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Mallorca Cycling Lab
Cycling safety

Cycling safety in Mallorca: current incident reports and road context

Cyclist crashes reported by the Mallorcan, German and English-language press, an editorial read of the roads that ask most of a rider, and the steps to take after a crash. Sources and dates on every entry.

  • Press feed rebuilt 2026-07-28
  • Road notes reviewed 2026-05-21
  • 172 press reports on file, dated 2010-03-15 to 2026-07-22

What this page can and cannot tell you

This page keeps three things apart. First, a feed of cyclist crashes reported by the local, German and English press — dated and attributed, but not a complete register. Second, an editorial read on road characteristics such as the MA-10 tunnels. Third, what to do after a crash. No official per-road casualty figures exist for Mallorca, so no rate or trend is calculated here.

Latest reported incidents

Press reports, not an official register

Automated collection from Google News across Spanish, Catalan, German and English queries about cyclist crashes on Mallorca. It shows what the press published — nothing more.

  • Showing the 12 most recent of 172 reports on file.
  • One crash covered by five outlets appears as five reports. Never read the number of reports as a number of crashes.
  • The severity label is inferred from the wording of the headline, not from an official injury classification. Most reports stay “unknown”.
  • Any town shown was matched from the article text and pinned to the town centre — it is not the crash location. No report in the current feed carries a road number.
  • Source links open the publisher’s site: the feed records the outlet, not a permanent article address.

What this data does not show

Read this before you draw any conclusion from the lists above.

There is no complete official count

Spain’s DGT publishes cyclist casualty totals by region and province, and its microdata is not public, so no verified figure exists for cyclist crashes on a given Mallorcan road. Our official-statistics fields are therefore empty rather than estimated.

DGT reference years held on file: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023. Not one of them carries a usable cyclist figure at Mallorca road level.

Sources: DGT — Las cifras de la siniestralidad vial 2023

Press coverage is partial and uneven

Only crashes that were reported and indexed by Google News can appear. Queries run in Spanish, Catalan, German and English, so Dutch and Italian coverage is missed. Crashes with no press coverage — most minor ones — never appear at all.

Road ratings are editorial, not measured

The 1–5 rating is our own reading of road characteristics — lane width, shoulder, tunnels, sight lines, gradient and traffic mix. No incident count sits behind it, and it is not a measurement of how likely a crash is.

Because of all this, this page publishes no accident rate, no per-100,000 figure and no year-on-year change. Any such number would be invented.

Is the MA-10 dangerous for cyclists?

Not a question we can answer with a number. The MA-10 is the Tramuntana ridge road, and its Sóller–Lluc–Pollença section carries our highest editorial rating, 5 of 5, because of unlit tunnels, no shoulder, blind hairpins and summer coach traffic. Thousands of cyclists ride it safely every week. It asks more of your descending, lights and timing than most roads on the island.

  • Tunnels: the Sóller–Lluc stretch runs through several short, unlit tunnels with no shoulder. Spanish rules require lighting and reflective clothing in poor visibility on interurban roads — check the current wording on our cycling-rules page.
  • Traffic mix: tour coaches, hire cars and motorcycles share the same narrow lane, heaviest between 10:00 and 16:00 in season. An early start changes the road more than any equipment choice.
  • Closures and weather: rockfall, roadworks and race days close MA-10 sections at short notice, and cloud on the ridge cuts visibility quickly. Check before you commit to the ridge.
  • Alternatives: when the ridge does not suit the day, the plains around Sineu, Petra and Sa Pobla give similar distance with far less coach traffic. Our route pages list options by start town.

Editorial rating MA-10 · 48 km · Editorial rating 5/5 · Reviewed 2026-05-21

Cycling rules in SpainMap with closures layerRoutes by start town

Where the roads and the reports are

Two different things on one map. Numbered pins are our editorial road ratings. Exclamation pins are press reports, placed at the centre of the town named in the article.

  • 5 — most demanding
  • 4 — demanding
  • 3 — moderate
  • 2 — mostly relaxed
  • 1 — least demanding
  • Press report (town centre, approximate)

Road-by-road context for cyclists

Eight corridors that come up repeatedly in cyclist reports and rider questions, ordered by our editorial rating. Read the notes, not the number.

How the rating is made

We ride or review the corridor, record the characteristics that make it demanding — lane width, shoulder, tunnels, sight lines, descent speed, traffic mix — and score it 1 to 5. The cited sources back the characteristics; they are not counts of crashes. A high rating is not a verdict that a road is unsafe, and a low one is not a promise that it is safe.

No crash count is attached to any road on this page, because none is published.

  1. 1
    MA-10 Sóller–Lluc–Pollença (Tramuntana tunnels) MA-10 · 48 km · Editorial rating 5/5

    Editorial rating

    The signature ridge road of the Tramuntana is also the corridor riders ask about most. Unlit tunnels, no shoulder, blind hairpins and a steady summer mix of motorcoaches and rental cars. Avoid descending in fading light; use a rear flasher in every tunnel even at midday. No per-road casualty figures are published for it.

    • Narrow lane
    • Tunnels
    • Blind corners
    • Fast descent
    • Tour-bus traffic

    Reviewed 2026-05-21 · Sources: Diario de Mallorca — sucesos en MA-10 ciclistas

  2. 2
    MA-2141 — Sa Calobra access road MA-2141 · 13 km · Editorial rating 5/5

    Editorial rating

    26 km out-and-back to the sea with a single narrow lane shared between climbing cyclists, descending cars and the daily tourist-boat coaches up from Port de Sóller. The dead-end character means traffic peaks predictably between 10:00–14:00. Start the climb before 09:00 and exit before noon, or wait until after 17:00.

    • Narrow lane
    • Blind corners
    • Fast descent
    • Tour-bus traffic

    Reviewed 2026-05-21 · Sources: Govern Balear — Conselleria de Mobilitat

  3. 3
    MA-10 Andratx–Estellencs MA-10 · 21 km · Editorial rating 4/5

    Editorial rating

    The cliff section between Andratx and Estellencs has limited shoulder, near-vertical drops and weekend tourist convoys. The pinch points are the descent toward Estellencs and the exit of the Mirador de Ses Ànimes lookout, where parked cars pull back into traffic without checking.

    • Narrow lane
    • Blind corners
    • Fast descent
    • Tour-bus traffic

    Reviewed 2026-05-21 · Sources: Diario de Mallorca — sucesos en MA-10 ciclistas

  4. 4
    MA-11A — old Coll de Sóller road MA-11A · 12 km · Editorial rating 4/5

    Editorial rating

    Most through-traffic uses the toll tunnel underneath, but the old road over the Coll de Sóller is the cycling classic — 11 km of switchbacks where loose gravel after rain and riders overshooting hairpins are the standing hazards. Take a wide line on hairpins, never cross the centre line.

    • Narrow lane
    • Blind corners
    • Fast descent
    • Rough surface

    Reviewed 2026-05-21 · Sources: Govern Balear — Conselleria de Mobilitat

  5. 5
    MA-19 Palma–Llucmajor (cyclist-popular service road) MA-19 · 24 km · Editorial rating 4/5

    Editorial rating

    Cyclists must use the parallel service road, not the main MA-19 motorway. The service road has crossings and intersecting roundabouts where drivers underestimate cyclist speed. Cyclist collisions on this corridor recur in local press reports; no official per-road count is published.

    • Heavy traffic
    • No shoulder
    • Fast descent

    Reviewed 2026-05-21 · Sources: Última Hora — accidentes MA-19 ciclistas

  6. 6
    MA-1100 Palma–Esporles–Banyalbufar MA-1100 · 28 km · Editorial rating 3/5

    Editorial rating

    Heavy commuter traffic between Palma and Esporles in the morning, then weekend tourist load up to Banyalbufar. Many sections without shoulder; the descent into Banyalbufar has off-camber bends that catch riders running too hot.

    • Narrow lane
    • No shoulder
    • Heavy traffic

    Reviewed 2026-05-21 · Sources: Consell de Mallorca — Red de carreteras

  7. 7
    MA-12 Artà–Capdepera coastal stretch MA-12 · 18 km · Editorial rating 3/5

    Editorial rating

    East-coast resort corridor — heavy bus and hire-car traffic from Cala Millor through Capdepera all summer. The chain of six roundabouts around Capdepera concentrates the merging and turning movements that put cyclists and vehicles in conflict.

    • Heavy traffic
    • Tour-bus traffic
    • Roundabout cluster

    Reviewed 2026-05-21 · Sources: Consell de Mallorca — Red de carreteras

  8. 8
    MA-13 service road, Inca–Pollença MA-13 · 25 km · Editorial rating 3/5

    Editorial rating

    The cyclist-legal service road parallel to the MA-13 motorway between Inca and the Pollença/Alcúdia roundabouts. Less exposure overall, but the merge points where the service road rejoins the main road are the ones to watch for close passes.

    • Heavy traffic
    • No shoulder
    • Roundabout cluster

    Reviewed 2026-05-21 · Sources: Govern Balear — Conselleria de Mobilitat

What to do after a crash

Procedural steps only. This page gives no first-aid, medical or legal guidance — the 112 operator will direct you while help is on the way.

Emergency contacts and hospitalsInsurance and claims
  1. Call 112. The call is free, works from any mobile even without a SIM, and operators answer in Spanish, English, German and Catalan.
  2. Give the location first: road number (MA-10, MA-2141), the kilometre marker if you can see one, then the nearest town or climb name. The operator repeats it back — confirm it before you hang up.
  3. For an incident without life-threatening injury on an interurban road, call the Guardia Civil on 062. In town, call 112 and ask for the local police rather than a municipal number — those vary by municipality. Ask how to obtain the report reference; insurers ask for it.
  4. Collect what you will need later: the other vehicle’s registration, the driver’s insurer, witness names and phone numbers, and photographs of the scene, the vehicle and your bike.
  5. Keep every document — hospital paperwork, the police report, receipts, and the rental agreement if the bike is hired — and send them to your insurer or rental shop as early as you can.

We deliberately publish no injury assessment and no first-aid instructions. Ask the 112 operator.

Emergency numbers and hospitals at a glance

The numbers to call and the hospitals reachable from each part of the island. Public hospitals accept the European Health Insurance Card; the full directory sits on the emergency-contacts page.

112PhoneEN spoken

Pan-European emergency number. English, Spanish, German and Catalan operators. Use for ambulance, fire, police, or any life-threatening situation.

112

Guardia Civil — 062Phone

Guardia Civil de Tráfico — the rural / inter-urban road police you call after a non-life-threatening crash on a Mallorca road outside Palma.

062

Hospital Universitari Son EspasesHospitalEN spoken

Public flagship hospital for Mallorca and the Balearic Islands. 24/7 trauma unit, English-speaking staff routinely available, accepts EHIC.

+34 871 20 50 00

IB-Salut — Son Espases

RACE / RACC roadside assistanceRoadsideEN spoken

Bike-rental shops in Mallorca typically include 24/7 roadside support — keep the rental shop's number on your phone. For mechanical breakdowns far from a town, the nearest taxi service is usually faster than dispatch.

Planning a safer ride

Most of what changes your exposure is decided before you leave: the hour you start, the forecast, the lights you carry and the road you choose.

  • Weather: ridge cloud, crosswind on the exposed cliff sections and autumn afternoon storms all change a descent. Check the forecast for the ride, not for Palma.
  • Closures: roadworks, rockfall and race days shut Tramuntana sections at short notice. The map has a closures layer; the Consell de Mallorca roads service is the authority.
  • Group riding: the Spanish rules on riding two abreast and in single file are policed differently on narrow Tramuntana roads than on the plain. Agree the formation before the descent, not during it.
  • Lights and visibility: a rear light in tunnels, and reflective clothing on interurban roads outside daylight, are legal requirements in Spain rather than optional extras.
  • Route choice: the plains around Sineu, Petra and Sa Pobla give the same distance with far less coach traffic when the ridge is busy or the forecast is poor.
  • 0 closures currently published in our feed, rebuilt 2026-07-28.
Mallorca cycling weatherMap with closures layerGroup riding rulesRoutes by start town

Frequently asked questions

Where can I see current cyclist accidents in Mallorca?

In the press-report feed on this page. It collects cyclist-crash articles from Mallorcan, Spanish, Catalan, German and English outlets, newest first, each with its publisher and publication date. It is a record of what was reported, not an official incident register, and it is rebuilt daily rather than live.

How complete is this cycling accident data?

Incomplete, and knowingly so. Only crashes covered by the indexed press appear, so most minor incidents never do. Spain’s DGT publishes cyclist casualty totals only at regional and provincial level and keeps its microdata closed, so there is no complete official denominator for Mallorca and no accident rate can be calculated from this page.

Is the MA-10 dangerous for cyclists?

The MA-10 carries our highest editorial rating, 5 of 5, on the Sóller–Lluc–Pollença section: unlit tunnels, no shoulder, blind hairpins and heavy coach traffic in season. That rating describes the road, not a measured crash risk, and no per-road casualty figures are published. Thousands ride it safely every week; timing, lights and descending skill decide your exposure.

What should I do in an emergency after a crash?

Call 112 — free, works without a SIM, answered in Spanish, English, German and Catalan — and give your location first: road number, kilometre marker, nearest town. For an incident without life-threatening injury on an interurban road, 062 reaches the Guardia Civil de Tráfico. This page gives no first-aid guidance; the operator will direct you.

How fresh are the reports on this page?

The press feed in this build was rebuilt on 2026-07-28 and holds 172 reports. The road notes were last reviewed on 2026-05-21. Both dates are shown at the top of the page. Nothing here is a live feed — for current road status, check the official Consell de Mallorca road service.

Informational only. This page is not medical, legal or emergency advice, gives no first-aid instructions, and is not an official accident register. In a life-threatening situation call 112.