Best European Cycling Destinations for training/racing

[flipflopper]

Hi,

Anyone here familiar with what would be some of the best cities in Europe for long term cycling training? Abundance of group rides, local races, training centers, mountains, etc..

For example: Nice, France. Girona, Spain. Help me add to the list?

Would be especially interested in non-obvious places. Any hot spots in Norway? Czech? The Balkans? Eastern Europe?

[Attermann]

Corsica is just great, many great climbs

[Grill]

Spain is fantastic and cheap as chips. Mallorca is a good shout as well, but there isn't as much there. If you want to build character then come to the UK.

[Multebear]

Mallorca, Spain is very popular among europeans. People tend to return many times. The same goes for the area around Malaga, Spain and Alicante, Spain.

In Italy most of the Tuscany region and especially around the city Lucca, where many pro riders live, is very popular.

[grouk]

came to portugal, lot and lots of montains up 1000m and one with 2000m good clima 25cº and cheap to stay

[thebuny]

Portugal, warm weather and if you plan (or ask some help) you can discover very quiet places with lots of choices. Weather always help I suppose.

[rds76]

The TOP in Europe is Italy. Cycling friendly country where you can find everything what cyclists needs, from flats to the mountains (Dolomites), Tuscany region, cafe & wine
Btw I'm from Czech


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[micky]

If you want to find group rides/races and good weather, you end up in the usual destinations.
You could probably add when you wanna move for have a better choice.

[ricey155]

Gro

Where's the 3rd PIC ? Looks amazing

came to portugal, lot and lots of montains up 1000m and one with 2000m good clima 25cº and cheap to stay

[fabriciom]

Most economical solution is Portugal, the "best" all around (one of the most expensive) Italy. I would not venture too much into eastern Europe.

[acetonehk]

If you are rich, choose Italian Swiss part, like Lugano, Contador's choice.
The reason is that Swiss road condition are much better for training and you can go easily to Lombardia, Italy for race.

[XCProMD]

Northern Italy, Piamonte, Lombardia, Veneto, or otherwise Toscana. In Spain I'd go out of the beaten track and avoid the Mediterranean Coast. The true cycling heritage is to be found in the Basque Country and Cantabria, to a lesser extent Asturies. Awesome climbs, incredible rides by the ocean with astonishing views from the cliffs, great roads with very little traffic and hundreds of seriously training riders all around everyday.

[Rondje]

The true cycling heritage is to be found in the Basque Country and Cantabria, to a lesser extent Asturies. Awesome climbs, incredible rides by the ocean with astonishing views from the cliffs, great roads with very little traffic and hundreds of seriously training riders all around everyday.

+1
Even tho I prefer the Italian food over the Spanish and Italy has some great cycling spots this coastal area from Spain is great for cycling. Good and not to busy roads, (cycling) friendly people/motorists, allot of cyclists on the road and a diversity of terrain(hills/mountains). I had 5 or 6 cycling rides between San Sebastian and Oviedo (the mountain range between those 2 places) this summer and really enjoyed it. Picos de Europa (Lagos de Covadogna), Jaizkibel, Arrate and more of that, from short steep climbs to a bit longer climbs, it is a really nice and diverse area.

[tymon_tm]

non obvious? depends what you're really after. if you're not affraid of grizzlies walking down the streets*, you should try northern regions of Czech and Slovakia plus south of Poland. roads are.. uhm like everywhere else. hotels, food, other cyclists.. all there. there's even internet and hot water

but srsly, lots of great riding in those places, perhaps you should PM our own Zakeen aka Adam Hansen (or the other way round) who lives somewhere in the Czech Rep.

---
*a common misconception about "eastern block" countries popular especially amongst US citizens. my dad told me about exchange students from the US&A in 70's who were affraid to go outside in the evening "because where are bears, there also might be tigers"

[ChristianB]

If you want to save a little from the cost of Northern Italy and Southern Austria, there is always Slovenia. Ljubljana is a nice small capital, where alps, big hills, flats and rolling hills are never more than half an hour away (ok, alps maybe 45 mins...) You can get out from the center to nice countryside roads in appx 10 minutes and there is skiing in the winter, Adriatic See is 1 hour away and if weather is bad in central Slovenia, you can always drive down to Istria in Croatia for seaside temperatures. It is cheap, the Slovenes are friendly and there are at least 4 regular group rides around Ljubljana.