Vuelta Stories

donrhummy
donrhummy Posts: 2,329
edited September 2008 in Pro race
Anyone have some good stories from the Vuelta?

Here's one from this month's Pro Cycling (they actually have a bunch in the Vuelta section - highly recommended):

Pedro Delgado on the Angliru:
There have been moments on the climb when I've felt as if time has stopped. You're pedalling like mad but every time you look up you don't seem to have advanced much at all. It's like one of those dreams where you're running but not getting anywhere... When you reach the false flat (6 km in), there are words paint on the road warning of what's to come: "Hell starts here"

REQUESTED STORIES
(Anyone have more on...)

1. Freddy Maertens win in 1977 (Led start to finish and won 13 stages!!) Probably the most dominating grand tour win in history. THIRTEEN stage wins!!

2. Hinault's battles with tendonitis in the knee to still win.

Comments

  • Noodley
    Noodley Posts: 1,725
    donrhummy wrote:
    Probably the most dominating grand tour win in history...

    I'll go get a beer and see what develops from that one! :lol:
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    The close diference between winner and 2º, 6" in 1984 (Erik Caritoux on A.Fernández)

    The 2 second positions of Millar (very polemic the first vs Delgado)

    Hinault atack in Serranillos (1983), Gorospe (leader) lose 23 minutes http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=sQVcl48Q0Jk

    The only colombian GT winner (Lucho Herrera)....
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Kelly clinching the vuelta to make Ireland holders of the grand slam of GTs and World Championship at the same time.

    Has any other country been in this position? Spain are looking good for this year (and have the olympic title to boot!).
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    France won 3GT with Anquetil (Giro-Tour) and Pou Pou (Vuelta) in ¿¿¿¿1964????
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    Any more good stories?
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    Rik Van Steenbergen in Gallarta (Bizkaia) rided a donkey during 1 km (with the bike in his hand)
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    Leonardo Sierra vs Ramón González Arrieta:

    http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=QpBwmXVLlH4

    It make me :lol:
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    victorponf wrote:
    Leonardo Sierra vs Ramón González Arrieta:

    http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=QpBwmXVLlH4

    It make me :lol:

    Ha, yes! Do you know the story behind it?
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    German Raimund Dietzen was second in the Vuelta twice, in 1987 and 1988.
    In 1989 he crashed badly in the 680 m long unlit tunnel at the top of the Col de Cotefablo (or similar name) in the Pyrennees, a crash which ended his career. In 1999, the 1989-Vuelta organising company, Unipublic, was ordered by a court in Spain to pay damages to Dietzen, the court judging Unipublic negligent with respect to safety measures during the stage. Unipublic contested the court decision but lost again at the higher court in 2006. They were ordered to pay Dietzen about 480,000 Euro.
    Since 2003, Dietzen has worked for Gerolsteiner and is there at the Vuelta now, as sport director for Schumacher, Rebellin, etc.

    I cycled through the tunnel a few years after Dietzen's crash and it was still pitch-black inside and not particularly well surfaced. I'm surprised no one else crashed badly. Knowing what had happened to him, I flagged down a car and asked the driver if he could follow behind me so I could use his lights, which he agreed to do.
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    knedlicky wrote:
    German Raimund Dietzen was second in the Vuelta twice, in 1987 and 1988.
    In 1989 he crashed badly in the 680 m long unlit tunnel at the top of the Col de Cotefablo (or similar name) in the Pyrennees, a crash which ended his career. In 1999, the 1989-Vuelta organising company, Unipublic, was ordered by a court in Spain to pay damages to Dietzen, the court judging Unipublic negligent with respect to safety measures during the stage. Unipublic contested the court decision but lost again at the higher court in 2006. They were ordered to pay Dietzen about 480,000 Euro.
    Since 2003, Dietzen has worked for Gerolsteiner and is there at the Vuelta now, as sport director for Schumacher, Rebellin, etc.

    I cycled through the tunnel a few years after Dietzen's crash and it was still pitch-black inside and not particularly well surfaced. I'm surprised no one else crashed badly. Knowing what had happened to him, I flagged down a car and asked the driver if he could follow behind me so I could use his lights, which he agreed to do.

    Wow. Thanks for the story! That really is too bad they still haven't made the tunnel safer.
  • bikeboy85
    bikeboy85 Posts: 6
    Just a reminder what the Angliru is like : http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2008/09/return-of-alto-de-langliru.html

    A good story would be 'el chaba' winning in 1999 on dope.
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    Yesterday:

    Vuelta Ciclista España 2008 Juan Antonio Flecha takes flag :

    http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=0eigf7CNmK4
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com

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