In Andorra la Vella, the tour’s logisticians seem to have lost their calm. If any French city is the destination of a large loop, the last few kilometers there are usually cordoned off early in the morning. Only the cars with a sticker that identifies them as part of the tour entourage are allowed through. In the capital of the small principality, however, things are different: early on Sunday afternoon the sheet metal avalanches build up there on the Avinguda del Consell d’Europa, on which the Tour field will cover its final two kilometers just a few hours later.
The Tour of France is once again a guest in Andorra, including a rest day this time for three days until it says goodbye on Tuesday in the direction of Saint-Gaudens. The country has been part of the tour cosmos for a long time, not least for the feeling in Germany, since Jan Ullrich wore the yellow jersey for the first time there in 1997 and laid the foundation for his only tour victory. In recent years, the connection between the Pyrenees state and the peloton has become even closer: Because Andorra has become quite a hotspot for the best pedals.
Outside of the racing phases, cyclists are often spread across the continent
Around 60 cyclists have settled in the small principality – 468 square kilometers, around 77,000 inhabitants in total – at least temporarily. Big names are among them: the French Julian Alaphilippe and the Colombian Egan Bernal, who won the tour in 2019 but is missing from the big loop this year. There are also many Spaniards, Americans and Australians, but not prominent Germans. It is a “beautiful cycling community” up there, says Petr Vakoc from the Alpecin-Fenix team, who moved from the Czech Republic to Andorra, during a conversation during the tour.
Cycling is a team sport, but unlike football, the athletes do not come together for training every day, even if there are team bosses who would like that. Instead, the drivers live across the continent during the breaks, and it happens time and again that certain centers form. Girona in northeastern Spain is classically one of them, Monaco too – and for a few years now, little Andorra has been strengthening.
Around 60 professional cyclists live in Andorra at least partially for the year, including the French Julian Alaphilippe.
(Photo: Daniel Cole/AP)
If the representatives of the peloton are to be believed, the urge to go up to the top of the Pyrenees is of course due to the good training conditions that prevail there – at least in most months of the year. Anyone who drives through the country can easily come to the conclusion that the conditions here are paradisiacal for professional cyclists. Aside from the small, business-like capital with its business center, the whole country seems to consist of nothing but climbs. There are almost two dozen difficult passes in total, right up to the Port d’Envalira with its 2408 meters, which the tour crossed on Sunday. And the altitude, valued by endurance athletes, does the rest.
It attracts a top tax rate of only ten percent
At the same time, there are comparably beautiful and good training conditions in many places in the Pyrenees and the Alps. That is why the Czech Vakoc makes no secret of the fact that Andorra’s popularity is also due to “the tax situation”. In the past there was no income tax in the principality, but for some years the top tax rate has been ten percent. Anyone wishing to settle down in Andorra as an athlete or as an artist only has to guarantee that they spend 90 days a year in the country and leave a deposit of 50,000 euros. But not all cyclists who regularly visit Andorra go so far as to actually live there; many only stay there very often during the year.
Those responsible in the country have long been advertising that not only do you shop with them duty-free, but that so many prominent cyclists can also be found here. This should attract hobby cyclists and establish Andorra even more as a meeting point for the cycling scene.
On the other hand, they do not advertise so aggressively with another aspect. Because for some pedals it is also important how much he has to fear doping controls in his respective place of residence. Girona, for example, where the Superdoper Lance Armstrong once bought an apartment, enjoyed its popularity among foreign professionals not only because of its good training conditions and the beautiful weather, but also because in 2011 a “royal decree” was in force between 11pm in the evening and eight in the morning, doping tests were forbidden on Spanish soil. And Andorra is not exactly notorious as a permanent checkpoint either.
There are around eight tests per year for a professional cyclist – in Andorra there are significantly fewer
For athletes who live in the principality, the Andorran anti-doping agency is not responsible, which recently carried out just 44 so-called out-of-competition controls, i.e. controls outside of competitions and during training times. Instead, control management is the responsibility of the respective anti-doping bodies from the athletes’ home countries – as well as the UCI, the world cycling association, which has handed over its anti-doping work to the International Testing Authority. But it does not come up with much more controls than the brave Andorran authority. For a number of years, Andorra has carried out “more than 100” tests, she says. By way of comparison: In total, she conducts almost 8,000 training checks with the almost 1,000 professional cyclists every year.
It is difficult to calculate exactly what that means for each and every one of the around 60 professional cyclists living in Andorra. Cyclists don’t always stay at their place of residence, but sometimes in training camps. On the other hand, these “more than 100” also include cyclists who do not live in Andorra at all, but only spend their time there for the popular high-altitude training camp. The ITA says that 63 percent of athletes who stayed in Andorra for at least one night have been tested.
One thing is clear: there is a fairly manageable number of controls in view of the large number of cyclists who spend so many months of the year there. Anyone who drives through the country, from the border town of Pas de la Casa in the east to the capital Andorra la Vella 30 kilometers west, can easily see how good the training conditions are here.
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