The Tour started in Barcelona. Here's the other side of Catalan cycling.

The sport already lived here

None of it was a discovery. Catalonia has been a home for professional cycling for the better part of a decade with around a hundred pros based in Girona for at least part of the year. When the peloton lined up at the Fòrum, some of them were, in effect, starting about an hour from home. A Grand Départ can read as a place being put on the map. This was the sport being seen where it already lived.

And it showed only half the picture. The same towns, the same hills, in many cases the same roads carry a second cycling scene, on that runs on gravel. Girona is where The Traka draws thousands of riders each spring; the Catalan gravel calendar is packed with gravel events, June alone had eight events.

Two scenes, one region. One takes the tarmac, the other the dirt beside it.

Gravel routes around Barcelona

If the Tour was your way in and you want the dirt version, this is the ring. Collserola is the home loop with Barcelona's Backyard, 57 km straight off the city, though access has been restricted since African swine fever reached its wild boar in late 2025, so check the live map before you ride. Garraf runs limestone to the sea in the southwest: The Sakya Tashi Ling Loop at 91 km, or Garraf to Foix at 153 km. The Maresme Crest holds the coast to the north at 94 km. And the Pyrenees the Tour climbed on tarmac, we ride on dirt: The Pedraforca Loop, 68 km around the stone fork.

The race has moved on, up through the French Pyrenees and away from us. The gravel didn't move. The Tour rides one scene. We ride the other.

Ride the other side. Every route ridden, recorded, and written up by us - see them all at gritline.cc/routes. Want an email when we publish the next one? Join the newsletter.

Collserola access accurate as of July 2026 - confirm the live ASF zone map before you head out.