Two days from vineyard country over the Basque highlands to the crashing Atlantic shore.
The morning air in La Rioja bites with a crisp chill as tyres hum against undulating gravel, beginning a journey that trades vineyard-lined valleys for the rugged ascent of the Iberian highlands. As the route climbs toward 1,000 metres, the rhythm of the pedals meets the resistance of the grade, sending heart rates climbing while the peaks turn cold and sharp. Day two leaves the morning mist behind, cresting an 871-metre summit where the wind carries the first distant scent of the Atlantic, before a long descent warms toward the sun-drenched coast. By the time you reach the water's edge at sea level, the silence of the mountains has been replaced by the rhythmic pulse of the shore.
Out of the Rioja wine country and up toward 1,000m in the Iberian highlands, sweeping descents cooling into the afternoon.
A hard climb to an 871m summit, then a long warming descent through Basque coastal greens to the Atlantic shore.
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