Gran Fondo Internacional Marcha Ciudad València: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

Start and finish are at the Marina de València in the port, right beside Veles e Vents. The first fifty kilometres are flat: more than half the route sits in the level gradient band, and the course uses the Valencian coastal plain to keep the field together in big groups.

The climbing starts at kilometre 48. After two short ramps comes a two-kilometre climb at six per cent at kilometre 50, and at 72.45 the real test: 3.2 kilometres averaging 9.7 per cent up to the Alto de Segart at 589 metres. The organiser explicitly recommends small gearing for it – a 30 sprocket with a 36 inner ring for regular riders, 34/34 for everyone else. The Puerto de l'Oronet and the Puerto de Chirivilla follow, the latter at 711 metres the high point of the loop; the long climb from kilometre 114 runs 3.75 kilometres at 6.4 per cent.

The marcha is explicitly not a race: it runs under the RFEC's 'Reglamento de ciclismo para todos', which excludes competition by definition, on roads closed to other traffic and escorted by the Guardia Civil, Protección Civil and local police. The Gran Fondo València has more than twenty editions behind it.

Pacing Strategy

The route splits into two very unequal halves, and that dictates the pacing. The first 48 kilometres are flat and ridden in big groups; you gain nothing by working on the front here, but you can lose a great deal. Sit sheltered, eat and drink early, and arrive at the foot of the climbs with full stores.

The loop is decided on the Alto de Segart at kilometre 72.45. Three point two kilometres at 9.7 per cent after two hours of flat riding is a harsh transition, and your gearing matters more than your form: arrive with too big a ring and you will be walking. Choose the gearing the organiser recommends before the day and ride the climb to your own power – the groups fall apart there anyway.

The second trap comes late. After Segart there is still Chirivilla and the 3.75-kilometre climb at 6.4 per cent from kilometre 114, ridden after more than 100 kilometres. Deliberately keep something back for it. And plan the run home: the last kilometres to the marina are flat and open, often into a sea breeze – a grim finish alone and a fast one in a group.

Training plan for Gran Fondo Internacional Marcha Ciudad València: 12-week build

Expect 6 to 8.5 hours as an age-group rider. The demand splits in two: about half the route is flat and ridden in a group in the endurance range, while the other half carries eight classified climbs, one of them at nearly ten per cent and well outside the pattern of the rest.

The first training priority is long rides with the climbing placed late. Ride five-to-six-hour sessions in which the climbs only come after halfway – that is exactly the order this course sets, and fresh hill intervals at the start of a ride prepare you poorly for it.

The second priority is strength at low cadence. Segart, at 9.7 per cent for over three kilometres, demands either the right gearing or serious strength endurance; train climbs of 10 to 20 minutes at eight to ten per cent using the gearing you intend to race, so you know what cadence is realistic there.

On conditions: the Valencian coast is already warm in early May, and the flat coastal sections are open and wind-exposed. Practise fuelling over five hours, train group riding in wind, and plan for the heat – on a course whose climbing does not start for two hours, much depends on whether you drank enough before it did.