Riosa is at the foot of the Sierra del Aramo, in the heart of Asturias, well guarded by Angliru and Gamoniteiru. Cyclists … The Principality began to talk about them in the 90s, but up there only dared to raise cattle and shepherds. He had to be a blind man, with less than 10% vision, Miguel Prieto Randino, who was with an altimeter to discover his greatness. His wife, Marta, made Sherpa among the fog. They measured everything. 12 kilometers long and a little more than 1200 meters of unevenness, so that the average is 10%. And with ramps of 23.5%. They went down and sent a letter to the director of the Vuelta, Enrique Franco, to refute him that in Spain there were no ports as in the turn and the tour. “Without exaggeration, the gamonal could overcome the Italian mortirolo.” Only missed in the name. Thus was born the myth of the wall that finally baptized as Angliru, in the purest Tourmalet style.
At the end of yesterday the goal, the Italian Giulio Pellizzari, the best young man in this edition, expressed his fears. «I am scared the Angliru! I saw the profile and without a doubt it will be the most difficult climb I have done, ”he says at 21, after having crowned the finisher this year. The Riosa Wall did not arrive until it was paved. The chava invised him. Prieto checked in New Spain. “As we no longer have siderurgy or mining, we must make homeland selling paradise.” Others described him as hell.
Vingegaard already knows him. “I have a special relationship,” he warns. He has been in his last two ascents in the race. In the first, in 2020, it was his discovery. He acted as Gregario de Roglic, squeezed by Carapaz. “I think it was the first time they really saw me,” he says. The Angliru was his crib. He was comfortable at his premiere among the greats. Then it was learned that a Danish was growing who had worked in the line of a factory in which he cleaned fish. A jumbo scout threw the bond. Until then I had not seen such a climb. In Denmark, the highest point is 173 meters. His father led him to see a stage of the return to the country and felt an arrow. The next step was to take the mountains on vacation. Dynamic Croats Alps first, and then to a campsite stuck to Alpe D »Huez.
In 2023 he returned to the return as a double winner of the tour and father of a girl. He also went up with Roglic, this time in parallel, in that ascension in which Kuss agonized red. He saved him to find Landa between the fog. He swore that he would pay all the reeds he wanted. At the top, the Danish did not play the victory to Roglic, mosquedo with the team for the management of an edition that he considered to be his. The duo stayed 33 seconds to beat the record of Roberto Heras’ up, 41 minutes and 56 seconds in 2000.
At the top of Angliru they have won El Chava, Simoni, Heras, Accountant (2008 and 2017), Cobo, Ellissonde, Carthy and Roglic. Now Vingegaard wants to write his name. «It’s my third time and I hope to have good legs too. It would be a dream for me to win at Angliru. It is one of the most emblematic increases in the return, ”he values. “It’s abrupt, very hard,” he continues. “We have to see how I feel before going for victory.” The Pike Bidea ramps may have cracked their strength. There he released him twice Pidcock, who does not want him to serve as an antecedent. «Bilbao is Bilbao, and Angliru is Angliru; We’ll see. I feel good, I hope I continue like this until the end, but I will not make predictions now ».
Before the mozqueta (6.4 kilometers at 8.2%) and the high of the Cordal (5.5 kilometers at 8.8%). His descent has the same danger. Or more. Igor Antón knows it, when he had the second most traumatic fall in La Vuelta, in 2008. In 2017 there were also many stupid downhill, where he threw accountant with a swamp. A big farewell. “We will all have in mind to be well positioned so that Almeida begins in the pole,” says Ayuso on the colossus in which the clutches succumb.
