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La Vuelta a España reflection & stats

Posted by on September 9, 2013

Like so many riders, I, too, have had to abandon the Vuelta in the Pyrenees. The good news is that I have more races lined up in my schedule, but we'll get to that.

 

The Vuelta is a totally different animal than the Tour de France. The Tour is prestige and glamour, while the Vuelta is humble and down to earth.

 

The name of the town hosting the finish is applied daily to the finish line with stickers after yesterday's name has been scraped off. And once the new name has been applied, the residue from the previous stickers is still visible.

 

The barricades already looked a little worse for wear at the race's halfway mark.

 

The publicity caravan includes maybe a dozen vehicles and the equipment the finish line crew uses isn't as fancy as at the Tour. The sign on podium looks a bit dated and tired. The Vuelta crews work hard but there isn't the same pressured sense of urgency and perfection. There's an overall diminished media presence and a relatively small international press contingency.

 

Given everything I've said, you might believe the Vuelta is the unwanted stepchild of the 3 Grand Tours. Not so! The Vuelta might be light on pageantry, but it puts on one hell of a show. There's more of a focus on cycling. The sign ons I went to both had fan friendly layouts, significantly increasing the likelihood of getting good photos and rider autographs.

 

The atmosphere was always friendly and people I spoke with seemed to be there either because they were cycling fans or locals wanting to support a big event in their town. Unlike at the Tour where idiots run dangerously close to the riders just to get on TV, Vuelta spectators seemed happy to participate just by being present. And the smaller caravan meant people didn't go bonkers fighting over a free packet of gummy bears!

 

One final thing I appreciated greatly at the Vuelta: no one asked me which cyclist was my boyfriend or husband. This was the number one question I got at the Tour (followed by, “Wait, are there any Canadians riding this year?”) and it got old fast. Everyday, I heard this question, as if it had never occurred to someone that a woman could be a fan of the sport. At the Vuelta, people asked if I was traveling alone and they asked which riders I was supporting, but everyone took for granted that I was there because of my interest in cycling and not out of marital duty. How refreshing.

 

Vuelta Stats

# of stages I saw: 4

# of starts: 2

# of mountains: 1

# of finishes: 1

# of hats I acquired: 6

# of autographs from cyclists: 47

 

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