Cilician Gates

Overview

The Cilician Gates is a long, patient climb rather than a wall-to-wall grind. Over 17.4 km it lifts you from a start at 352 m to a summit of 1049 m, delivering 697 m of net elevation gain and 694 m of total ascent. At a 4% average gradient, the numbers describe a category 2 effort that rewards rhythm over raw punch. This is a climb where the clock, not the incline, is the real opponent: nearly the length of a highway on-ramp stretched into a mountain pass, ridden at a percentage most riders can hold seated. The near-identical net gain and total ascent (697 m versus 694 m) tell you almost every metre is spent going up, with virtually no false descents to break the effort or offer recovery.

How the Gradient Unfolds

A 4% average across 17.4 km is deceptively even, but the max gradient of 9.39% shows the road does bite in places. Because total ascent (694 m) sits so close to net gain (697 m), there are no meaningful downhill sections to reset your legs. That means the climb behaves like a continuous ramp: long stretches near the 4% mean, punctuated by pitches that climb toward that 9.39% peak. Expect the steeper ramps to arrive as brief spikes rather than sustained walls. The absence of descents is the defining feature of this profile. You settle into a gear early and stay there, letting the mountain reveal its gentle stretches and its sharper kicks in turn.

Pacing Notes

On a climb this long, pacing discipline decides your day. With a 4% average over 17.4 km, aim to ride the sustained sections just below your threshold and save headroom for the pitches nearing 9.39%. A useful anchor is your FTP: hold the flatter ramps comfortably under it, and allow short surges above only on the steepest kicks. If you don't know your number, estimate it first with the FTP estimator so your target watts are grounded in reality rather than guesswork. Because there are no descents to recover on, going too hard in the first third leaves nothing for the 697 m of climbing still ahead. Ride the average, respect the spikes, and let the length do the work of tiring your rivals.

Gearing

For a category 2 climb topping out near 9.39%, you want a compact setup with a generous cassette. A 34×32 lowest gear will carry most riders comfortably through the 4% average and over the steeper ramps toward 9.39%. If you're carrying fatigue, riding at altitude approaching the 1049 m summit, or simply prefer to spin, a 34×34 gives you extra insurance for the sharpest pitches without forcing you out of the saddle. Given the 17.4 km length, err toward the easier ratio: preserving cadence across a long effort matters more than saving a few grams.

Summary

The Cilician Gates is a long, steady category 2 climb that rewards patience and even pacing. With 697 m of net gain spread over 17.4 km and almost no respite, it's a rhythm rider's mountain. Bring gearing you can spin, hold your effort below threshold, and let the distance decide.

Length: 17.4 km
Average gradient: 4%
Max gradient: 9.39%
Start: 352 m
Summit: 1049 m
Net gain: 697 m
Total ascent: 694 m
Category: 2