Prowling my world, camera in hand

20 September 2022

Week 35: La Vuelta comes to Alicante

Filed under: — Administrator @ 06:05

The main event this week was the 10th stage of the Vuelta a España. It was a 31 km individual time trial from Elche to Alicante, on some of the very same roads which I cycle on weekends. So I took the day off to see and photograph the finish of the stage in the centre of Alicante. In some cases I could identify the cyclists and have indicated their names.

35_1
There were quite a few people lined up near the finish on Plaza Luceros:
DSF1672

35_2
In an individual time trial, the cyclists start 2 minutes apart and go all out, covering the 31 km distance at an average speed of 50-55 km/h. This is an intense effort, and I looked for the intensity in the faces of the riders:
DSF1644

35_3
DSF1660

35_4
Nans Peters, France:
DSF1677

35_5
Vincenzo Nibali of Italy, a real veteran, in his late 30s but still going strong:
DSF1701

35_6
One of my favourite cyclists on the circuit, Julian Alaphilippe of France. Sadly, during the 11th stage the following day he crashed heavily and his Vuelta ended at the hospital:
DSF1702

35_7
The crowd were very attentive:
DSF1705

35_8
Another crowd favourite, Rigoberto Uran of Colombia:
DSF1735

35_9
In-between cyclists, I looked around for details. I noticed that the motorcycle cops have their name and blood type on the back of their helmets:
DSF1725

35_10
Finally, the man I was waiting for, as was much of the crowd. Alejandro Valverde of Spain, 42 years old, riding his last Vuelta. He finished 13th in the overall standings at the end of the 3-week race, an amazing feat considering that he is twice the age of the overall winner of the race, Remco Evenepoel of Belgium. Valverde is retiring from professional cycling after this season:
DSF1741

35_11
Later in the week, I cycled to the Vía Verde, stopping at the village of Verdegás. As usual, I was on the lookout for the local cats. This orange specimen was in a stalking mode:
1020667

35_12
Then he noticed me:
1020669

35_13
Along the Vía Verde, a dried-out reservoir:
1020670

35_14
One of the many small tunnels along what used to be a local railroad:
1020674

35_15
Another reservoir, this one with water, albeit less than the normal level:
1020675

35_16
In the evening, we went our for dinner with our neighbours, a Spanish-French couple who live in Switzerland but spend all their free time in their house here:
R007395

35_17
R007394

35_18
The view from the restaurant of El Campello harbour:
R007397

35_19
On Sunday morning, I went out early, and cycled south. I stopped briefly at the beach in Urbanova, still quite empty:
1020677

35_20
A bit further on, I passed close to the perimeter of Alicante airport:
1020679

35_21
In cycling from El Altet (where the airport is located) to the town Elche, I was on the very road on which the Vuelta time trial had been run earlier in the week:
1020681

35_22
The southernmost point of my ride was the large fishing harbour of Santa Pola:
1020683

35_23
I then rode north towards home along the coast, stopping at Urbanova once again. The beach was busier now:
1020692

35_24
1020693

And that was the end of a week in which cycling played a big part.

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Powered by WordPress