Leaving Colmenar, the route does not drop back to the coast. It heads deeper into the dry high country between Málaga and Granada. The stage covers 56.7 kilometres and keeps the climbing coming, but the mood changes: more open, more rural, less enclosed than the first day. The road passes olive groves, pale hillsides and small villages such as Alfarnatejo before rising towards Puerto del Sol, the high point of the day at just over 1,000 metres. From up there, the views reach across Axarquía, and on clear days towards the Sierra de Tejeda and La Maroma. Beyond Zafarraya the landscape shifts again: fewer coastal mountains, more plateau, fields and long, exposed roads. Santa Cruz del Comercio ends the day quietly by the Río Alhama.
