We live 3 days from inside La Vuelta

Surely everyone has ever wondered what happens behind a Cyclist Tour that we see on television

 

Throughout this week, our partner and collaborator José Luis Caballero has been with the runners, teams and organization of La Vuelta cyclist to Spain and in this article and later we will make a brief summary of what happened, trying to resolve any of the doubts and curiosities that we may have about one of the three great world cycling.

"What's behind a big bike?"

Surely everyone has ever wondered what happens behind a Cyclist Tour that we see on television, how much there is reality and how much there is fiction and, also, what we believe in what the media and our friends who have been in the media tell us. this events.

Well, as soon as we arrived we realized that the deployment of media is HUGE, it is, without a doubt, the first thing we see when we are invited to follow a competition of this level. This is not a popular test, it does not involve the deployment of a test where most of us can compete, not even from a World Series that we can follow in our country or a Spanish Championship of any discipline, including triathlon.

Goes beyond, much further, the Vuelta, is a great circus, never better said, the best nickname that Antonio Lobato could put F1 (who does not remember that of "Welcome because this is the great circus of the F1" ) is also applicable to a large of cycling, media, media and more media, what kind? From almost anyone we can imagine, from media, equipment, assistants, physiotherapists, physical trainers, team managers, runners, escorts, SANITARY PERSONNEL, judges, career directors, sponsors, collaborators, stands, music, SECURITY, many, many security, by land, sea and air, YES, HAVE READ WELL, BY LAND, SEA AND AIR.

Civil Guard Tour of Spain

 

"And of course, PUBLIC, huge queues of people everywhere"

 

What would be of a test of any type and level without public? They are, or rather, we are what the competitions need, the hobby that gives life to everything that competes, that participates as almost one more in the different events that are organized for those who are young and old.

 

Peñiscola Tour of Spain

La Carrera, What we saw and what can we highlight?

               We were able to participate in 2 stages added to a day of rest that we had in between, so we saw what happens in a flat stage, what the teams do in their "rest day" and what happens in a high end as it is the Mas of the Coast.

"Simply spectacular"

DAY 1

The first day, on the stage Alcañiz-Peñíscola we could see the beauty of seeing an arrival on the beach, good weather, lots of people, wide avenues that take us to a sprint after a straight line of more than 1km in length and also be aware of the sport itself, a getaway of several kilometers starring by a single runner (Benatti) who knocks down the peloton like a great mass that swallows him by inertia and that frustates his illusions to just 100m of finish line so that rolling runners get more than 70kms / h in the plain and win a Sprinter.

Nice, very nice to see live, fans, children, good weather and better atmosphere to see just 1 'pass runners like bullets and a podium distended in a mixed area where they could see and even talk to runners minimally since Next day there was a free day and no one was too tight to go a little before or after the bus.

Alejandro Valverde Tour of Spain

DAY 2

The rest day is undoubtedly the best day for the fans and, especially the children, to get closer to see the runners and even (with a little luck) to ride with them by bike. It is a day without pressure, except for the leaders with the media, sometimes excessive, which makes them stay up to night without stopping with advertising commitments and interviews (here comes when we all thought the reason that Froome was trying to catch the leader's jersey 2ª or 3ª week of race in the Tour instead of the first day and where we thought maybe that's why the first one did not enter the team lap of the 1 day of La Vuelta).

As in everything, there are more and less open corridors, which tolerate better and worse the stress of always having people on top but in general and even being the international elite, they are very accessible and above all people much more normal than we tend to idolize .

Team buses Tour of Spain

DAY 3

The third day was completely different, from the first hours of the morning you could perceive the stress, the nerves and the feeling that it was a very important day. All the relaxed atmosphere of the previous day had ended except in some cooks and assistants who by their extroverted personality handled it maybe even too well but even the mechanics in the last touches were not as the previous night.

Public in the Tour of Spain

The Mas de la Costa was up and both Etixx (with David de la Cruz in command) and Movistar who were the first 2 teams we had had serious faces, it was D-day and it was very close to reach the H hour with nerves and doubts about how the rest of rivals would act and if the fatigue of this 3 week would let us be ahead although, almost by magic, the cyclist transforms, dresses on the bus, arrives at the exit and his face changes complete, go from nerves to the desire to compete, from uncertainty to the security of being able to open gasss and everyone shows what they are, WORLDWIDE ELDERLY ATHLETES.

AND THEY DID NOT DEFRAUD, as the stage was predicted the previous day it happened, good atmosphere, impressive ramps with sections of an 21% (according to our Garmin indicated) and curves that tended more to fall back than to keep you upright.

The first ones arrived, the head of the race completely broken, each one with what I had after a long escape, faces of a lot of suffering, of why I do not have that point more that would make me win today and succeed! a lot of effort in each pedalada.

Mattias Frank winner of a lap stage

After them, many team cars that were on the run and the group of favorites that would not break until the end where there were no differences between the top ranked 4 of the race BUT a rise that did not leave anyone indifferent.

 

Simply, it has been an unforgettable experience for many factors, first of all, not every day you have the opportunity to enter the bowels of the peloton and the organization of an event such as the Tour of Spain and much less to share 3 days in a row , this already leads us to enjoy something very nice and that we are passionate about but besides all that, the welcome has been enormously good, most of the cycling squad is very welcoming and they are much more similar to a normal person than a professional inaccessible as we can sometimes see athletes.

And if you like the world of cycling and you are curious to know how the great teams are, their team cars, mechanics, what they carry in their trucks, how they are organized and other curiosities that will surely help us improve as athletes will have to wait for the next article

J. Luis Caballero

Triathlon Coach - FTCV

email: contact @ behealth.es

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