Madeira Cycling

I’m off to Madeira in a few months and plan to hire a road bike over there and base myself from Funchal in the South West. I’ll be using that as an excuse to test the Garmin Edge 540’s new ClimbPro tweak.

Can anyone recommend a decent bike hire place that would have Ultegra/Di2 level carbon stuff in Funchal? The websites I saw were either trail focused or full of electric bikes.

Other than the more obvious rides on Strava, above, are there any special climbs to go for?

This is one from @SAFABrian descending in Madeira at over 40mph. I love the comment at the end that the next section of road, not shown, will be too technical for the car to keep up. He doesn’t seem to mention which descent this is either.

Last Updated on 27 January 2026 by the5krunner

the5krunner

tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors.