la vuelta a españa, 2014

climbs to glory

Spain zone

official website of La Vuelta
(English version)

cycling tactics and glossary

the cycling zone

la Vuelta a España, 2013 - race to the summits

La Vuelta a Espana, 2012 - climber's paradise

a climber’s race - La Vuelta a Espana 2011

Vuelta a Espana, 2010 - an eco-tour

watching the Tour
Le Tour 2: preparing to watch the Tour
Le Tour 3: the Great Day arrives
Le Tour 4: preparing to watch a mountain stage

the tour de france 2018 - celebrating france, celebrating the tdf 

the 2018 Giro d’Italia

Barcelona and St George

Franco was not a fascist

the spanish vuelta
this year’s race
2014 race favourites
the race map
the stages
watching on tv
la vuelta race teams
a select dictionary
end notes

The third of the trio of major Tour-type cycle races starts on 23 August 2014 at Jerez de la Frontera near Spain's south western border.

this year’s race

This year, La Vuelta a España is 3,181.5 km long. It comprises:

• 21 stages
• 5 flat stages
• 13 hill and mountain stages

• 8 mountain stages
• 8 summit finishes
• 40 mountain passes and hill summits
• 5 medium mountain stages (including 3 uphill finishes)
• a 12.6 km team time-trial stage
• 2 individual time-trial stages - 34.5 km and 10 km
• 2 rest days
• time bonuses will be awarded

The Vuelta starts on the south coast, opening with a short team time trial in Jerez de la Frontera. Zigzagging gradually anticlockwise north and east, there will be some probably exacting stages along the coast of western Andalusia and in its craggy sierras, with the first real challenge coming on stage 6 and the five-kilometre ascent to Cumbres Verdes. Stage 9 offers the well-known summit finish at Valdelinares, which could help determine the race leadership.

Stage 10's hilly individual time trial is an introduction to the following stages and a practically continuous series of major challenges. Three mountainous stages in the region of Asturias Picos de Europa are followed by stages to La Camperona, Lagos de Covadonga (with a summit finish) and Farrapona. These will probably eradicate any benefit won by specialists at the Zaragoza time trial, to leave strong climbers and overall contenders fighting for the race lead.

But before assuming that the final order is done and dusted, there are five final stages in Galicia which will be more than enough to see the general classification order upset if there is any weakness apparent. The rolling stage to A Coruña, followed by a harshly steep summit finish at Monte Castrov, also seen in the 2012 time trial, lead to stage 20 and the Ancares ascent. This will offer a provide a last mountain showdown before the finish in Santiago de Compostela.

This will be the first race finish outside Madrid since 1993, again with a time trial finish.
A present to the riders will be 2,000 kilometres less of transfers than in 2013.

The third stage will start from on board the Juan Carlos I, Spain's largest and most recent warship, located in the port of Cadiz. In this way, the Vuelta will pay tribute to the Spanish Navy for their continuous work and service.

And now, a little flavour of Spain cycling style, with a specially written theme song, so "the Vuelta will roll to the beat of Sara Baras".

0:43 mins

2014 race favourites

According to various betting odds, the favourites to win the Vuelta 2014 are as follows: Nairo Quintana (Movistar) at 6/5 - runner up in last year’s Tour de France, Christopher Froome (Sky) at 7/4, Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) at 9/1, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) at 9/1. Other contenders include Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Cadel Evans (BMC)?, Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling).

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma Quickstep), whose broken shoulder blade is still mending, is instead riding in the Tour Poitou-Charente between 26 to 29th August. He should also be riding in the Tour of Britain (7-14 September).

the stages

watching on tv

This section will be updated closer to the start of the Vuelta.

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.

• Le Tour 2: preparing to watch the Tour
• Le Tour 3: the Great Day arrives
• le Tour 4: preparing to watch a mountain stage
• cycling tactics and glossary
  
  

Watch the Vuelta on Eurosport UK [schedule]. Eurosport provides between 1½ and 2½ hours broadcast every afternoon when there is racing.

ITV4 broadcasts a 60-minute highlights programme from each race day.

Steephill.tv provides information on many tv broadcasts for the Vuelta, from about halfway down the page.

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La Vuelta race map, larger version (.pdf)

la vuelta race teams

The 19 UCI World Tour teams have qualified automatically to race, and there are four wildcard teams that have been invited to participate/

• Caja Rural-Seguros RGA [ESP]
• Cofidis, solutions credits [FRA]
• IAM Cycling [SUI]
  
• MTN-Qhubeka [RSA]
  
  

using the official vuelta web site

• Use the drop down menu to go to current day’s details
  
  
  
• For route information
  To navigate, use grey tabs a bit down the page:
  
  
  
• For wider information, use the black tabs at the top of the page:
  
  
  
• To look at the overall standings while a stage is taking place, click on the STANDINGS tab, then use the drop down to go to the previous stage’s standings:
  
  
  
• While the current stage is taking place, there is an animation, updated every sixty seconds, in a separate smaller browser widow. It shows both breakaway and peleton dispositions, as well as where the day’s race has reached on the stage’s profile. At the bottom of the window are regularly updated, blog-type reports. This service is available during all of the day’s stage, including prior to the TV broadcasts, which tend to start about half way through the day’s stage.
  
  Clicking on a rider’s name will open a small note on the rider’s overall position, and a few other details.
  
  
  
  I love watching the little cyclists pedalling. They’re even wearing an approximation of the different jerseys.
  
  You reach the Vuelta Live display thus - HOME black tab (which, of course, turns red when clicked on),
  then LIVE grey tab (which turns black!), then click on the link indicated by the small red arrow.
  
  [If Adobe Flash Player 10.3.183.7 is not already installed on your computer, the Dinamic [sic.] Route Summary box will instruct you to install the necessary software.
  This is a two-stage process: first, you download and save [best on the desktop] the small installer program,
  then you run that installer program [click on the icon on your desktop]. The instructions provided in your browser are comprehensive, but you need to close the browser to effectuate the installation!]
  
  

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a select dictionary

• In Spanish, domestiques are called gregarios.
• The hardest day’s cycling is called la etapa reina.
• An uphill time trial is el chrono-escalada.
• Bonk in Spanish is pájara.
• There is also a Vuelta climb known as Pajares between León and Ovedo.
• A chuparruedas is a wheel sucker.

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.

Viva La Vuelta!: The Story of Spain's Great Bike Race by Lucy Fallon and Adrian Bell (foreword by Sean Kelly) £16.10 [amazon.co.uk] {advert} Mousehold Press, pbk, 2005 ISBN-10: 1874739404 ISBN-13: 978-1874739401

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© abelard, 2014, 27 july


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the address for this document is https://www.abelard.org/spain/vuelta_2014.php