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la vuelta a españa, 2011a climber’s race |
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official
website of La Vuelta
la Vuelta a España, 2014 - climbs to glory la Vuelta a España, 2013 - race to the summits
watching the Tour
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the spanish vuelta
The third of the trio of major Tour-type cycle races starts on 20 August 2011, at Benidorm.
This year is going to be a climber’s race, so the stages are strangely discontinuous in order to include lots of mountain cycling. There will be six mountain top finishes, at
Other fierce slopes include Puerto de Ancares on the 13th stage, reaching 1110 m in merely12 km, with gradients averaging 12.5% and a maximum at 20%! And note that on this stage’s route listing, after going over the Puerto de Ancares pass, the entry reads, “Descenso rapido con curvas. Precaución ” - Rapid decent with with bends. Careful. Of course, this climber’s race is especially suited to Spanish riders, such as Alberto Contador [ed.: not participating after all], Ezequiel Mosquera and Samuel Sanchez, who specialise in the hard, uphill grinds. For the first time since 1978, the race will pass through some of the Basque Country, on Spain’s northern coast, including a stage finish and a stage start at Bilbao. The last foray to this region was a disaster with two stages being cancelled. Basque separatists barricaded and blocked the route, including scattering drawing pins on the road. The protesters also threw sand into the eyes of riders.
Watching the Vuelta in Spain is very similar to watching the Tour in France. abelard.org has several pages giving general advice on how to be a effective road-side spectator.
In the hot southern countryside, there are long stretches empty of anything except lovely semi-desert landscape. Occasionally, there maybe one person sheltering from the belting sun under a tree, even on climbs where in France the way would be seething with fêting followers. The crowding is often far less oppressive, or exciting according to your taste. watching on tvWatch the Vuelta on Eurosport UK [schedule] and on ITV4 [schedule]. Both these UK-based channels are providing about three hours broadcast every afternoon when there is racing. google earth
using the official vuelta web site
this year’s raceThis year, La Vuelta is 3,295 km long. It comprises:
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the stages
This year’s race starts in the seaside holiday town of Benidorm
la vuelta race teamsThere are twenty-two teams participating. Eighteen are 2011 UCI Pro teams, while four are wild-card teams - Andalucia Caja Granada (ESP), Geox-TMC (ESP), Cofidis le Credit en ligne (FRA), Skil - Shimano (NED):
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new year, new jerseys
The other two jerseys are
a select dictionary
For much more on cycling tactics.
The following is an exceeding boring book, almost like reading a telephone directory. It has notes on all previous runnings of the Vuelta. But in among the addresses and telephone numbers, you will discover all manner of hints on cycling tactics, with interposed examples of dubious practice and cheating. You will also find snippets on the disturbed political background of Spain, from right back to the Civil War and the Franco regime and up until modern times, against which the Vuelta has been held, or not held.
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© abelard, 2011, 30 july the address for this document is https://www.abelard.org/spain/vuelta_2011.php
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