Alto del Lucero cycling climb profile
Alto del Lucero is a category 1 climb that asks for patience before it asks for force. On paper, 36.7 km at 4.43% looks controlled rather than brutal, but that average is only useful if you treat it as a warning: this is a long effort with enough variation to punish anyone who rides the opening like a short climb.
The climb starts at 194 m and tops out at 1,821 m, giving 1,627 m of net elevation gain. Total ascent is listed at 1,744 m, which is the key detail for how it is likely to feel on the bike. The road does not simply rise at one clean, steady pitch from bottom to summit. There is more accumulated climbing than the net difference between start and finish, so the rhythm will be interrupted by easier ground, gradient changes, or elevation given back along the way. That makes pacing harder, not easier, because riders tend to surge out of flatter moments and then pay for it when the road tilts up again.
How the gradient unfolds
The average gradient of 4.43% suggests a climb where momentum matters. Much of the day can be ridden seated and aerobically if you keep pressure smooth, but the maximum gradient of 12.38% changes the equation. Those steep sections are not the whole climb, but they are the moments that can spike effort well above sustainable power.
That is the tactical trap of Alto del Lucero. The moderate average invites a confident tempo, while the length and sharper ramps demand restraint. If you ride the early and middle portions at a pace that already feels ambitious, the 12.38% sections become costly accelerations rather than manageable interruptions.
Pacing and gearing notes
The smartest approach is to pace by duration and terrain, not by the average gradient alone. Settle into a controlled aerobic rhythm early, keep the effort below the point where breathing becomes ragged, and allow speed to drop naturally on the steeper ramps. If you use power, avoid repeated spikes above /glossary/ftp unless they are genuinely brief.
Gearing should be conservative. A climb this long does not reward grinding, especially with double-digit gradients in the profile. Choose a low enough gear that you can stay seated and keep torque under control when the road reaches its steepest pitches. The goal is not to flatten every ramp. It is to avoid burning matches that you still need in the final third.
For riders planning an effort here, Alto del Lucero is best understood as an endurance climb with selective damage points. The decisive factor is not whether you can handle 4.43%. It is whether you can keep the climb economical for 36.7 km while still having enough left for the steepest sections before the summit at 1,821 m.