Rio di Janeiro

Rio is a superlative city. Marvellous, chaotic, stunning, dangerous, impressive, and bizarre can all be used to describe it, but Brazil’s most famous destination is also a hidden gem that has yet to be discovered by foreign cyclists. Not so long ago, its mountains and coast had been explored by just a handful of adventurous local riders, even though the city had seen a golden age for cycling during the 50s and 60s. The 2016 Summer Olympics brought some international attention to what is surely one of the world’s most astonishing cycling paradises (oh, more adjectives…). That was not enough to make the riding in Rio as famous as it deserves to be though.