by Lionel Birnie
The 11.01 Cappuccino returns after a summer break in time for the 78th edition of the Vuelta a España – or El Clásico, as we’re calling it.
We know football references leave some of you cold but the cities that are home to the two giants of Spanish football – Barcelona and Real Madrid – host the start and finish of the season’s third and final grand tour.
The reason it’s an appropriate moniker for this year’s Vuelta is because the line-up suggests we’re in for a classic. As Daniel said in last week’s episode, the startlist for this Vuelta is so strong it’s something Giro director Mauro Vegni can only dream of.
While it’s tempting to bill this as the rematch between Roglič and Remco, it’s more likely to be a case of the defending champion Evenepoel versus Jumbo-Visma versus UAE-Team Emirates versus the rest.
The Giro d’Italia in May was shaping up perfectly when Evenepoel won the time trial in Cesena by an unexpectedly narrow margin and took the maglia rosa, only to be ruled out of resuming the race after the rest day because he’d contracted Covid. Roglič triumphed in the end, beating Geraint Thomas and taking the overall lead in a dramatic finale at Monte Lussari.
Jonas Vingegaard then won the Tour de France meaning that Jumbo-Visma have an unprecedented men’s grand tour treble in their sights. Looking at their two leaders and a formidable supporting cast, Jumbo-Visma are certainly the team to beat but, as Daniel said in our preview, the chances are something will happen to compromise the hopes of one of the pre-race favourites in the opening few days. Something always does.
I once joked that the Vuelta is the holiday grand tour – a comment Richard never let me live down – but there’s an element of truth to my flippant remark because it is the most relaxed of the big three. This week, Daniel asked what sort of hairstyle the three grand tours would be and the best we could come up with was that the Tour is the sensible side-parting at the front, the Vuelta is the mullet at the back and the Giro is a streak of pink die.
It’s not so much a vacation as a staycation for me this year but I’ll be dialling in to join Daniel throughout the race. The rest of our team will be rolling through and off over the next three weeks and it’s a line-up as formidable as Jumbo-Visma’s. We’ll hear from the likes of Brian Nygaard, Rob Hatch, Ian Boswell, Dan Martin, Fran Reyes and Larry Warbasse, who’ll add his perspective from inside the peloton.
Our Vuelta XL preview episode is online now featuring Brian on Vingegaard, Sporza’s Renaat Schotte on Remco and Eurosport’s Laura Meseguer on the Spanish challenge.
Daniel is en route we speak and will be landing to the sounds of Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé any moment now. I often think of the Vuelta route in terms of shades of brown or green, coming as the race does towards the end of the scorching Spanish summer. The more time spent up north in the Basque Country, Asturias and Cantabria the greener the scenery and the more appealing to me, partly because the sun-baked Spanish beach holiday is not my idea of a relaxing time. (Ciro can have the beaches to himself). Give me jamón over ham, egg and chips any day.
So, we are all set for three weeks of daily coverage with lashings of sunshine and sangria, perhaps even a glass of sherry for Daniel, even though the race steers clear of Andalucia this year.
Tomorrow’s opening stage is a team time trial in Barcelona and it takes place in the evening local time so our first episode will be online a little later than usual but join Daniel and I for our tapas-style coverage wherever you listen to The Cycling Podcast.
Vinos de la Vuelta
It’s almost time to toast the final grand tour of the 2023 season and the case of half-a-dozen wines curated by DVine Cellars is the perfect way to do it, as it boasts more superstars than the Vuelta startlist.
The recent wine-themed episode features Daniel in conversation with Angus McNab, DVine Cellars’ Spanish expert. There’s almost no cycling-related conversation but if you want to learn about the wines that make up this year’s Vuelta case it’ll tell you everything you need to know.
And, of course, you can order the case now from DVine Cellars.
The six wines
– Sumarroca Cava Brut Reserva Vintage, Penedes, Spain
– Pieles Doradas' Bruno Murciano, Valencia, Spain
or Las Blancas' Bruno Murciano, Valencia, Spain (upgrade)
– Godello 'Brezo' Gregory Perez, Bierzo, Spain
– Bodegas Frontonio, 'Microcosmico' Garnacha, Valdejalon, Aragon, Spain
– Celler Les Foes, L'Adolescent, Castellon, Spain
– Valdepila' Milenico, Ribera del Duero, Spain
Our Kilometre 0 Vuelta playlist
If you are a Friend of the Podcast subscriber, get in the Vuelta mood with some of our Kilometre 0 episodes. The Kilometre 0 archive, featuring all our episodes from the grand tours between 2015 and 2019, is available as a separate feed for Friends of the Podcast and can be added in a couple of easy clicks after signing up.
King Kelly’s Vuelta and the Missing Trophy
This episode tells the story of Sean Kelly’s 1988 Vuelta win and delves into the mystery of his missing trophy – last known location, a pizza restaurant in Vitoria. In 1987, Kelly had come within a few days of becoming the first Irishman to win one of the three major tours only for a saddle sore caused by an ingrowing hair to rear its ugly head and cause him such pain he had to pull out while wearing the leader’s yellow jersey. Despite a strong challenge from the BH team, Kelly finished in the top ten of every stage in the 1988 Vuelta and worked his way into the yellow jersey after the final time trial with just the stage to Madrid to go. But whatever happened to the trophy, which was taken first to the team sponsor’s HQ and then went on a magical mystery tour.
Ullrich 1999
This episode was recorded while Daniel was still writing his (brilliant) biography of the German Jan Ullrich. The 1999 Vuelta featured Ullrich at his big-gear wielding strongest but it was a race illuminated by the mercurial but troubled talents of Jose Maria Jimenez and Frank Vandenbroucke. Having lost the 1998 Tour and missed the 1999 edition, the Vuelta heralded Ullrich’s comeback. Who would have thought then it would be his final grand tour title?
The director
We spoke to Vuelta race director Javier Guillen, who has redefined the final grand tour of the season by giving it a distinct identity of its own. Shorter stages, steeper climbs, goat tracks to the middle of nowhere, unpredictable territory that lends itself to chaotic racing, all have become hallmarks of a race that used to be seen as the runt of the litter but now guarantees explosive racing year after year.
Vuelta Vignettes
Richard, Daniel and I recorded some of our favourite Vuelta stories, from the unknown to the downright unusual.
Angliru
I spoke to David Millar about the fearsome climb in the Asturias where he famously stopped just short of the finish line, peeled the race numbers off his jersey and refused to complete the stage. That was in 2002, the second time the Vuelta had tackled the Angliru, and Millar’s protest was not so much about the steepness of the ascent but the danger of the approach in the rain. The Angliru’s inclusion has contributed to riders using lower gears and has become a regular fixture in the Vuelta. This year will be the ninth time they’ve tackled it.
Andorra
I once described Andorra as the worst place in Europe but even I have to admit it’s not all that bad. There has to be a reason (other than attractive tax arrangements) that so many riders make it their home. Doesn’t there?
In our World Championship recap, Larry Warbasse talked about the 50-minute pause in the men’s road race caused by the environmental protest group This Is Rigged.
With the climbs just ahead of them the etiquette was that riders would restart in the order they’d come to a halt. Wiggling up through the peloton to gain a few dozen places was frowned on and the riders policed any queue-jumpers.
Except for a rider in the Rwanda national team jersey, Erc Manizabayo, who made his way through the whole peloton in search of Wout van Aert, and then asked for a selfie.
As Daniel said, if Eric had waited until about quarter to five in the afternoon for his photo opportunity he might have ended up with a World Championship medal.
We later found the photo on Eric’s Instagram.
Talking of photographs, Seb Piquet took this one during the road race in Glasgow. We’d love to know who took the Buffalo Forever sign to World Championships so if it was you – or you know who it was – please drop us a line at contact@thecyclingpodcast.com
Stacy Snyder’s Vuelta collection on sale tomorrow
Stacy Snyder’s handmade ceramics have told the story of the 2023 grand tour season. Her Giro d’Italia cups and mugs featured the trabocchi, the little fishing huts that dot the coast in Abruzzo, and the Colosseum in Rome. The Tour de France designs were dominated by Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Puy de Dôme, the extinct volcano visited by the race for the first time in 35 years, and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The Tour de France Femmes cups were adorned with the cave paintings from Lascaux and the Col du Tourmalet.
For the Vuelta a España there’s a design worthy of El Clásico. With the race taking the riders from Barcelona to Madrid the images are of the Sagrada Familia and the Palacio de Cibeles.
The collection goes on sale tomorrow (Saturday), as ever, from Stacy’s Etsy page at 10am US East Coast time, which is 3pm in the UK and 4pm in central Europe.
The money raised from the sale of the Vuelta collection will be added to the proceeds of the Tour and Tour de France Femmes cups and will be donated to a cycling-related cause. If you would like to nominate a worthy recipient, email us at contact@thecyclingpodcast.com