After several years in which Graval was a gravel-only event, in 2025 the portfolio featured an additional version that takes place entirely on tarmac. The organizers of this great ultra-distance event designed an impressive 600-kilometer route, which promised to keep alive the most authentic essence of their off-road versions.
Attracted by the distance and the unknown area, we ventured onto the first Graval Road. Once again, it was time to put our bodies to the test in a long-distance adventure.
A morning without sunrise
On Friday, May 2nd, at 5 a.m., we started riding from the Palacio de la Música in Valencia towards the Albufera Natural Park. The first 30 kilometers were completely flat, in the middle of the night, with some rain warnings that eventually delivered a few drops. We rode as a group, and although the pace was a bit high for some, we tried to stay on the wheel until we left the Albufera. The goal was to save as much energy as possible and avoid the wind, which in this area was mainly headwind.
Once we left the lagoon behind, we let the first group go, and it was time to set our own pace. After passing through several towns, a slightly ascending terrain began, warming us up for what was to come: the first concatenation of climbs with the Balcón de Montroy and Fuente Real passes. We conquered these two gentle climbs, surrounded by the rain and fog that overshadowed the long-awaited sunrise.
After reaching the top, a descent began, in which we rode past Dos Aguas and continued towards Millares, leading us to the crosspoint to Otonel. This road traversed beautiful cliffs and canyons created by the Júcar River. This incredible landscape helped us take our minds off the gradient, which at some point reached two digits.
When we left Otonel and the steep slopes behind, what separated us from the first checkpoint in Cortes de Pallás was a descent. Located at kilometer 109, it was a perfect stop for a proper meal before continuing. There, we met other participants and enjoyed a break together. It was ample time to discuss our first hours of enjoying the event.
We left the town with full stomachs and an extra ham sandwich in our pockets, sensing that the next few kilometers would be slower than usual, as the steep climb to the Muela de Cortes started right there. About 5 kilometers at a 7% gradient were followed by another 15 kilometers of gentle ascent, during which fog and rain once again absorbed us for over an hour. Fortunately, the temperature was pleasant, and despite being soaked, our spirits remained high.
We approached Alto de Alcola, an intense but short climb on a rough concrete road, after which we reached Cofrentes. Finally, with the sun warming our backs and with views of its castle (built on volcanic rock on the cliffs formed by the Cabriel River), a rolling stretch began along the riverbed until we faced the climb to Casas del Río.
It was time for the segment of the route that brought us along agricultural fields and vineyards of the Utiel-Requena plain. Another rolling segment would take us to Utiel, where, well into midday, we made our second stop to eat “something real” and wash down the sweet taste of the bars and gels that had kept us energized over the previous few hours.
Surviving the afternoon
We’d already gotten quite wet in the first half of the day, and we left Utiel with the message from Andrei and Giulia, the Graval organizers, that a warning had been issued for storms and hail for the afternoon in the areas we had to pass through. We ensured our rain jackets and down jackets were ready for quick access and resumed our ride to the second checkpoint, the Benagéber Reservoir.
There were no towns at this checkpoint, but the beautiful climb to La Mataparda along part of the reservoir, with Andrei cheering us on on one of the bends, was a welcome reward for continuing to enjoy a route that had been surprising us from the first few kilometers and still had many highlights to offer.
We descended to Tuéjar, continuing towards Chelva where, after a 90-degree turn to the left, we began the climb to one of the toughest passes on the route: El Remedio. With 6 kilometers, an average gradient of over 7%, and several hairpins, it was a key moment to pace ourselves and check how our legs felt on a long ride like this. They were still alive.
After the summit of El Remedio, there were still a little over 30 kilometers left on soft climbs with an occasional steep hill to Arcos de las Salinas. A segment that seemed long due to the day’s accumulated fatigue and a pain in our right knee that had developed during the effort on the steep slopes of El Remedio. However, we managed to keep the pain at bay and arrived in Arcos de las Salinas as night fell, having made it through the afternoon, avoiding the storms we had been warned about earlier.
This town was marked as the start of one of the biggest highlights of the route, the climb to Picón del Buitre (1,956 m). A nearly 12-kilometer climb at an average gradient of 7.5%, with some kilometers at 10% and maximum gradients of 16%, which has been the final stage of several editions of La Vuelta a España. However, the late hours, a sore knee, and the climb that began right outside a bar and hotel tempted us to stop for dinner, a shower, and rest for a few hours before continuing. A total of 307 kilometers was a good figure for closing the day.
The day of the giants
The alarm clock rang a little before 6 a.m., and before we’d even woken up, we were back on our bikes, aiming for the summit of Picón del Buitre. On the first steep ramps, the knee pain appeared again. Although at times it seemed like everything we had left was too much with that pain, we tried to focus on the climb and put that problem aside for later.
After a short rest, the final 5 kilometers of the climb approached, where the gradient rarely fell below 10%. However, the encouragement of Javier, the Graval photographer who had gotten up early to capture our climb, combined with the fact that we were already beginning to see the summit and the sunrise, gave us the strength we needed to make it to the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory, the third checkpoint on the route.
Once at the observatory, we stopped for a few minutes to enjoy a spectacular sunrise. Then, we put on some extra clothes to stay warm on the quick descent back to Arcos de las Salinas.
During the climb, we noticed that one of the cleats had moved, which was causing one of our feet to be in a somewhat awkward position, and we suspected this might have caused our knee pain. We took out our multi-tool to adjust it, and we also chatted with Guillermo, a participant in the pairs event with his partner Juan, who offered us some anti-inflammatory cream. We don’t know if it was the cream, the cleat, or both, but the pain disappeared completely from then on. Thanks Guillermo!
We set off for Mora de Rubielos, surrounded by landscapes that left the high mountains behind and gave way to green meadows surrounded by hills on a day that, with the sun warming up from early in the morning, was a big contrast when compared with the previous one. On the way, we passed through Torrijas and Manzanera, but we barely stopped looking down as the plan was to stop in Mora de Rubielos for lunch.
A couple of hours later, we sat down, enjoying some good sandwiches and the necessary caffeine boost to tackle the second giant of the day: the San Rafael and Peñarroya mountain passes. A total of 27 kilometers and 1,000 meters of elevation gain would take us to the Valdelinares ski resort, the Coppi peak on this Graval Road at 1,961 meters above sea level.
From here, although we still had to tackle some short climbs like Puerto de Linares and Alto de Villamalefa, it was almost 100 kilometers of long descents and very rough roads to Onda. We also need to mention Puertomingalvo, a small medieval town where we only found a bakery open, which was like an oasis to recharge our batteries on the way to Onda.
Back to the city of Turia
We left Onda behind and headed straight into the heart of the Sierra de Espadán, a green paradise where we tackled the moderately steep Aín and Eslida passes. These would run through cork oak forests, deep ravines, and pretty villages, making us forget we’d already covered more than 500 kilometers.
After reaching the top of the Eslida pass, we began a descent that would take us through several towns, such as Chóvar and Azuébar. We left this mountain range behind and approached national roads, where the traffic noise made us think the adventure was ending.
However, there was still one last turn to get away from the traffic again and reach the foot of Puerto de l’Oronet. This gentle climb, very frequented by cyclists from Valencia, would take us through the Sierra Calderona mountain range in nighttime conditions. From its summit, it was all downhill.
The next town we saw Serra, from where we began to deal with the traffic, which, although not excessive, suddenly shook us out of the slumber we’d been experiencing for the past two days. We continued riding through towns until we reached the entrance to Valencia, where the virtual finish line of the Graval Road was located. Once there, we stopped the clock with an elapsed time just below 42 hours. Only a few kilometers of urban bike lane remained to reach the City of Arts and Sciences, where the organizers were waiting to award us with the finisher’s medal.
Lying on the grass at the finish line and thinking back on the 600 kilometers we had traveled since the previous day, we can confirm that Andrei and Giulia have done a great job creating a 100% tarmac route with the same adventure spirit that characterizes their off-road versions of the event.
