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CYCLING IN GIRONA · ROUTE GUIDE

ELS ÀNGELS

The local climb every Girona pro has done a thousand times. Ten kilometres of even tempo, a sanctuary at the top, and the cleanest view back over the city you can earn on a road bike.

Els Àngels climb above Girona — the city's most-ridden tempo training climb

Surface

Road

Climb length

9.7 km

Avg gradient

4.7%

Max gradient

8%

Loop distance

85 km

Loop elevation

1,400 m

WHY THIS CLIMB

THE PRO ROAD MOST AMATEURS NEVER FIND.

If Rocacorba is the test piece, Els Àngels is the office. Pros ride this climb week in, week out, all season. It's not steep. It's not famous. It's the kind of even-gradient tempo road that builds engines — long enough to do real work, even enough to hold a power number, beautiful enough that you'll never get bored of it.

WHAT TO EXPECT

THE RIDE, START TO FINISH.

  1. An easy 12 km roll out of Girona to Sant Martí Vell — quiet farm roads, almost no traffic.

  2. 9.7 km of climbing at 4.7% average. The gradient barely moves. You can sit in your zone-2-to-tempo window and ride it the same way every time.

  3. A small sanctuary (the Mare de Déu dels Àngels) at the summit, with a café that's been there forever. This is the coffee stop.

  4. A view back across the entire Girona plain — the Pyrenees on one horizon, the Mediterranean on the other.

  5. Drop down through the back of the climb and roll home through the Empordà on tiny lanes you'll otherwise never find.

PRACTICAL

HOW TO RIDE IT WELL.

Where to start

Roll out of Girona north-east to Sant Martí Vell. The climb starts a kilometre past the village. From Can Sagnari, head south-east through Cornellà del Terri and onto the same approach.

Best time of day

Mid-morning. The east-facing approach catches the sun on the way up, the descent is in shade by the time you're rolling home.

Coffee stop

Sanctuari Mare de Déu dels Àngels — the café next to the church at the summit. Cortado, slice of coca, sit in the sun.

Watch out for

Wedding cars on a Saturday. The sanctuary's a popular wedding venue and you'll occasionally share the road on the descent.

Strava segments to look up: Sant Martí Vell to Els Àngels · Els Àngels

RIDE IT WITH ROADMAN

ELS ÀNGELS IS ON THE
GIRONA ROAD CAMP.

Day 2 of the Roadman Girona Road Camp. Two pace groups, follow car the whole week, sixteen riders, Anthony in the group every day. €995.

See the Girona Road camp →

MORE GIRONA CLIMBS

THE REST OF THE PLAYBOOK.

Road · 10.6 km

ROCACORBA

Eleven kilometres of the climb every pro in Girona uses for testing. The town's signature test piece — quiet roads, even gradient, a closed café at the summit, and a view that earns the climb back twice.

Road · 11.8 km

MARE DE DÉU DEL MONT

Twelve kilometres of mountain. The big day-out climb of the Girona region — long, steep at the top, and the kind of summit you tell people about for the rest of the year.

Road · 12 km

COLL DE BRACONS

The forgotten classic west of Girona. Twelve kilometres of beech-forest tarmac that climbs out of the Garrotxa volcanic park, summits with a view down into the Vall d'en Bas, and rolls back through some of the quietest roads in Catalonia.

THE FULL GUIDE

CYCLING IN GIRONA →

Routes, weather, where to ride, where to coffee, why the pros moved here. The full Girona handbook.