Alto de los Molinos cycling climb profile
Alto de los Molinos is an HC climb because the difficulty is built from duration first, then sharpened by gradient. At 27.2 km, with a 6.38% average gradient and 1,735 m of net elevation gain, this is not a climb to treat as a single sustained effort from the bottom. It is long enough that a strong opening can still become expensive well before the summit.
The climb starts at 1,128 m and finishes at 2,863 m, so the ride also changes in feel as the altitude rises. The lower slopes are where it is easiest to overcommit because the summit is still distant and the average gradient looks manageable on paper. But that average is doing a lot of work. Over this length, 6.38% means the road is applying pressure almost continuously.
How the gradient unfolds
With only the headline profile data available, the safest reading is that Alto de los Molinos is a long, mostly climbing road with at least one very severe pitch. The key number is the 22.51% maximum gradient. A climb averaging 6.38% but touching 22.51% is unlikely to feel perfectly regular. Even if the steepest section is short, it changes the way the whole climb should be paced, because it forces a torque spike at some point in the effort.
That means the climb should be ridden as a controlled endurance climb with room left for steep ramps, rather than as a clean threshold test. The bottom-to-summit profile asks for patience: settle early, avoid chasing speed on the gentler parts, and assume the steepest gradients will arrive when the accumulated fatigue is already meaningful.
Pacing and gearing notes
The main mistake is riding the average instead of the climb. A 6.38% average over 27.2 km can tempt riders into holding a steady hard tempo from the base, but the 22.51% maximum means the gearing and pacing plan need to protect against the steepest moments.
Practical approach:
- Start below your target climbing intensity and let the effort build only once the climb has settled.
- Keep the first part aerobic enough that the steepest ramp does not force you above control.
- Use a climbing gear that lets you stay seated when the gradient bites, rather than relying on strength to grind through.
- If riding by power, cap the early surges and think in terms of repeatable effort, not instant speed. See /glossary/ftp for how to anchor that pacing.
- If riding by feel, the right early effort should feel almost conservative for a climb this long.
Alto de los Molinos rewards riders who respect the arithmetic. The length creates the baseline load, the elevation gain compounds it, and the maximum gradient makes poor pacing show up fast. Treat it as a long climb with sharp consequences, not a steady ramp to be forced from the start.