Big Gains for Big Days: Alto de L’Angliru

Tuesday, 6 August 2024

High above the green, lush hills of Asturias in Northern Spain sits Alto de L’Angliru, one of the most fierce road climbs in Europe. CADEX ambassadors Mattia Gaffuri and Ana Viña tackled l’Angliru’s impossibly steep slopes, joined by four-time Vuelta a España champion Roberto Heras.

For Heras, the Angliru is hallowed ground. At the 2000 Vuelta a España he finished third on a stage that featured the climb, while wearing the leader’s jersey, setting a still-standing record time of 41 minutes and 55 seconds. Two years later he won atop the Angliru in pouring rain, with thousands of passionate Spanish fans willing him to victory.

Ana, a physical education teacher and Liv Spain ambassador who lives locally in Asturias, has her own unique relationship with the Angliru. “Angliru is the top,” she said. “It is our sky here in Asturias.”

A former runner, Mattia is a CADEX ambassador living in Erba, Italy, and riding for Swatt Club. A finalist at Zwift Academy in 2023, he holds one of the fastest times on Strava for the Passo Stelvio, a 15-mile climb that takes the best climbers in the world over an hour to complete. This was his first time experiencing the Alto de l’Angliru. “I already knew it was super steep,” he said, “but seeing it live is quite impressive.”

The climb gains 1,266 meters (4,154 feet) in 12.5 kilometers, with an average gradient of 10.1 percent, though the numbers don’t tell the full story. The slopes are much gentler in the first half, averaging 7.6 percent, before pitching upwards for a brutal final six kilometers, averaging 13.1 percent.

The steepest section, La Cueña les Cabres, is 3km from the summit; for 450 grueling meters it delivers gradients at a brutal 23.5 percent. All three riders reached the summit, high above the clouds, on the ultralight and aerodynamic CADEX Max 40 WheelSystem.

“We say the Angliru is like hell, because you suffer a lot,” Ana says. “It’s hell, but it’s paradise, too.”

That particular kind of suffering, it seems, is the price of paradise. Without one, the other cannot be known.

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