The last morning tastes of hill dust, cool air and one final look back at Mafra’s enormous palace. Almost immediately, the road slips into rural Portugal again: stone walls, gardens, small villages and dry slopes rolling south. The first climb comes early, around 3 km and easy enough to enjoy, before a long descent loosens the legs. Then the real test arrives: roughly 6.5 km of steady climbing, warm and patient, gaining almost 200 m. After that, the ride turns urban. Loures, traffic, suburbs – and then Lisbon appears, sudden, bright and huge.
