Sa Roqueta: A Rapha Guide to Mallorca

There is a specific kind of silence found only on the upper reaches of the Serra de Tramuntana. Quiet punctuated by the metallic chime of goat bells and, very often, by the click of a gear or the buzz of a freewheel. For decades, Mallorca has existed as a curious duality: a sun-drenched escape for the masses and a spartan winter dojo for the pro peloton. But for centuries, and millennia, long before the first asphalt was laid, Mallorca’s identity was forged in the Neolithic era, leaving a landscape still guarded by ancient stone watchtowers and the enduring spirit of the Mallorquí people. Those of us who arrive with a bike box are merely the latest visitors to traverse a land whose rugged limestone peaks have been home to shepherds and stonemasons for thousands of years.