 the Spanish military have been in charge. However, the Spanish government still considers the Puig Major base important, so the highest point in Mallorca will remain off limits to the public for the foreseeable future. Except for the one day of the year you can ride your bike up it.
How we did it
Travel
Cyclist flew to Palma de Mallorca and hired a car from the airport to get around. It’s about a 45-minute drive from the airport to Pollença and you can also take a bus or a taxi.
Accommodation
We stayed at Hotel Viva Blue & Spa in Playa de Muro, where the event finishes and will start from in 2024. It has secure bike parking and rooms can be booked with event entry. Info at hotelsviva.com/en/viva-blue.
Thanks
Thanks to the team at Kumulus, organiser of Kill the Hill, for inviting us down and sorting out our trip. Thanks to Brian and the Pinarello Experience in Pollença for providing a lovely bike for the week. And finally, thanks to Dan at Ses Rotes for hosting us for the Big Ride that – owing to lost cameras – will sadly never see the light of day.
• This article originally appeared in issue 149 of Cyclist magazine. Click here to subscribe
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