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Classic climb: Cap de Formentor, a bucket list climb
When is a Classic Climb not a climb at all? Mallorca’s Cap de Formentor is more like a Classic Undulating Road.
Over its 17.3km distance – not including the way back, and it’s a dead-end so you have to do it in reverse afterwards – there’s only a 590m elevation gain and the mixture of climbing and descending takes the average gradient to just 1.2%. But that doesn’t take anything away from its place as one of Europe’s must-do rides.
Doff your Cap
The Cap de Formentor is Mallorca’s northernmost point, with the lighthouse at the end marking its location since 1863. However, the road has only existed since 1925. Before then the peninsula was owned by Mallorcan poet Miquel Costa i Llobera, whose works include The Pine Of Formentor.
On his death in 1922 the land was divided up and sold, allowing for the construction of the road, which was engineered by Antonio Parietti, who also designed the nearby Coll des Reis, aka Sa Calobra.
One reason for the Cap de Formentor climb’s popularity is its location. The road starts right on the northern doorstep of the tourist centre and cycling hub of Port de Pollença, so if you’re staying in the area there’s barely time to get the legs warm before it gets going.
We’re taking the start as the roundabout just by the military base, where the road and the climbing begins. The first section is technically the Coll de sa Creueta, which is the hardest part of the ride and the bit that feels the most like a proper climb.
It takes you immediately out of the built-up area with a steady 6% average gradient for just over 3km with a few sweeping bends, which reveal the view over Port de Pollença with the rest of the Sierra de Tramuntana mountain range beyond it. From there you’re winding your way up the valley road to the car park at the crest of the Coll de sa Creueta.
The only way is up, down, up, down
Don’t worry about saving your legs; the Creueta takes you between the rocky peaks onto the first descent. Here you get the first taste of the views north, the vast expanse of the luscious blue sea ever present as you fly round a pair of hairpins.
It’s fast and flowy after that as you descend through a forest of pine trees. You get glimpses of the coast through the branches but best to keep your eyes forward because it gets better and better (and you can catch it on your way back).
As you get below the first treeline you’re greeted by another hairpin, which begins a sequence of bends that leads you to bridge over to the next landmass. One more hairpin then leads you finally back down to earth, where you’re reacquainted with signs of life.
Like Coll del Reis, this road was built for tourism. Argentinian millionaire Adan Diehl was one of the beneficiaries of the sale in the 1920s, and he supposedly had planned to build a house just above the Cala Pi de la Posada bay on the peninsula’s southern-facing edge, but ended up starting the 80-room Hotel Formentor.
It passed through several different hands over the years after Diehl’s business failed just five years in, but it did have its day in the sun as the height of luxury apparently frequented by the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and John Wayne. It recently underwent large-scale rebuilding and is now a Four Seasons.
At the bottom of the descent of the Coll de sa Creueta you can take a right to get to the hotel or pop to the Playa Formentor public beach, but better to save that for the way back and instead fly straight past down the long false flat that cuts through a swathe of trees. This is the time to get your head down, push on and enjoy the smooth tarmac.
Eventually you’ll find yourself riding up another valley before emerging above the treeline once more. The gradient ramps up, topping out at around 10% as you approach the huge Dolomite-like rockface that overlooks the road. Plug your way round the bends, the gradient eases and you find yourself above another beautiful bay.
Riding along the cliffside, you should keep half an eye to your left to check out the small inlet at Cala Figuera as you’ll be going a lot quicker coming back the other way. Turn the corner and you’ll see the route’s only tunnel. The ride through the dark isn’t too long but it’s still uphill and it keeps going straight up out the other side with the wide ocean view hinting at your proximity to the end.
Ramping down
The climbing from here is steady. After a while riding beside the sea, the road cuts inland where it gets increasingly winding and you traverse the small rocky peaks that make up this part of the island. This section drags but the scenery helps to keep spirits high until the finale begins.
A left turn reveals the penultimate descent, flanked by interchanging sections of wooden armco and stone wall blocks as you enter the first hairpin through two tall banks of rock. You roll through a blind corner, fly down towards a gap in the cliffs and sweep right, climbing gradually around the east side of the penultimate peak.
At this point you’re waiting for each turn to unleash the lighthouse view but another descent left and climb right takes you onto the most barren part of the peninsula with only shrubs to brighten the vast limestone landscape. With no end in sight your internal compass may be starting to lose its bearings, but a long downwards hairpin provides the answer you’re looking for.
The view is magnificent and the descent means there’s plenty of time to appreciate why you’re riding this road. The climb isn’t hard, but this is unique. For any road cyclist it’s a must-do, a rite of passage.
One final upward ramp takes you to the island’s most northerly point with views of secret bays to the left, Menorca to the right and the vast blue sea in between.
Remember all that descending on the way here? Now you have to ride back.
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