Rocacorba from Girona
Route & elevation
The ride
Rocacorba is the reason a lot of people come to Girona, and it is the easiest climb in the region to ride badly. The first thirty kilometres out of the city are flat, fast and sheltered — and that is exactly where riders burn the matches they are going to want later.
So we ride out steady. Then the road turns up and stays up: 9.8 kilometres at 8.4%, with almost nowhere to settle and a surface that gets rougher the higher you go. At the top there is the sign, the stickers of everyone who got there before you, and the whole Empordà laid out to the sea.
Then it is down the far side to Banyoles, around the lake, coffee, and a long flat run home along the Ter on tired legs. Eighty-two kilometres, one real effort, and the best possible excuse for a second cortado.
Coffee stop
Café Aquarium, on the edge of Lake Banyoles — which is exactly where you want to be sitting once Rocacorba is behind you.
It is the natural halfway point of this loop: the hard part done, the flat run home still to come, and a terrace looking straight at the water. cafeaquarium.com
Passport climb: Rocacorba
Alt de Rocacorba — 9.8 km at 8.4%, 741 m of climbing. A sign covered in the stickers of everyone who has made it, and a view over the Empordà all the way to the sea.
This is the official segment for the Girona passport. The pros who live here use it as a benchmark — ride it once and you will understand why.
