A bird embedded in the engine of a plane in Eindhoven altered the transfer of the cyclists and the caravan of the Vuelta from Holland to Vitoria for a few seconds. Police, ambulances and other aid teams appeared in the vicinity of the Dutch airport in a false alarm that did not change the schedules of the two charter flights chartered by the organization. The passenger plane with the built-in bird it did not get off the runway for general safety.
The runners traveled on Sunday night and spent this Monday off in Vitoria, where the Vuelta resumes this Tuesday with a day devised by Joseba Beloki, the former cyclist from Alava has three times podium in the Tour and once in the Spanish round.
Beloki planned this fourth stage based on his knowledge of the terrain, with the passes through the heights of Opakua and Herrera and the final slope in Laguardia. His suggestion was heeded by the technical direction of the race made up of Kiko García and Fernando Escartín. Both former runners surveyed the terrain and gave a thumbs up.
Broken and winding terrain where the former ONCE cyclist used to train and where he now treats himself as a cyclist. Runners never forget a run.
Numerous proposals for stages for the Vuelta arrive at the Unipublic headquarters, through former cyclists, acquaintances, fans or the curious, who are interested in ports, descents or goals that catch their attention. It happens that the stages require logistics, especially in the mountains: a space for parking equipment, an evacuation plan, support for telecommunications…
This collaboration of former cycling champions is common in the Vuelta a España, the management receptive to the adventures of those who gave master classes on the bike. Óscar Pereiro, holder of the 2006 Tour due to the disqualification of Floyd Landis, drew last year’s stage in Mos, when ‘Supermán’ López stood up Movistar when the podium he had in his hands vanished through that labyrinthine Galician terrain.
Without the need for high mountains, the scenery was fabulous due to the territory of small chained passes and tremendous descents. A place that put an end to the patience of ‘Supermán’ López, who got off his bike and did not race with Movistar again.
Another winner of the Tour, Carlos Sastre (2008), advised the Vuelta organization on the stage that discovered Tadej Pogacar through the mountains of Gredos. A route through the teeth of the mountains in 2019 that almost evicted Valverde from the podium, a fantastic stage through lesser-known scenarios in the province of Ávila in which the double winner of the Tour expanded like a spark.
‘Purito’ Rodríguez, winner of nine stages in the Vuelta, outlined that wild day in Andorra (where most cyclists live). The government of the Principality asked ‘Purito’ that the stage be held in its entirety on Andorran soil. There was not a meter of flat because that is Andorra. That day Mikel Landa was crowned.
