Vuelta heads for the hills

Los Ancares is just one of the aspects of the 2012 Vuelta
that make it very much a race for the climbers
(image credit: FCPB CC BY-SA 3.0)

The 2012 Tour de France bowed out of the mountains arms race that has seen the three Grand Tours adding longer, steeper and ever more challenging climbs as the battled to lay claim to the toughest Queen Stage over the last few years, finally deciding that enough is enough and organising an event that a non-grimpeur might have a chance of winning rather than searching out some topography to outdo the Mortirolo, Zoncolan and Angliru; but the Vuelta a Espana has apparently reminded itself that a far a many fans are concerned, the mountains maketh the tour and gone in the other direction entirely, introducing more and tougher climbs for this year.

Last year's race, which ventured into the Basque Country for the first time in a generation, proved that there are some beautiful mountain roads in the north of Spain and this year the race has a very northern flavour - there are no stages south of Madrid, seemingly a strange choice since the sport ha a large fan base in the lower latitudes of the country. Coll de la Gallina, Los Ancares, Bola del Mundo, Valdezcaray, Lagos de Covadonga, Cuitu Negro, the Coll de la Gallina and Arrate will all test the peloton to the limit - last year, Mark Cavendish abandoned the race; explaining that he's a sprinter and the race had no sprints left. This year, the sprinters have their chances reduced to Stages 10, 12, 13, 17, 19, and 21, with 2 and 18 not out of reach for those who suffer less than others on the climbs. That's six sprint stages of which 13, 19 and 21 will by no means be easy wins - so who knows how many will even bother showing up?

It's not going to be a race for the time trial specialists either, with organisers reducing the individual TT to a mere 40km, so expect teams to send their finest climbers to compete on some stunning and very hard stages.

Stages 1-21 altimetry (click to enlarge):

What's with... Alto de l'Angliru?

Alto de l'Angliru (from here)

Cycling is uniquely cruel among sports. Those who know little about it don't understand this, often assuming that a three-week stage race is much like an extended Sunday jaunt around the countryside. Those who race know that even if they come out as overall victor, the race will take more from them than they will ever get out of the race. It's a bloodsport - ever since the early days, there have been those races that seek to hurt those taking part; this being perhaps best summed up by Henri Desgrange, the Tour de France's first director, when he stated that for him the ideal Tour would be one in which only one rider finished - or perhaps better still by the existence of Paris-Roubaix, a race that actively seeks the worst roads in France and is more commonly known as The Hell of the North.

"It's bollocks, this race! You're working like an animal, you don't have time to piss, you wet your pants. You're riding in mud like this, you're slipping ... it’s a pile of shit." (Theo de Rooij on Paris-Roubaix)

Mont Ventoux became cycling's most feared climb with the tragic, legendary death of 29-year-old Tommy Simpson in 1967, leaving it known as the mountain that can kill; its reputation as a place of sacrifice cemented forever when it very nearly claimed Eddy Merckx three years later. In fact, it's considered so challenging that were it not for that reputation, it would probably be one of the less famous climbs - after all, it's been a part of the race just fourteen times since first inclusion in 1951. The Col du Galibier, the sixth highest mountain pass in Europe, has been a very big part of the Tour since 1911. Frequently the highest point of the race, Galibier is not especially steep but reaches 2645m above sea level - a height at which altitude sickness becomes a real factor. The Col du Tourmalet first featured in the race in 1910:

"His body heaved at the pedals, like an automaton, on two wheels. He wasn't going fast but he was at least moving. I trotted alongside him and asked 'Who are you? What's going on? Where are the others?' Bent over his handlebars, his eyes riveted on the road, the man never turned his head nor uttered one sole word. He continued and disappeared round a turn. Steinès had read his number and consulted the riders' list. Steinès was dumfounded. 'The man is François Lafourcade, a nobody. He has caught and passed all the cracks' ... Another quarter-hour passed before the second rider appeared, whom we immediately recognised as Octave Lapize. Unlike Lafourcade, Lapize was walking, half leaning on, half pushing his machine. But unlike his predecessor, Lapize spoke, and in abundance. 'You are assassins, yes, assassins!' To discuss matters with a man in this condition would have been cruel and stupid."

The cruelty among cycling's fans is unique, too. Is there any other sport in which the crowds are most excited and happy not when their heroes have won and are being showered in glory, but on the grinding ascent of a mountain such as the Alpe d'Huez when they're at their lowest ebb, in pain and exhausted? This is a sport in which the fans want to see their idols suffer.

When the Tour goes up Alpe d'Huez, it's a squalid, manic and sometimes lethal shambles, and that's just the way they like it. It's the Glastonbury Festival for cycling fans. (Tim Moore)

RCS Sport, the organisers of the Giro d'Italia, understand this. Wanting to attract new interest in their race and, perhaps, sick of perpetually playing second fiddle to their big French cousin, they included the Mortirolo Pass for the first time in 1990. There are three routes up Mortirolo, the hardest being the road from Mazzo di Valtellina - a 12.4km climb of 1300m which at one point hits a gradient of 18%.

If the Giro played second fiddle, the Vuelta was treated like a jobbing musician taken on simply to make up numbers in the orchestra. For many decades seen as the lesser of the three Grand Tours and even denounced by some as boring in comparison with the Tour and Giro, organisers Unipublic wanted their race to become known as a real test, an event in which teams would need to enter their very best and strongest riders rather than recent youthful acquisitions to see how they fared. So, they began scouring Spain to find a climb as harsh as anything the other Tours had ever included. Angliru was "discovered" by Miguel Prieto, one of the directors of the ONCE team, whilst holidaying at El Gamonal in 1997 - which, despite what many books claim, is not an alternative name for Angliru but the title of a mountain standing nearby and some 142m higher.

At that time, there was no road over the summit; merely a rough track known only to local shepherds and a few of the hardier hikers who visited the beautiful region. This made it unsuitable for inclusion in the race. However, the Ayuntamiento de Riosa (Riosa municipal council) made the decision to pave the road, bringing the Vuelta to the area and - with a bit of luck - tourists in its wake. It was featured for the first time in 1999 when the great El Chava José Maria Jimenez Sastre, brother of Tour winner Carlos, achieved one of the most legendary stage wins in cycling as he emerged out of thick fog at the summit. Four years later, he was dead, having suffered a massive heart attack at the age of 33 - leaving many wondering if this was caused by the sheer stress placed upon the hearts of climbing specialists.

The climb is 13.1km long and ascends through 1255m. The initial 5km are not especially challenging, with a low average gradient rising to 9.1% at the steepest - hard work for sprinters and mere mortals, but not an ordeal by the standards of professional grimpeurs. A flat section, with an average of just 2.1%, separates this lower section from the heights - where it becomes much, much more difficult. Once into the final 6km, the road enters Las Curvas de Les Cabanes with a 22% gradient over 0.15km, before becoming less steep for a short distance. Next up, La Curva Los Picones hits 20%, followed by La Curva Cobayos at 21.5%.

This is where the mountain gets serious - Angliru fights anyone who tries to reach its summit, testing their strength as they near the top with the fearsome La Cueña Les Cabres and a gradient of 23.8%. In 2003, when the stage was raced in heavy rain, team cars were unable to continue from this point after stalling on the steep slopes and being unable to gain sufficient grip to get going again - as a result, riders were forced to go on without support. Several did so with flat tyres, the mechanics unable to reach them. David Millar, having crashed three times on the narrow and technical road, abandoned the race in disgust. Any cyclist who can keep going through La Cueña Les Cabres has earned the right to think of him or herself as a hero, but the mountain hasn't finished yet: Aviru at 21.5% and Les Piedrusines at 20% wait before the top, remaining at 15% until the final half kilometre when it eventually settles down to 5%.

On average, a professional mountain specialist cyclist will take around two hours to climb Angliru. It is, without doubt, the most challenging climb in any of the Grand Tours; surpassing anything offered by the Tour, trumping the Giro's Mortirolo (maximum gradient a paltry 18%) and even the Zoncolan, introduced by RCS Sport specifically as a response to this mountain.

"What do they want? Blood? They ask us to stay clean and avoid doping and then they make the riders tackle this kind of barbarity." (Vicente Belda, Team Kelme manager)

Tour de France: Stage 8 Preview

Aigurande

"First of the mountains today profile is more or less just climbing all day." (@swiftybswift, Team Sky's Ben Swift, Twitter)

The sprinters have had a fun week up in the flatlands of Northern and Western France where the racing has been all on their terms, but their games come to an abrupt end today when the Tour de France - en route for the Pyrenees - turns south and into the Massif Central. More than anything else, this means that the race favourites begin to emerge: whoever does well on the climbs is a safe bet to do well in the Tour overall, especially in one such as this which is very much a race for the grimpeurs.

Today's start town is Aigurande with its unusual church that has a heavily-buttressed octagonal tower, close to the physical centre of France. With a population of under 1,700, the town is fortunate in having a cinema, a building which in part looks like the typically modernistic cinemas of the late 1940s and in part like one of the traditional houses of the region: an odd mix. The route soon travels through the flat and marshy land into the department of Creuse, which for many centuries provided architects and builders of cathedrals and other large projects. Known as the Masons of Creuse, they built the dam at La Rochelle and much of Baron Haussmann developments in Paris. The first village we come to in the department is La Forêt-du-Temple, site of what is reputed to be a Templar temple. Another few kilometres brings us to Nouziers, the northernmost town in Limousin, so expect some footage of large cows. 34km from tha start, we come to Boussac, location of the Chateau-Boussac-Sur-Petite-Creuse which is a long way from the prettiest of the chateaux but cannot be doubted as a contender for one of the most interesting-looking.

Lavaufranche

After 40km, we come to Lavaufranche which is home to a remarkable 12th Century hospital and commandery established by the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. Then, 13km on at Lépaud, the riders should be able to catch sight of the rising terrain ahead. Is the name an omen in favour of "LépaudTrek?" Does LeopardTrek's success over the coming mountain stages even need to be preceded by an omen when they have both Frank and Andy Schleck?

At 65.5km is the first climb of the stage, a Category 4 which won't cause any serious problems but could prove to be the undoing of breakaway groups, especially if they're composed of riders who are already tired from earlier attempts.

After 83km comes Auzances which brings today's intermediate sprint, once again in its usual place near the halfway point rather than near the end as was the case yesterday. This really is the last chance for the sprinters, so expect a breakaway early on to make an attempt at getting there first. The big-hitters such as Cavendish and Hushovd may try to chase them down - and the breakaway isn't likely to last long if those two go after them - to take the top points for themselves as sprinting opportunities are somewhat limited for a while now, or they may let them go and settle for the smaller point allocations; content just to conserve energy that can be spent later when the climbers are having it all their own way.

Blimey, that's a big dog. Puy de Dome.

Soon, the route passes Puy de Dome, a dormant - note dormant, not extinct - volcano which is well-known and notorious among cyclists as a challenging climb, very much this region's Mont Ventoux. The Tour has featured the climb on a number of occasions, including its first appearance in 1952 when Fausto Coppi was first up the long spiral road to the summit to win the stage and 1964 when Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor fought one another all the way to the top (I have footage of this on video, it's one of the all-time greatest Tour battles). The Tour does not climb it this year, however, and sadly probably never will again - organisers say that the roads to the summit are simply too narrow since the construction of the funicular railway. A great pity - but have a look on Google Earth, it's quite an amazing sight: 45° 46′ 20″ N 2° 57′ 57″ E.

The feeding station comes a little later, and the domestiques are going to be working hard to ferry back the musettes to their team's climbers who will wanting their energy gels (that's how seriously they take the Tour - they actually want to eat energy gel) because, from this point onwards, it's uphill almost all the way. Since the finish line is still 85km ahead, that means a lot of climbing. In the 15km immediately after the feeding station, it rises 117m which doesn't sound especially testing but the majority of that rise comes in one short, steep section called the Côte du Rocher des Trois Tourtes. A bigger, uncategorised climb of around 200m leads up to Briffons where there was once a fluorspar mine which brought prosperity to the area thanks to its use in the steel industry. Workers were permitted one fifteen minute break during the long and hard working day - according to Google's translation of French Wikipedia, "the teams had to surface a quarter of an hour to enjoy the snack time, it pulled the bagpipes of course." Not quite sure what that's all about.

Next comes flatter section which climbs just 72m in 17km. However, though this is a very low gradient, it's sufficient to take the parcours up to 1022m which means the effects of altitude become an issue for the first time in the 2011 Tour. It's here that those who are naturally better-equipped to perform at altitude and those who, through sheer hard work, have tuned their bodies to work in rarified air begin to dominate - which means Andy Schleck and, provided he isn't subjected to the bad fortune that has dogged him all the way since the Passage du Gois, Alberto Contador begin another epic battle for supremacy which will last through the majority of the rest of the Tour. That race-within-a-race begins in earnest over the coming kilometres when we reach the hardest climb of the 2011 Tour so far in the shape of the Category 2 ascent of the Col de la Croix Saint Robert, the first of the high mountain passes. This is an area that is frequently subjected to very high winds so climbers may wish to regroup with their teams at the summit and tackle the steep descent in echelons.

Super-Besse

There are few villages up here, but one worth looking out for is Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise, often known by its old names Besse-en-Chandesse or Besse, which marks the beginning of the climb up to Super-Besse Sancy where the stage ends. With some 1,600 inhabitants, it's really more a small town than a village but has retained its character and there are a number of interesting buildings, including Le Beffroi (the belfry) and the Mediatheque. Besse was the site of the first meeting in 1935 of the Bourbaki, a group of mathematicians that had a revolutionary effect on the subject and its teaching. The Tour has been this way before with Super-Besse having been a stage finish town three times since 1978. The last time, in 2008, was won by Riccardo Riccò who was later ejected from the Tour after providing a positive sample to anti-doping control. He was fired by Vacansoleil in February this year after a self-administered blood transfusion led to kidney failure and suspended by the Italian Olympic Committee in June for "use or attempted use of prohibited methods." All in all, a rider that the Tour and cycling as a whole is better off without.

Sammy Sanchez

Predictions: Well, it's going to be a climber, innit. But who? Will Andy Schleck want to use the stage as an opportunity to say to the world, "You know how last year you all said I was going to be a great rider? Well, watch this!" Will Contador want to use it to say, "You know how you all wrote me off as a great rider? Well, suck on this!" And, if Contador does want to win today, is Andy now strong enough to prevent him doing so - or on the other hand, will both of them sit back and let this first climb go to a mere mortal since they can play all they want on the big mountains to come? Of course, Frank Schleck can climb with the best of them too, so he's in the running. Don't forget that Euskaltel-Euskadi have been lurking in the peloton in the flat stages: Euskaltel are a team composed of Basque hardmen who ride up mountains like this one just to wake themselves up in the morning and, probably, to relax in the evening. Flat stages are not their thing at all, so today is an opportunity for them to start gaining points. For that reason, we're going to nominate Sammy Sanchez and Amets Txurruka as favourites, provided Andy Schleck and Contador don't lock horns. If they do, we'll be backing Schleck all the way.

Weather: It's not looking that good for Aigurande - while it's dry at present, there are grey clouds and showers forecast for the next couple of hours so a wet start is very likely. It's much the same for Nouzerines and Lavaufranche, the latter having a probability of thunderstorms this afternoon. Heavier rain is forecast for Chambon-sur-Voueize but it should have lightened to showers by the time the peloton hits Rougnat, Tralaigues, Briffons, Mont-Dore, Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise and Super-Besse. Mmm, cycling up mountains in the rain. Fun. The temperature should top out in the low 20s and the wind is light, coming from the south east, but may be considerably stronger on the summits especially Col de la Croix Saint-Robert.

DEVIL WATCH: The mountains may be grimpeur country, but they're also the natural habitat of the Devil because steep climbs offer an ideal opportunity to run along with the riders and cheer them on. Luckily, the Tour Devil is considerably less evil than most other devils and so the Cross of Saint Robert won't be any impedance should he choose to appear nearby.