The La Veulta – Cycling’s Holy Trinity: Discovering the Grand Tours -Part 3 :

Cycling in Spain : Vuelta a España ( The Tour of Spain)

The third of the Grand Tours is equally challenging. The Vuelta is held in Spain and usually rolls out in late Spanish summer.

And as seems the common story thread, even the Vuelta was started by the initiative of a journalist and a newspaper.

Like its more famous cousins in the Grand Tour, the Vuelta is yet another test of human endurance. The best of the lot rides 3200 km over three weeks. Again, it is the mountains that are the main challenge of the race. The Spanish side of the Pyrenees towards the north, Sierra Nevada, the mountain in the Baeltic ranges deep in the south of Spain, have all been a part of the race at various times.

While all the mountain stages are challenging, some stand out for their fearsome nature of climb. The Pico Veleta, which rarely features in the race, is served by the highest paved road in Europe. But the most fearsome of them is the Alto de L’Angliru. This stage is in the heart of the principality of Asturia. The Asturia is known for its rugged coast and intimidating mountain ranges.

Alto de L’Angliru : Just an inhuman test

The stage that climbs to the Angliru is a short one, just 12 km of roads that take the sap out of the riders. The Alto de L’Angliru is a cyclists bad dream. It has an interesting history too.

Miguel Prietro, who was partially sighted was a director at a Spanish Charity , which also happened to sponsor a cycling team wrote a letter to the organisers . The letter started the story of the Angliru.

In 1996 Prietro wrote

The organisers had a look and were seemingly sadistically impressed. The road was paved in 1997 and in 1999 included for the first time in the La Veulta.

The Angliru climb is a nightmare as the road climbs at wicked gradients. The road goes up a mountain called the La Gamonal, a climb that is about 1200 m over 12 km. While the first few kilometers are at a gradient of about 10%, the ones that follow deliver the killer punch. Each one of the turns, which are plenty, is a nightmare.

Three kilometers from the summit is the turn that is simply cruel. Called Cueña de las Cabres, it is a climb with a 23.5 %gradient. ( To understand this better, a 20% gradient means that a road climbs 200 meters in one kilometer.). The rest of the turns are no less and are 20% gradients.

These are fearsome ramps; the muscles risk being ripped as the body strains to push the cycle along. Every cyclist who has gone up these slopes has probably wondered at why cycling is called a sport at all.

Some the greatest of cyclists have struggled with the idea of riding up this climb. Pedro Delgado a two time Veulta winner described the Angilru

“There were moments on the climb when I felt as if time had stopped, You’re pedalling like mad but every time you look up you don’t seem to have advanced much. It’s like one of those dreams where you’re running but not getting anywhere… When you reach the false flat [after 6km], there are words painted on the road warning of what’s to come. ‘Hell starts here,’ they say.”

Italian rider Marzio Bruseghin, explain why it seemed meaningless.

“What’s the point of riding up a mountain that it’d be quicker to go up by foot?”

The Angliru is a beautiful country side on the hills. The hills are a soothing sight, and the human population is sparse. Jagged mountains and green grazing pastures stretch away into the distance towards the Bay of Biscay in the north. To a cyclist battling the barbaric curves up the mountain they mean nothing.

A cyclist’s Nightmare : The Angliru, the punisher of La Veulta

The Angliru climb has not been a great favorite of the riders, who are probably right in their opinion that even in an endurance sport, the Angliru is probably a thoroughly dirty trick in cycling.

In 2002, the Scot David Millar stopped short of the finish line and refused to finish the race, in what was thought to be a protest on the racing conditions. He wasn’t amused , throwing his chest number to the floor and refusing to finish just meters before the line. He said

“We’re not animals and this is inhuman,”

You go at 9 kilometers an hour. It’s hell. There’s nothing remotely like it,”

The last but not the least : The Veulta a Espana

The Veulta De Espana is no doubt a race worthy of being a part of the Grand tour. It is as elite as the other two and there is no doubting its challenge. Many cyclists used to skip the Vuelta, though, in the early days, as it used to clash with the Tour de France and the Giro. It was moved to the late summer to avoid this.

Eddy Merckx won the Vuelta in 1973, and Bernard Hinault in 78 and 83. Some of the great cyclists like Pedro Delgado, Alberto Contador, the Colombian Nairo Quintana, and Roberto Heras have all come to the Vuelta and won.

The Tour De France has its charms as the sunny French Alps entice and then punish.

The Giro is both a soothing beauty and an unpredictable beast and difficult to predict.

The Veulta is a passionate pursuit in the Spanish mountains, easy to hate and easier to fall in love with. It is the pride of Spanish cycling, it rarely disappoints.

——————————————————————————————————————————————-

Here is a clip of the Angliru…( credit CADEX Cycling You Tube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@CADEXCycling)