After 4 days of riding, it was finally the day to tackle the queen stage of our Tour de Mallorca.

Just over 80 miles of riding, almost 9,500 ft of climbing, this was a serious riding day in Mallorca… or anywhere.

The climbing would start after just 5 miles, as always, I was the last to leave the hotel, after sleeping in a little bit more, and taking the time for a large breakfast… no matter, the day was going to be long and hard, and I would meet up with everyone down the road.

As soon as leaving the Reads hotel, I turned left, and the mountains were in sight

Soon, I’d encounter the first climb of the day…

first up on the menu, was the Coll d’orient, a cat 3 climb, followed by a smaller cat 4 climb, coll d’honor… the tone for the day was set

Next up, it was the coll de Soller

This was the second time, I’d be tackling this climb, after doing it on day #2… Time to test the recovery from my cold, today I had a time to beat.

This climb with it’s never ending switchback became my favorite climb… there’s something about climbing switchback that has something magical about it.

Once over the top, the town of Soller was next, after a fast and long way down. Once in town, time to turn right on Ma-10, and tackle one of the monster climbs of the day:  The climb to Son Torrella and through the Monnaber tunnel… a long HC climb.

This was one long climb… 8.6 miles of climbing … over one hour of pedaling up the mountain. But this wasn’t even the steepest climb of the day… that was still to come. At the top, it was time to catch up with the rest of the group and enjoy the view at the top:

Down the mountain, we could see the roads we had just tackled:

A truly majestic scenery.

Now it was time for a short descent, then turn left, heading to Sa Calobra, and a very exciting descent to the small beach-port of Sa Calobra.

After a short stop, time to leave, and start the ascent from Sa Calobra:

A Cat 1 climb, but the legs were already tired from a lot of climbing miles.

The climb went along the rocky landscape of Sa Calobra, which made for some amazing road pictures:

Midway through the ascent, the scenery looked very impressive, the ocean always lurking in the distance, but the long way up, winding up the mountain:

At the end of the climb, time to enjoy the view from the top, and the accomplishment of the day:

The view from the top is awesome !!!! With the high mountains and the sea always in view… perfect !!!!

All in all, an amazing day of riding… Very hard day, as it can be seen from the list of climbs:

An impressive succession of big climbs, HC, cat 1, the big hard climbs… a day worth naming the ‘Queen stage of Tour de Mallorca’ !!!!

This was truly the big day of the Tour… tomorrow it’ll be the coronation of the adventure, with a finish on Cap de Formentor… going to the end of the islando, where the land ends and sea begins