Day of carnage on Israeli roads

Saturdays, being the sabbath in the Jewish faith, tend to see an increase is numbers of cyclists on Israel's roads and as such emergency medic crews prepare themselves for the accidents that they know are statistically more likely to happen on that day. Today, however, has been a day of carnage with two deaths and several injuries, adding to a wave of cyclist fatalities in the Mediterranean nation.

Police are still investigating a accident that left two cyclists critically injured by a vehicle near Kiryat Malachi in the Southern District early this morning. Later on in the morning, an 18-year-old fell asleep at the wheel and ploughed into a group of cyclists on Highway 3 in the same region. Two 40-year-old cyclists were killed, two more critically injured and three left with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver was found to be on his way home from a night out in Ashdod and has been tested for alcohol, but no further details are yet available.

Cycling is increasingly popular in Israel, both as a sport and for environmental reasons; despite the vulnerability of cyclists to attack - Hamas and other armed groups having been known to take potshots at people riding bikes in the past. As a small nation, it's possible to get to most locations within a relatively short time and since bikes offer a better chance to experience the country, its rich archaeological heritage and world-famous scenery, bikes are also becoming a common way for tourists to get about. However, traffic accidents are Israel's number one killer: in 2010 (5769/5770) there were 27,733 injuries on the roads, 1,663 of them were serious and 349 people were killed. Total reported accidents numbered 14,603 - an 11% increase on 2009 (5768/5759).

While visitors are warned to keep away from flashpoints such as the border with Gaza but must also be aware that Israel's roads are more dangerous than those of many other nations, and must take extra care when cycling in the nation.

Vuelta a España - Stage 9 Preview

Stage Map: click here
Stage Profile: click here
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Stage 9, like Stage 8, heads for the hills - but it's a very different sort of stage to yesterday's. Rather than testing the riders' strength with several medium-sized climbs, it starts off with a smallish Category 3 and then wears them down with a series of uncategorised little ascents before finishing off with a great big grind up to the Sierra de Béjar La Covatilla ski resort 1970m above sea level. However, the majority of the riding takes place upon the poker-straight N-110, meaning that despite its mountainous classification this is a stage in which sprinters could have as much to play for as the climbers, and the day's winner could very well be a non-General Classification contender who feels his legs are up to the task and mounts a successful breakaway attempt.

Villacastin's coat of arms, carved in 1627.

Villacastin is acting as a start town for the very first time in the Vuelta's history today. The city's own history stretches back to the dawn of human inhabitation of Spain, with a wide range of artifacts manufactured or left by early man having been discovered by palaeontologists in the area. However, its Roman and Dark Age past is little known - in fact, other than the typically Roman road found nearby, there is precious little trace of Roman presence at all, putting paid to the once popular theory that the name Villacastin was of Roman origin. There is little trace of the Visigoths who took over where the Romans left off, too, though road builders in 2001 discovered buried ruins which were subsequently estimated by archaeologists to have been inhabited from the Mesolithic era through to the Visigothic, a period roughly equalling at least five thousand years - approximately four times longer than the period of time that has passed between the demise of the Visigoths and the present. Later - rather fanciful - theories claimed that the name must mean "the town of castles" and refer to the existing castle and a mysterious second one, somehow vanished without trace; this theory being supported by those who believed it by the presence of two castles on the city's coat of arms. However, no archaeological trace nor historical record of the second castle has ever been found, so that theory seems no more likely to be correct - the twin castles on the coat of arms are believed to represent the close ties between Villacastin and Castile.

Modern interpretations of the name explain "castin" as being an archaic, formal deriviative of the Latin castrum, which has given rise to castillo, chateau and castle, but meaning "fortified" rather than a fortified building. Villa, meaning town, makes it the Fortified Town - not an especially helpful name in Spain where in some regions it seems that virtually every community of any size was fortified at some point, but a descriptive one nevertheless for Villacastin did indeed have fortifications: some rather superb examples of them, in fact, as the location was of great strategic importance among the defence network surrounding Tulaytula, one of the most most important cities in Moorish Iberia and now known as Toledo. The first historical evidence of Villacastin as a city comes from a document dated to 1096, a point at which the Christians were beginning to rise up against Muslim rule (and, unfortunately, show far less tolerance of religious and cultural differences than the Moors had) and the region became a sort of no-man's-land between the opposing groups.

Inglesia de San Sebastian.

Following the Reconquest, the Christians set about excising all trace of Islam from the city by converting mosques into churches and erecting stone crosses at fourteen sites on the streets. A few crosses still remain, the most famous being the Cruz de Santiago on the city's southern perimeter along the road to Madrid. Whilst we may express horror at the Christian intolerance and cruelty towards the Moors once they'd seized power, we can still appreciate their contributions to culture and especially to architecture. Unlike many communities, Villacastin continued to grow both geographically and economically under their rule - observing their neighbours' success - in 1450 the elders of the village of Navalpino, some 5km away, elected to up sticks and move their entire population to the city, abandoning their village entirely. Today, no trace other than the ruined stump of the church remains. People from other villages similarly relocated en masse and by the turn of the 16th Century, it was home to more than 5000 people, attracting craftsmen from as far as Germany to work on its buildings, the Iglesia de San Sebastián being among those started in that century. Today, it's one of the most impressive churches anywhere in the country even though it only ever got one of the two towers originally planned. The 20m tall altarpiece is world famous.

All that remains of Navalpino.

Plague dramatically reduced the population in 1599, but having become a centre of the manufacture of fine cloth Villacastin attracted workers from elsewhere and recovered far more quickly than many other places. The cloth trade continued to develop, making the city even richer. 28 years later, when the city became part of the province of Segovia, a survey was taken and reveals it to have had  a hospital, two monasteries, several great houses belonging to various noble families and a wide assortment of buildings involved with the production, storage and trade of woolen cloth. Much of the industrial architecture was subsequently destroyed by Anglo-Portuguese forces during the War of Succession, the first in a series of factors that saw Villacastin enter a period of recession during which it became largely depopulated and it had been largely forgotten by the rest of the world when it briefly played host to Napoleon, who was trapped here with 60,000 troops by heavy snow in December 1809. The construction of the Carretera Nacional Villacastín-Vigo in 1860 led to some signs of an upturn, but the city - now a small town - has never regained the power and wealth it once held.

The stage starts at Villacastin's football club, heading north east on the Carretera de Avila for a quick procession though the town. A tight left and right turn lead into the Calle de Correos, then the N-110 turns left at one roundabout and passes straight over the next to leave the town behind. A flyover carries the road above the AP-6 motorway and straight on to the first of the day's obvious hazards, a second large roundabout between the entrance to an industrial estate and the toll gates onto the motorway network. No matter which way the riders decide to go round, they'll be right in the middle of the areas most likely to contain lethally slippery diesel spills, all but invisible on the road surface. Having crossed another flyover carrying it over the AP-51, the road sweeps to the south-west among the rocky fields, climbing slightly towards the end of the neutral zone 5.2km from the start and Santa María del Cubillo 2.8km further on.

Santa Maria has a very attractive 16th Century parish church with an ornate turreted roof at one end and a belfry at the other with a red pan-tiled roof on the lower section in between. The parcours turns left off the N-110 and onto the AV-501 leading to a hairpin bend - both the corner and the bend may have diesel spills due to the large open-cast mine a short way on directly to the left of the road - and begins the first climb of the day, Category 3 Puerto de la Cruz de Hierro. The 1470m summit is reached after 8.6km from the start, shortly after passing a chain of wind turbines which either ruin or add to the landscape depending upon personal point of view. The descent isn't steep, but long straight sections will encourage high speed before the sharp right turn onto the AV-500 which runs straight for 14.6km. However, it's not boring - after a short while, the road crosses a bridge almost 0.5km long over the Embalse de Serones, a large artificial lake set among the rolling hills, some with lines of turbines marching over them. Egrets and black storks are common sights around the lake, those who are lucky may even see otters. On a fine day, this section of the stage could be one of the most pleasant anyone could wish for; on a rainy or - worse - windy day, it could be hellish.

Urraca-Miguel passes by on the right, signalling that there are just a few more kilometres to Bernuy-Salinero which the road just clips to the north. The village has an interesting little church and, immediately to the west of it, what appears from aerial photography to be possible modern structures built among the walls of a far larger, older, ruined building. Unfortunately, there seems to be no information on the site available online and so the only way to be certain would be to go and have a look - should they prove to be something else, the journey would not be wasted since it's the kind of village that has many hidden jewels. The sprawling industrial areas east of Avila soon become visible, the peloton reaching the city 33km from the start.

Basilica de San Vincente, source of a good percentage of
medieval antisemitism.

The race reaches a roundabout and turns right onto the Calle de Theresa de Calcutta and passes over two roundabouts to a third where they turn left, once again joining the N-110 which is called the Carretera de Villacastín-Vigo along this section. It crosses several roundabouts and passes under a fly-over before joining the Paseo de Don Carmelo Delgado, passing south of the large Parque de San Antonio and joining the A. de Madrid as it approaches the Basilica de San Vincente. Having been begun in the 12th Century, this vast church took almost three centuries to be completed and is listed as one of the most important examples of Romanesque architecture in the world. It was built as a place of worship centred on the Cenotaph of Saints Vicente, Sabina and Cristeta who refused to sign a document stating that they would make sacrifices to the Roman gods during the 4th Century, only to be betrayed by that constant bogeyman of Dark and Middle Age myth, a Jew. They were put to death in a characteristically gristly manner, having their heads crushed - as is displayed with gory detail in wooden carvings on display in the church. As they died, angels carried their souls to Heaven while a large snake emerged from their bodies and wrapped itself about the neck of the Jew, who thereupon "saw the error of his ways" and converted to Christianity; later building the basilica in order to repent for his betrayal.

Avila's complete medieval wall.

Avila is particularly notable as it has retained its entire 11th Century defensive wall, enclosing more than 30 acres and believed to be the longest complete medieval defensive wall in Europe. It has a total perimetre of a little over 2.5km, is 12m tall and has no less than 88 towers. The entire wall is illuminated, making it the largest illuminated structure in the world. The cathedral appears more solid that most, the reason being that it was designed to act as both a place of worship and, should the need arise, a defensible fortress; rather than simply because it shared the only architectural techniques available at the time with castles. The apse is in fact one of the city wall's turrets. Believed to be the first Gothic church in the country, it is not known when construction began; though most historians choose either the 11th Century under Alvar Garcia and Alfonso VI of Castile or the 12th under Fruchel and Raymond of Burgundy.

The cottage seen here is typical of the style in Aldealabad,
but atypical of technique - most of the buildings use dry-
wall construction techniques rather than mortar.

The peloton continues along the Av. de Madrid, negotiating numerous roundabouts and speed humps until a right and left lead past the Calle de Don Suero Aguila and along the N-403 leading out of the city, passing over a roundabout in the dry and boulder-strewn countryside around the city to join then N-110A, then merging with the N-110 and reaching Bascoarrabal 41.5km from the start. The road is straight, but the surrounding landscape is fortunately irrigated, thus making it a far more pleasant stretch than it would be were it as dry and dusty as that surrounding Avila. En route, the peloton passes Aldealabad del Mirón; an interesting village partly for the very obviously Arabic first part of its name and partly because, as a small rural community that has changed little since it was established, it allows a glimpse of what life must have been like for the majority of Spaniards until the middle of the last century. Aldealabad has never been planned, so the houses have been built wherever a scrap of land could be found. To this day, most of the cottages in the village are simple structures of dry, rough granite, the upper floor housing the family and the lower floor used for the storage of harvested crops or, in winter, livestock; there are a few adobe houses that are little more sophisticated.

Puente Cobos, near Munogalindo, believed to be of Roman
origin with some medieval restoration. The arches were once
much taller, but are now largely buried in silt.

14km on from Bascoarrabal is Muñogalindo, nestling on the very edge of the plain at the foot of higher ground. It's a small community with a lot of history, the site of important archaeological finds such as the pre-Roman Peñáguila site (not to be confused with the modern community of the same name near Alicante). For its diminutive size, it has received more than its fair share of royal visits and, in 1812, Napoleon passed through, his troops looting the village's granary with no regard for what the locals would eat until the next harvest. It was due to be connected to the rail network late in the 19th Century, but the plan never came to fruition and as a result it managed to survive the Civil War untouched, attracting the attentions of neither side. The inhabitants continued with their lives much as their ancestors had done for hundreds of years well into the middle decades of the 20th Century when the population began to decline due to the large numbers of young people attracted to Avila and further afield, meaning that the village has changed little even in the latter half of the last century and first decade of this one. The finest building is probably the Casa-Palacio de la Familia Aboín, of medieval origin but much modernised during the 16th Century. La Familia Aboin were not the original owners of the house, having purchased it with the wealth they made selling off property purchased cheaply from the Marquis de Velada. This property had been sold to the Marquis' ancestor Teresa Carillo by the nuns of the Convento de Santa Clara de Rapariegos, to whom it had been donated by the Valderrábano family in 1470 - yet another example of how the aristocracy get richer and the rest don't. The Inglesia San Lucas Evangelista is also a fine building - little is known of its early history, but it's believed to have been the first church built in the village and to date from the 12th Century. It has benefited from a few additions over the years, the most modern being the restoration of interior and exterior woodwork in the middle of the 20th Century - sadly, in order to finance this essential work, the church was forced to sell some of its historical objects.

An example of the ancient building technique that was until
recently still common in La Torres - granite blocks infilled
with smaller stones, to be surfaced with adobe. Sadly, many
of these traditional structures are being left derelict - the
harsh local conditions soon reducing them into this sort of
state - or demolished to make way for modern homes.

After another few kilometres, the N-110 suddenly deviates 90 degrees to the right (the road is in open fields and permitted room for an uncomplicated bend rather than a sharp and hazardous corner) to negotiate La Torre. Despite the name, there is no tower of particular note in the village - it's believed to have derived its name from the Latin turris referring to the Roman villas of which remains have been excavated in the area. Having passed around the northern end of the village through a small copse, the road continues south-west for several kilometres until it reaches Villatoro. Today, it's small village home to a little over 200 people, but any visitor able to interpret simple clues will see that Villatoro must once have been a far grander place - it had a castle, of which only a tower remains, and the church is far larger than might be expected had the community always been so small. The village's position has a tendency to channel north winds directly through, thus creating a microclimate in which the inhabitants frequently have to tolerate temperatures far colder than the surrounding villages during winter, which can be a very harsh time of the year here. As the peloton approaches the village and the N-110 sweeps left to bypass it, the peloton continue onward into the village along the Calle Calvo Sotelo, rejoining the road on the other side at the point where it begins to climb the uncategorised (hence, without points) Puerto de Villatoro, topping out at 1385m - the actual climb being just over 200m - located at the the junction with the AV-P-637, after which the parcours descends 185m to Casas del Puerto de Villatoro which is located among very beautiful scenery.

Stone cross, San Miguel de
Corneja.

6km on, the peloton reaches the feeding station which comes 89km from the start. It passes north of San Miguel de Corneja, home to three ancient crosses and a traditional dish named Judías del Barco, "Jewish Boat," which evidently does not have kosher origins due to the bacon fat used in the recipe. After another few kilometres, the race reaches Piedrahita. The first documentary evidence of the town comes from the late 12th Century, but there must have been people here before that - as is apparently proven by the existence of standing stones in the nearby woods, believed to have been markers allowing ancient people to find their way home after hunting expeditions. These stones form the basis for one explanation of the name Piedrahita, which means "stone stuck."

The seemingly rather likable Duquesa
Maria, depicted by Goya.

The pleasant location made Piedrahita popular among the aristocracy in times gone by, and so the town has an unusually large number of grand buildings for its size. Many can be seen around the Plaza España; but the most famous is the Palacio de los Duques de Alba, of French Baroque style and set among formal gardens. It was built by Fernando de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo, popularly known as the Old Duke and a close friend of Jean-Jacques Rousseau; but became the home of his daughter Maria del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo who made it a meeting place for artists and intellectuals - including Goya, who painted her in 1785 and with whom she possibly had a sexual affair. Maria, who held no less than 54 aristocratic titles but supported the poor, was known for her liberal attitudes and regularly courted controversy; one one notable occasion to show displeasure towards the French royals, she had made numerous copies of a dress designed exclusively for the French queen and gave them to her servants. Famous also for her height, when her remains were exhumed to be moved to a different site in 1842, it was discovered that her legs had been sawed off in order to fit her body into the coffin and one foot was missing. She was exhumed again 103 years later, when science was able to confirm that her death aged 40 was caused by meningoencephalitis and not, as legend had it, due to poison administered by Manuel Godoy on the rders of Queen Maria Luisa.

A short way into Piedrahita, the peloton reaches a roundabout and turns right, the road leading to a junction between the CL-510 to the right and the AV-102 straight on. They take the latter option and, 100km from the start, come to the a junction where they turn right again onto the AV-104 which is straight but for a wide bend at Palacios de Corneja. Despite the name, meaning Palace of the Crows, there is no palace here; merely a partially-abandoned and dusty little hamlet - which means that it has a particular charm all of its own, and the squat church built of irregular granite blocks is both interesting and pretty. The road crosses a modern bridge west of a stone clapper-type bridge, presumably of some antiquity but, in this part of the world, possibly relatively modern. It then passes San Bartolome de Corneja around a bend before entering a straight run into Santa Maria del Berrocal. This little town became famous in the past for its cloth-manufacturing industry, sending locals out to all corners of the nation to sell the cloth and make into clothes, drapes and other items so that today the berrocalenses (as they're known) can be found throughout Spain, Portugal and Southern France. The road passes through on the Calle Concepcion which becomes narrow but should cause no problems, then turns an easy corner onto the Calle Nueva del Sur which presently becomes the Calle Cruces, leading out of town and back onto the AV-104.

Watchtower, Cespedosa de Tormes.

After 4km, the road becomes the SA-104 and enters the province of Salamanca before passing through Gallegos Solmirón. In another five, it passes north of Bercimuelle and, after 124km from the start, Cespedosa de Tormes which has a partly-ruined 15th Century watchtower which, unless work to preserve it is undertaken, will probably be completely ruined in the near future. It also has a handsome church built in the the same century, with a very imposing altarpiece and an unusual clock projecting from the roof of the tower rather than being located on the walls as is more common. The road follows the southern perimeter of the town, a route which may involve hazards such as diesel spills and street furniture, the exits to the west. It soon reaches a bridge crossing the wide Rio Tormes, from where it's possible to see the much older bridge to the south which now only stretches halfway across, terminating at a silty island in the river which empties into the artificial Embalse Santa Teresa a few kilometres north.

Soon, the N-110 passes underneath the A-66 motorway and the peloton turns right onto the N-630, travelling parallel to the motorway for a while before breaking away for the first intermediate sprint along the Calle Filiberic Villaldecs lading into Guijuelo - which ought to be made more interesting by the large number of speed humps along the road. The parcours narrows and passes right through the town, the inhabitants of which enjoy one of the highest per capita gross incomes in Spain largely due to the local pork industry - Bellota Oro, "Golden Acorn," is made here and has twice been voted the best ham in the world. The road out of town is mostly straight and should be hazard-free, but the peloton will need to negotiate a series of complicated roundabouts and junctions to get onto the DSA-170 leading to Fuentes de Béjar. Note that the parcours drops 50m in the half-kilometre between reaching the outskirts of the village and leaving it behind on the DSA-250, generating high speed and possible accidents if there are any slippery patches or detritus likely to cause punctures on the final bend.

Ledradra is reached 150km from the start, the parcours becoming narrower and potentially hazardous as it travels through the village along the Calle Traviersa and passing the town hall before joining the Calle Arriba leading out. A short distance to the south, it takes in a 90 degree right bend with a bridge; a section made even more hazardous by the surrounding trees and likelihood of slippery leaves/puncture-causing thorns on the road. The road then begins to climb before reaching Sanchotello then travels into the village via a straight section with speed humps, then turns left and over more speed humps to exit. It's a small town with nothing in the way of grand palaces or castles to attract the tourists, but there are some very pretty cottages and old buildings to interest those who take the time to look. However, the location at the foot of the forested hills is the most beautiful aspect of the place. We remain with the DSA-250 as it heads south-west, soon coming to the edge of the forest and then to Navalmoral de Béjar, a village on the verge of being completely abandoned - from 1950, when the population was the highest ever recorded at 402, it dropped to 56 in 2010. This is a pity, because it's an attractive and unspoiled place with a very pretty church and several good buildings. There's a tight hairpin bend and a bridge on the outskirts as the peloton head south, then a few fairly sharp bends and a narrow bridge further on towards the next town.

The medieval tower of the Inglesia de San
Juan Bautista.

After passing through a tunnel under a motorway, the peloton turns left onto the SA-220 which leads along the northern edge of Béjar before turning sharply right and into the centre of the town. Having passed through along a route without difficult corners but including many speed humps and a lot of street furniture, they join the N-630. Béjar has been inhabited since at least 400 BCE, later passing to Roman control and, in 713, Moorish. It returned to Christianity in the 11th Century under Alfonso VI, the fortified citadel and walls being built at this time, but was subject to several Moorish raids. During one of these raids, Christian troops covered themselves with the moss which grows on the rocky hills and thus camouflaged were able to sneak up on the Moorish stronghold and defeat it, an occasion still commemorated and re-enacted at the Feast of Corpus Christi each year. In the 18th Century, the locale grew rich from the production of cloth and became known for the liberalism of its population. This industry, combined with easy access to Catalonia, also enabled Béjar to benefit from the Civil War when it produced many of the uniforms worn by the Republican forces. It has long been home to a Jewish community, their history and that of Spain's Jewish population as a whole being told at the town's Museo Judío which includes a great deal of artifacts and information detailing the lives of Jews forced to convert to Christianity during the 15th Century. Other points of interest include El Bosque, a superb example of a Renaissance ornamental garden; the 13th Century Iglesia de San Juan Bautista; the Iglesia de El Salvador which was regarded as the town's most beautiful building from the date of its medieval completion until 1936 when all but a few remaining fragments were destroyed by fire and the Palacio de los Zúñiga which is built on the site of a Moorish fortress and retains two Moorish towers. One other place to see, if you don't care about or can ignore what takes place there, the octagonal bullring which is the oldest in Spain. It's also the birthplace of three professional cyclists: Roberto Heras, Moisés Dueñas and Laudelino Cubino, the latter having won stages of the Vuelta a Espana in 1987, 1991 and 1992.

As the peloton leaves Béjar behind, the riders begin both the second intermediate sprint and the final climb. This is an unusual situation, since sprints are more commonly held on flat sections, making the likely winners very difficult to predict - will it be a strong sprinter who can produce the explosive energy required even when riding uphill, or will it be a fast climber? An obvious choice would have been Alberto Contador, but he's not competing in the race this year. After four kilometres, having already climbed 200m, the riders come to a fork in the road and turn right onto the SA-100 and reach 1240m at La Hoya. 0.3km further on, they turn right onto the Carretera de la Covatilla and the climb becomes steeper with gradients up to 13.75%.

The ski run at La Covatilla.

Before long, the parcours comes to a series of 14 hairpin bends which take the road almost 400m higher to 1716m above sea level. The following straighter section up to La Covatilla at 1970m, with gradients up to 9.17%, is a real knee-grinder and lung-burster; making this last section a place where only the strongest climbers can triumph.

Predictions: It's a long, lumpy lead-up to a hard, high mountain - in other words, the sort of sadistic stage that makes its victims suffer before going in for the kill. To be in with a chance of winning, a rider needs to be able to keep up the pace through the first 165km - no mean feat in itself, with that Cat 3 near the start and the assorted uncategorised climbs - then arrive at the foot of the last climb with sufficient energy for a successful assault. Back in the day, this would have been an ideal stage for Eddy Merckx - or these days, were this a women's race, Marianne Vos who is increasingly looking set to take his crown as the greatest ever all-rounder. Of all those in this race, who can do that? Joaquin Rodriguez is the first obvious candidate - he's shown the best form by far of any of the climbers so far in the race and can keep on going at a high rate of knots when other climbers cannot. Another rider who may do well here is LeopardTrek's Jakob Fuglsang, a very useful all-rounder who came second in Stage 14 back in 2009 - a stage not at all dissimilar to this one if much shorter.

Stage 14, 2009 (orange), when Fuglsang came second; and Stage 9, 2011 (pink) - the stages are similar
in many ways, so will he do well again? (Note - Stage 14 has been stretched so that the profiles can be
compared. It was considerably shorter than Stage 9, 157km compared to 183km.)

Weather: A little cooler than the early stages again, chiefly due to the majority of the course being at over 1000m. Expect around 25C at the start line, falling to 22C at the summit of the Cat 3 and fluctuating between 22 and 27 for the remainder of the route up until La Covatilla where it's likely to turn much cooler with 18C predicted at the summit. The first half of the stage will be subject to light headwinds, the second half to light crosswinds. However, as ever weather can change quickly in the mountains and wind speed could rise to moderate at altitude. No rain is expected anywhere on the stage.

More Stage Previews: click here

Vuelta a España - Stage 8 Preview

Stage Map: click here
Stage Profile: click here
More Stage Previews: click here

We've had one mountain stage during the first week and some of the plain stages have been anything but flat; today and tomorrow are guaranteed knee-breakers and are likely to have a detrimental effect on the individual time trial specialists who have their sole chance to show what they can do in Stage 10 and ensure all the riders appreciate the rest day following the TT.

Remnants of the Moorish defensive walls at Talavera.

The stage begins in Talavera de la Reina (for more information, see yesterday's preview) along the long, straight Paseo de Padre Juan San Mariana. However, straight doesn't equal easy - there are plenty of speed bumps, roundabouts, street furniture and tricky corners o the way out of the city, meaning even the neutral zone isn't a simple process and could claim a few scalps before the racing is even properly underway. The first corner is a tight right-hander onto the Calle de Olivares and carries the peloton past the Alfar del Carmen, a 17th Century church that lay derelict for many years before a sympathetic restoration completed in late 2010 and new life as a library. Opposite, on the right, is the Iglesia de San Andrés. The road ends with a 90 degree left to join the Calle de San Miguel which sweeps to the right, then a less acute left is made technical by the addition of a small roundabout forcing riders to take a deviating line to the right, tucking in sharply to avoid the corner of the footpath. The Calles de la Marqués de Mirasol and Almanzor shouldn't pose any problems, though the roundabout at the end when the riders cross the Av. de Pio XII requires some thought - the right and left lines have pros and cons of their own, though the left looks the preferable way. The following road is straight, followed by an egg-shaped roundabout with a fountain hence a potentially slippery section if the wind is strong and blowing from the right direction, then passes over railway tracks on a wide bridge and becomes the CM-5100 at the roundabout, easily negotiated by taking the line to the right of the centre. The remainder is flat and with the exception of two bends and a large roundabout poker straight, meaning that the real start at 7.5km will be reached within minutes.

Not far from Cervera de los Montes and in the same province,
Toledo, is Illan de Vacas. With a population of six, it's the
smallest municipality in Spain.

Just to the west and lying next to a lake is Medillin Hill, the site of the British encampment during the Battle of Talavera in 1809. A fly-over carries the peloton over the A-5 motorway then past open-cast mines before the road bends left and right, passing some ruined buildings on the left and then entering a section along the side of a steep slope, potentially hazardous if wind and rain have deposited dirt from the scrubby hillside on the road and almost certainly a place for punctures. The parcours flattens out in less than a kilometre (though the terrain doesn't) and trees replace the jara shrubs as the race enters the irrigated area around Cervera de los Montes, a village 6.6km from the start. The road in narrows sharply and has a number of raised speed bumps. The origins of the village are not known, but it acquired official status in the middle of the 17th Century after religious figures from Talavera built houses here - it was a larger community in the past, reaching over 800 inhabitants in the first third of the 20th Century but was home to just 329 in 2006. The church is a solid and attractive structure, built of large blocks of grey stone and looking rather North European - a complete contrast to the bright village hall which is unmistakably Spanish.

The route begins to climb as Cervera is left behind, reaching 610m after a few kilometres as it passes by a forest. It reaches another roundabout just before Marrupe, where the peloton turn left to pass along the Carretera de Sotillo south-west of the village and soon finds itself on another potentially slippery section with wooded slopes either side. After around 3km, it reaches Sotillo de las Palomas - like its neighbour to the south, Sotillo's population in much reduced but, despite now being home to only 200 people, is officially a town; having been granted such status in 1692. Having clipped the very edge of the town, the road turns northward once again and passes an artificial lake surrounded by trees.

Terrapins are a common sight in the Rio Tietar.

A Z-bend a short way before Buenaventura may prove hazardous, especially on the first bend which intersects with an unsurfaced farm track and may be dusty as a result. The road into the village features two wide bends, one passing by the Ermita de San Sebastián with its gateway that looks like a Neolithic dolmen, but is then straight for the remainder of the way through - a few raised speed humps should therefore cause no problems. There is a fine village square with some good jettied buildings, but little of it can be seen from the road. Just outside the village, there may be mud on the road where a footpath crosses the road between the fields either side and road crosses a bridge - however, it's flat and wide and should not be a hazard. A little further on is a longer bridge over the Río Tiétar, with a modern concrete span supported by what appear to be much older stone piers, and the road becomes the AV-927 which carries the race to the junction with the CL-501 where the peloton turn right and head towards Madrid.

The CL-501 heads north-east, passing by green hills and farms, coming presently to a large roundabout at the junction with the AV-P-705; a much narrower and twistier road with some tight bends. There are some superb views from here into the valley we've just left. Molino del Labradero watermill is one of the most picturesque buildings along the stage - the most, if you prefer tumble-down stone ruins set among shady woods and babbling brooks to high-and-mighty Renaissance and Baroque. High ground to the west leaves no doubt that the race is heading into the mountains, as becomes even more apparent when the road begins the Category 1 climb after 37km, soon reaching Gavilanes.

There are few twists and turns on the way into the town, then a slightly difficult corner in the centre of town as the race reaches the Plaza de Sagrada Familia before it curves around onto the Carretera Mijares. There follows a hairpin and a 90 degree left, then the climb suddenly becomes steeper before reaching Mijares after 4km. The town sits right in the heart of the Valle del Tietar with mountains stretching to almost 2000m on three sides, making the views the best reason to visit. There is also an interesting church and many interesting - if ramshackle - ancient buildings, some with aesthetically-pleasing but terrifyingly unsafe-looking wooden balconies. The AV-P-705 leads to the Calle de Mayor which continues into the town centre, but the peloton will turn the other way to join the AV-901 which passes up to the northern edge of town, then loops around to the south and travels into a hairpin from where there are superb views over the valley, then passes over an old bridge. Once through a Z-bend, the parcours begins to climb steeply once again and reaches 1000m within a kilometre.

The next hairpin is a site of especial beauty, the road crossing by way of an old stone bridge a mountain stream as the water falls onto large boulders further down. The parcours changes to travel south, then west as it makes use of the contours of the land to find the least steep way up, then reaches a very tight hairpin and travels north again, crossing the same stream a second time via a bridge 150m higher up the mountain. For some reason, there's a stone-built public oven - about the size of a small bus stop - next to the stream. Another hairpin leads to a right-hand bend which looks set to be trouble-free, then leads to the next hairpin. The following section is spectacular as the road clings to a very steep mountainside, the gulley to the right dropping down 100m and the summit to the left rearing up 650m above the road. At one point, it passes a waterfall flowing through a deep slot it's cut into the rocks, no doubt over many hundreds of years; using a bridge perched on the slope. Down the gully stands a ruined bridge apparently of great antiquity. The last trees of any size can be seen nearby - from here until the descent, it's all ground-hugging shrubs, heather and moss. A hairpin in a narrow gully takes the route west again, leading past barren rocks. Just around the following hairpin is a roadside trough which, by the looks of it, was a welcome sight for many centuries to the horses and oxen that pulled loads up here and a little way further on the peloton reaches the highest point of the climb, 1570m above sea level.

Two hairpins lead down to some roadside buildings, then a reasonably straight section will encourage high speeds before the road rounds a bend and traverses another steep slope with views to the forest and lakes further down. Four hairpins in half a kilometre drop the route 100m before it straightens out and leads into Villanueva de Ávila, which although small has some attractive architecture; the buildings designed to cope with both the high summer heat and deep snow in the freezing winters. There are three raised speed humps, then a hairpin on the outskirts before the road heads into a forested section where corners could be slippery due to mud, gravel and leaves washing down from the slopes. A high bridge with one main arch and one smaller arch carries the road across a river a short distance from Burgohondo, where it changes name and becomes the AV-900. A local legend states that this bridge, of Moorish origin, was the meeting point of a poor boy and a beautiful girl from a rich family - their love, as is the way in legends of this sort, having been strictly forbidden by her father. So that she would not be seen using the bridge and questioned about where she had been, the girl would cross the river by jumping from rock to rock below the arches on her way to secret meetings with her beloved until one day when she fell in and was drowned. Her ghost can apparently sometimes be seen in the waters below the bridge, where it has been known to lure men to their own deaths.

Burgohondo is home to the Ermita de los Judíos, "the Chapel of the Jews." The building was constructed in the 14th Century and served as a synagogue, but later became a Christian site - as is made clear by the paintings on the walls within which, featuring the Crucifixion, Christian saints and the Virgin, would most certainly look out of place in any Jewish place of worship.


A short film (in Spanish) about the Chapel of the Jews.

Despite being home to less than 1300 people, the town has become famous for its cuisine and gastronomes travel for many miles to visit the restaurants, some of which serve fish caught in the crystal-clear river. It's also famous for giving the world two professional cyclists: Jesús Hernández Blázquez of Saxobank-Sungard, born in 1981 and an ex-training partner of Alberto Contador when he was a member of the Basque Iberdrola team and a friend of Rabobank's Luis Leon Sanchez; and Rubén Calvo, born in 1985, who now competes in professional mountain bike racing.

Carlos Sastre, winner of the 2008
Tour de France, is a native of
El Barraco.

The road begins to clim again as the town is left behind, passing arable land and woods en route to Navalmoral de la Sierra which is reached 81km from the start. The road turns a 90 degree left corner right on the outskirts of the village, then an equally tight right before joining the AV-905 heading east and coming to the feeding station. It passes through more fields, then enters an area of scrubland and becomes straight as it approaches the next village, San Juan de la Nava, passing straight through, over a bridge and onward to the junction with the N-403 leading into El Barraco, which hosts the start and finish of the annual 122km Ciclomarcha Carlos Sastre cycle race. Sastre was born here, as was his father Victor; himself a cyclist and the creator and director of the Fundación Provincial Deportiva, a unique school of cycling which has successfully developed a number of promising local talents into world-beating professionals including Carlos's brother-in-law José, who came 3rd overall in the 1998 Vuelta and tragically died of a heart attack five years later when he was aged just 32, Omega-Pharma-Lotto's Óscar Pujol and Movistar's Pablo Lastras, one of the very few riders to have won stages in all three Grand Tours (the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and this race).

Fiesta de las Luminarias

The road through El Barraco passes the town hall and central square; allowing us a chance to see some of the town's old buildings, some of them constructed using large, roughly-hewn blocks of local stone. Right on the south-eastern edge, the route turns a sharp left and continues along the AV-P-306 which, after a while, follows the course of a small river and is surrounded by greenery irrigated by the water. Some kilometres out of town is a narrow bridge followed by a junction between the road and a dusty track, a possible danger point as riders forced to drop back from the peloton when constricted by the bridge try to catch up; then a short distance on it begins a Cat 2 climb, reaching 1000m just outside San Bartolomé de Pinares. Four switchbacks take the race up the slope immediately south-east of the town, then the 1214m summit comes just before turning onto the AV-P-307 heading north - however, the parcours continues to climb. San Bartolomé de Pinares' has half a church - the end with the tower still stands next to the ornate stone arch that forms a gateway into the churchyard, but the other half has fallen down. For more than two centuries, ever since a mysterious disease killed all the horses in the vicinity, the town has held a unique annual Fiesta de las Luminarias during which large bonfires are lit on the streets and the horses ridden or jumped through the flames. While the horses probably don't like it very much, owners bring their most valuable animals in an effort to drive out the evil spirits that were blamed for the epidemic and take very great care to ensure no harm comes to their expensive beasts.

But for a few gentle bends, the AV-P-307 is almost perfectly straight as it passes through the arid landscape all the way to La Cañada. This town forms a single municipal entity with the nearby village of Herradón de Pinares and the two communities have seen fit to vote in two members of the extreme right-wing Democracia Nacional, an equal number to the centre-right conservative Partido Popular, the deputy mayor openly expressing Nazi sympathies. Fortunately, it's an uninteresting little town without interesting architecture and so there's no reason to bolster up Democracia Nacional's reputation by remaining in the area and contributing to the local economy. After passing through an ugly new development on the southern edge of the town, the parcours turns a sharp right onto the CL-505 which, following a twisty section just beyond the town, is argely straight as it passes Navalperal de Pinares on the way to Las Navas del Marqués.

Castillo-Palacio de Magalia.

Those readers who have also seen our earlier stage previews may be thinking that, thus far, Stage 8 has been oddly devoid of castles - it seemed that virtually every village, town and city the race passed through earlier in the race had at least one and often two. Las Navas del Marqués, meanwhile, provides one more than sufficient to satisfy the castle fans with the Castillo-Palacio de Magalia, which is unique due to having two flat vaults in one of the towers. Though it looks like a medieval castle, the structure is in fact a Renaissance palace; however, the defenses are more than decorative and demonstrate that violence was still an ever-present threat during the 16th Century when it was built by Marquis of Las Navas, Pedro Davila y Zuniga. It was abandoned during the 18th Century, then sold in the 20th to a commercial concern who later gave it to the Spanish state to be converted into a cultural centre. It became a residential hall for the Women's Section of the fascist Falange party after the Civil War, eventually being put to good use following the introduction of democracy and now hosts cultural events and conferences. Recently, the town has gained another cultural centre in the Convento de Santo Domingo y San Pablo; built in 1546 then abandoned in the 19th century to those looters brave enough to venture inside despite the stories of terrifying moans said to come from ghostly monks (but, upon investigation, discovered to have actually come from non-ghostly owls). Masonry was carted off for use elsewhere, a bronze tombstone marking the grave of the same Marquis who built the Castillo-Palacio was stolen by left-wing forces in the Civil War (subsequently returned, and now on display at the site), then the building was left to rot - the mild summers and cold winters of the region taking little time to reduce an uncared-for building to rubble. In 2004, it was sold and is now run by the Ministry of Culture who use it to host art exhibitions and other events. The owls, presumably, are now terrifying stupid people elsewhere.

The peloton leaves the town heading east on the AV-P-308 and, having crossed a wide bridge, begins to climb Cat 2 Alto de Santa Maria. The first hairpin follows a 90 degree left-hand bend and the altitude reaches 1200m halfway round. The next, coming in close succession, carries the race up to the 1435m summit just before the road becomes the M-535 at another hairpin, south of Santa Maria de la Alameda. The descent is long and fast but relatively free of obvious hazards other than a bridge set among stunning scenery as it crosses the Rio Aceña  followed by a 90 degree right bend, then it begins to climb again into Robledondo, located 155.5km from the start and 1330m above sea level.

The Rio Acena Road Bridge, one of
Spain's most popular sites for
bungee jumping. Each to their own.

Santa Maria de la Alameda is officially a part of the Comunidad de Madrid region but it not geographically linked to it, being located within an enclave between Segovia and Avila. Not far to the south is a high bridge where the M-505 crosses the river, one of the most popular places in Spain for bungee jumping. Robledondo is an attractive village, though it has little to detain visitors for long. The road passes straight through with four raised humps, then turns sharply south for the beginning of the first intermediate sprint along a road offering excellent views of the Monasterio de El Escorial desde la Cruz Verde, many kilometres away. A short climb ends at a crossroads just east of what appears to be an ancient defensive earthwork, very much along the lines of Bronze Age forts in Northern Europe (40°34'23.28"N 4°12'14.15"W). At the end, a 90 degree left followed by a hairpin lead to the junction with the M-505 near a restaurant named La Venterola. It heads east, then south to a cafe at Puerto de la Cruz Verde, a popular haunt of the motorcyclists who come from right across Europe to ride on the local roads, then enters a twisty section heading north-east before the peloton turn left onto the much narrower Carretera de Robledo leading into San Lorenzo de El Escorial. This road could be slippery, especially if the August rains that sometimes fall in this area have washed leaves and mud onto the tarmac from the forested hill to the north. A forest track joins the road about halfway along, forming an added hazard as agricultural vehicles may have left mud on the road here. As the race enters the town, it passes the Casa del Infante with its formal gardens.

Monasterio de El Escorial

The second intermediate sprint takes place in the town, using the narrow streets and tight corners around the enormous Monasterio to create a testing course that may see several crashes and possibly even lead to a few riders abandoning the race. The Monasterio, which combines a palace and a basilica along with an actual monastery is commonly, widely and even rightfully considered among the most beautiful and spectacular buildings anywhere in the world. Begun in the 16th Century, it covered over 33,000 square metres by the 18th when it became known as the 8th wonder of the world. It was built largely as a reaction by the Catholic King Philip II to the Protestant Reformation, using finances from royal coffers swollen by gold brought across from Spain's New World territories. His design brief was straight-forward: "simplicity in the construction, severity in the whole, nobility without arrogance, majesty without ostentation." The half-million tourists who come every year are doubtless struck by the building's success in achieving all of those aims. On the outskirts of the town is the so-called Chair of Philip II, where legend has it that the king would sit whilst viewing the construction of his remarkable Monasterio. Whether he did or not and whatever it originally was, the "chair" had been there for a long time before he sat on it - it's visibly ancient and is probably pre-Roman.

A view from the west, showing the vast scale of the Monasterio.

Having raced through the streets, the peloton turns onto the Ctra. de la Presa and Calle Fuente de la Teja as they head upwards into the forest north-west of the city, then a hairpin leads onto the Pista Forestal as it traverses the hill and leads gradually back down to join the the M-600, which turns left into El Escorial. The peloton passes along the Calle de San Sebastian which has several speed humps, then joins the Av. de la Arboleda Pascual. At the end, it turns a sharp right and travels under a bridge carrying train lines and becomes the Av. de Reyes Católicos leading back to San Lorenzo de El Escorial, then turns right into the Calle del Doctor Don Juan Abelló Pascual, much narrower.  A final 90 degree left corner leads onto the Calle Cañada Nueva before the final run to the finish at 177.3km. This stage, however, does not end with a straight-forward sprint - there are two ramped sections rated at gradients of 27 and 28% which, though short, will feel like hammerblows to the kneecaps this late in the race.

Joaquin Rodriguez

Predictions: We're back into the hills for this one: after a flat (well, flattish) start, it's pointy stuff all the way starting with Cat 1 Puerto de Mijares featuring a harsh 1050m of climbing - and parts are very steep. Pay attention here, because whoever rides well on this climb will also do well on Angliru, the mountain that could decide the overall winner of the race (and may very easily decide which riders are going home early). There are several climbers - and a few puncheurs, for that matter - who are showing early promise this year. Daniel Moreno is one of them, the first man up Sierra Nevada in Stage 4. So is Chris Sorenson, who followed him up and was second over the line. What we need to remember, though, is that the big climb comes early on in the stage - when at the summit, the riders have still got 120km to go and there isn't a flat section anywhere among them. Will Moreno and Sorenson be able to keep up the pace? What you need for this sort of stage is a combination of grimpeur and Classics specialist, a man who can race skywards with the best and then keep going and going and going. That sounds rather a lot like Joaquin Rodriguez.


Weather: Mercifully cooler again. It'll be hot at the start, around 26-27C right up until the foot of the first mountain. As would be expected, the temperature will drop progressively with altitude, finishing up at about 19C at the summit. Top temps on the other side should reach no more than 26C and then becoming cooler on the following climbs with 24C expected at the finish. Light headwinds shouldn't cause too much hardship and no rain is expected anywhere along the parcours.

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Vuelta a España - Stage 7 Preview

Despite being the site of mercury mining
for 2000 years, Almaden is famous for
its wildlife - including the rare European
Lynx

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The peloton might wonder if they got a dose of mercury vapours from the mines underneath start town Almaden today, because of there's one thing this supposedly plain stage isn't it's flat - but as the numerous climbs are uncategorised and thus feature no pots of golden climbing points waiting at the summits, the riders may well be asking themselves if they're mad to even bother. Don't think this will be an easy stage win for a climber though, because the organisers have cunningly arranged one intermediate sprint at 130km, another at 160km and then a probable sprint finish 27km further on. It's one of those stages that makes prediction impossible until the day - and even then, unless some plucky roleur fancies himself as Eddy Merckx for the day and hammers off on a heroic solo break, it could go to anyone and the race will in all likelihood be decided in the final few kilometres.

Almaden - and the mines that made it rich, also giving the town its name from the Arabic al-ma'din, "the mine" - owe their existence to the world's largest reserves of cinnabar, the ore from which mercury is extracted, and the town has produced more of the metal than anywhere else on the planet. This led to great wealth from the 16th Century onwards when new techniques using mercury to extract gold and silver from ore were developed, with the majority of Almaden's output being shipped to the Americas.

Work in the mines was extremely dangerous and death - from accidents as well as exposure to the highly toxic mercury - was common, so from 1566 to 1801 convicts and African slaves were forced to carry out the work (convict labour was halted in 1801, slave labour presumably continued for another decade until Spain abolished slavery at home and in all but three of its colonies in 1811). Conditions were so bad that a Royal commission recommended wide-reaching changes in the 1580s, an unusual move for those times which suggests just how atrocious the work must have been. However, even after improvements a quarter of all convict labourers died before their sentences were completed and almost all suffered at least some medical complaint, from severe pain in the joints to insanity. The last mine finally closed in 2000, following a fall in international mercury prices which left the operation no longer financially viable.

Almaden's hexagonal bullring is undoubtedly a beautiful
building. It's just a shame it can't be used for something
that doesn't involve the pointless torture of animals.

Almaden also has the second oldest bullring in Spain, unique for its hexagonal plan. Those of you who have read our previous Vuelta stage previews will know our opinion on the so-called sport of bullfighting, so that's all we'll say about the place other than that the riders start off right outside, then turn onto the N-502 and continue along the wide and easy road until reaching the end of the neutral zone in the extraordinarily flat landscape north of the town. The parcours remains flat for a few kilometres, then climbs Puerto Grande and Puente Rayo at 615m and 630m in the first 11km.

From this point onwards, the road consists of long straight sections with occasional tight bends; a tricky arrangement as the straights can have an effect similar to mesmerism, causing a rider's reactions to become sluggish when a bend approaches. After passing between forested hills, there's a potentially hazardous "U" shaped band leading to a very narrow - and extremely pretty - bridge at the 15km point; usually with no more than a trickle of water below, but the six arches, wide course and stocky foundations are proof that the river isn't always a tiny stream. As the road narrows to cross, this is another potential hazard as the peloton needs to spread out in order to pass by, regrouping on the opposite side. A wide expanse of green fills the space between and to either side of this river and its northern neighbour the Rio Frio, then it's back into more aridity as the race approaches a junction with the CM-4103, traveling right through and crossing another bridge.

Herrera del Duque Castle.

After 44.7km, the road arrives at a junction where the peloton turn onto the N-430 heading west, across another bridge. It passes south of a green ridge, then arrives at another of the deviously twisted complex junctions with which the Spanish like to decorate their nation's landscape. Here, the riders turn right onto the N-502a which extends via three long, straight sections to Herrera del Duque, located in a region rather surprisingly named La Siberia.

Herrera's peculiar-looking castle was built at some point during the 15th and 16th Centuries by the de Sotomayor family who had taken clever advantage of civil and military unrest throughout the country to make themselves fabulously wealthy and powerful. Sitting atop a rocky outcrop, it contrives to look far larger than it really is and, somehow, more impregnable - which it in fact would not have been, since medieval military historians have identified serious flaws in the design including weak points which would have been impossible to defend from within. The Plaza de España is considered the town's finest thoroughfare, its polished black jasper fountain standing in stark contrast with the gleaming white walls of the surrounding buildings, but there are many other fine streets. Near the town is a semi-ruined medieval bridge across a rocky stream, looking for all the world as though a giant has picked up a piece of the Yorkshire Dales and put it back down again here. A number of fine mansions stand within and around the town, the finest of them all being the vast and fortified Palacio de Cijara, built in 1873 to serve as the home of Count Villapadierna.

The road just clips the north-eastern edge of the town before veering north, a route which unfortunately gives us a view of yet another bull-torturing-ring before heading off and over another narrow bridge and entering one of the most beautiful sections of the entire 2011 race, the huge and fractal Embalse de Garcia de Sola, an artificial reservoir created by several dams and occupying a series of shallow valleys to form a lightning bolt shape some 60km from end to end. The parcours uses a modern concrete bridge across a narrow inlet, just to the right of a much older stone bridge, then comes to a longer bridge stretching across one of the main courses and offering superb views of the lake and surrounding countryside. On the opposite bank is Castilblanco, a town built on a hill rising around 50m from its surrounds, which the race passes by to the south, west and north.

An engraving of the Templar castle at Castilblanco.

Those who go in search of the white castle will be disappointed, as it vanished long ago - a pity, since it's said to have been very impressive and there's some evidence of Templar connections. What's more, it never was white - blanco is believed to derive from the tabards worn by the knights. However, the town has much else to recommend it, including the Iglesia de San Cristóbal - the tower of which is the last surviving part of the castle. Sadly, the church has been subject to several rather poor restorations over the years and has little of its original splendour. Prior to a fire in the 19th Century, it was famous for a remarkable carved wooden ceiling; this being replaced by a poor copy which was itself destroyed during the Civil War.

One Castilblanco is left behind, the N-502 climbs for a few kilometres before dropping into a forested section, crosses a bridge and then sweeps through several wide bends before coming to more forest. Soon, it reaches the dam holding back the Embalse de Cijara, another artificial lake, located within a National Hunting Reserve. Deer, wild boar, deer, otters, eagles, quail, bobcats and black storks are frequently seen around the lake. The road narrows as it passes into the pine forest surrounding the lake and takes in four potentially slippery bends before a very tight left corner, then starts to climb up to Puerto Rey; reaching an altitude of 620m just as the village is reached 109km from the start. The village doesn't have any of the grand sights to which we become so accustomed during the Vuelta, but that's due not so much to its diminutive size as to not needing them, such is the glory of its location high in the rolling hills and surrounded by mixed forest inhabited by deer and wild boar in great numbers.

The dusty little towns of Spain are often
quite poor, meaning that ancient
features such as this water trough in
Sevilleja de la Jara remain in place, rather
than being demolished to make way for
new  developmentsas they would
in wealthier towns.

The descent is fast, dropping over 100m in a little over a kilometre, but has just one wide bend and as a result should cause no problems. It then climbs again, reaching almost 700m before the road becomes poker straight for a while, then negotiates some simple bends just before and around Sevilleja de la Jara. The village dates from the 13th Century, when it was founded by a group of Moors fleeing persecution - they picked a superb location for their new home in an area made fertile by several small rivers and with mountains rising to over 1200m a little over a kilometre away. Today, the local economy depends largely upon hunting - you can say what you like about hunting, but hunters do want wide tracts of countryside well-stocked with wildlife, and there's plenty of that here. The views towards and from the village are stunning, especially after rain when the fields erupt with wild flowers, and we'll get some of the best of them as the peloton swings by the western edge. After another kilometre it passes east past Gargantilla, a small and unpretentious village lacking in fine buildings but rich in interesting - if somewhat neglected - detail, the sort of place that those tourists seeing real Spain and experience Spanish life as led by a probable majority of the Spanish people.

The road north to La Nava de Ricomalillo passes through a wide irrigated section, climbing slightly for a short way, and is mostly straight and free of obvious hazards. The date of the village's founding and the etymology of the name are unknown; but archaeological evidence points to a Roman presence and some scholars have suggested the name comes from a combination of the words nava, meaning plain, the Arabic rukun meaning corner and possibly maillo meaning crabapple. There is an attractive square, a pretty church and one or two other buildings of note, but the highlight of the town is the annual Fiesta de los Molinos, the feast of the mills - this takes place on the first or second Sunday in August, however, and so will not coincide with the Vuelta's visit. As the riders pass the town, they reach the 130km ridden point and begin the first of the stage's intermediate sprints, taking in two wide bends.

A few kilometres out of town, the road turns sharply right and into a hairpin to negotiate a wide ravine and then continues north through wide, arid spaces and past a green hill rising to around 250m above the surrounding countryside to the east. It turns north east to pass by Belvis de la Jara. Belvis is believed to be derived from the Latin bellum visum, beautiful view, and it's very obvious why the town should be so-called - the views of the mountains are spectacular and unimpeded by anything on the plains dotted with jara shrubs which have given this region its name. We won't be able to see much other than the church's tower, however, as the road passes 0.2km away to the north before entering a twisty section just beyond, the clips the northern edge of Alcaudete de la Jara as the second intermediate sprint begins after 160km. The N-502 continues north, long straight sections punctuated by non-challenging bends, then suddenly enters a wide expanse of green on the banks of a river north-west of Las Herencias. The landscape here is characterised by the circular irrigated fields which look like giant green vinyl records from the air. To the east is an area of low crags.

Monasterio de San Benito in Talavera de la Reina.

The road becomes straight and enters an industrial area, then comes to a roundabout. Passage about it ought to be simple, but with the presence of industrial units - including what appears to be a shipping container depot which will be visited by many trucks each day - there's a high likelihood of diesel spills: if the weather is dry there should be no problems, if it's wet things may be different. Once over the roundabout, the peloton approaches the Puente Nuevo as it crosses the Rio Tajo at a wide bend where there are several small wooded islands - the ideal place for herons, storks and the various other waterfowl that are regularly seen here. Once over, the race is in Talavera de la Reina. At a roundabout next to a park made ugly by what will thankfully be the last bullring we'll see today the peloton turns a tight left corner onto the Ronda de Canillo, which leads south west to the river and the Av. Real Fabrica de Sedas and - after 187.6km - the end of the stage.

Excavation of Roman remains in Talavera de la Reina.

Neolithic remains have been found in the vicinity of Talavera de la Reina, but it seems not to have been a permanent settlement until the Celts arrived and named the town the established here Talabriga. The Romans called it Caesarobriga, though they faced fierce resistance from the Celtic inhabitants which needed to be quelled before they could begin to make the town their own. They fortified it with defensive walls and added a new bridge, making it an important trading post along one of the main routes connecting southern Spain with the ports along the east coast and, ultimately, Rome; and so it wasn't long before the town grew into a city fully equipped with baths, theatres, villas, temples and all the other civic amenities considered essential to a Roman's existence. The Visigoths took control as soon as the Romans had left and built the first of the Christian churches in the city, including the original church on the site of a temple to Pales and now occupied by the Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Prado that was begun in the 16th Century but much enlarged since so that it now combines elements of both Renaissance and Baroque. It is believed that Christian worship was permitted to continue on the site during Moorish rule from 712, the Moors being considerably tolerant towards their Christian subjects than vice-versa when the tables were turned some centuries later.

Moorish walls at Talavera de la Reina.

The Moors improved the city's defensive network, building new walls of which some well-preserved sections remain. They were also developed trade to new heights, making the city wealthier than it had ever been before and added water mills and irrigation projects to make sure the population were well-fed, and renaming it Talavayra. In addition, they facilitated the development of the potteries, trading the wares produced within them far and wide and showing great respect towards their Jewish owners and craftsmen.

Following the Reconquest and return to Christian rule, Talavera was granted the right to host two fairs each year which brought traders from far and wide and ensuring the city's continuation as a trading centre. The fairs are still held today in May and September. By the 15th Century, the potteries had begun to specialise in the production of decorative glazed tiles which can be seen in many churches and cathedrals around Spain. During the middle of the 18th Century, the Royal Silk Mills were established along the stretch of river where the stage ends, now known as the Av. Real Fabrica de Sedas. The potteries rose in importance again during the 19th Century and Talavera became the first Spanish city with a railway station.

Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Prado seen
from Alameda Park.

The first half of the 20th Century was difficult for all Spain and Talavera didn't escape - in September 1936, the densely populated Puerta de Cuartos neighbourhood was heavily bombed by Franco's airforce, causing many deaths and great damage. It subsequently suffered more bombing raids between July 1937 and March 1938. Following the return to democracy, Talavera has continued to develop its commercial and industrial interests, thus remaining among the wealthiest of Spanish cities and as such offers a quality of life far in advance of that found elsewhere.

It is a city with much to see. In addition to the Basílica, it has a Renaissance city hall painted in bright colours; the 17th Century Baroque Casa-Palacio de la Calle del Sol which features unmistakably medieval pilasters suggesting either recycling of material from elsewhere or, more likely, origins much older than is evident at first glance; the remaining Royal Silk Mills and the recently-completed Puente de Castilla la Mancha, the tallest bridge in Spain with high observation platforms permitting panoramic views across the city and surrounding region. The bridge is so high that workers on different levels noticed peculiar phenomena, such as those at the top of the towers working in falling snow while those working on the foundations worked in rain.

Predictions: We could imagine young Tom Boonen doing a good job on this one - though the stage is without massive changes in altitude, the constant ups and downs make it seem precisely the sort of stage upon which a Paris-Roubaix-hardened Classics specialist such as him can perform in a way that dedicated stage race riders cannot. Let's not forget Cancellara, though: he's the boss of the TT as we all know, but bear in mind he's won Paris-Roubaix twice and has demonstrated excellent form in the race so far.

Weather: Good news for the riders - the extreme heat is gone for today. However, cool weather for August in Spain is still pretty damn hot - we can expect temperatures to range from a low of 25C at the start, fluctuating up and down throughout the stage until reaching 30C at the finish. That's definitely warm, but a lot less so than the previous stages. It looks like we'll have crosswinds all the way, but they'll be gentle enough to not cause problems. Rain is very unlikely throughout the entire parcours.

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