2008 Vuelta E'espana : Stage 13 : San Vicente de la Barquera - Alto de El Angliru

Stage 13

Dreaded Angliru climb finishes a gruelling 209 Km mountain stage.

Should be a good 'un

 

I've rode this on a couple of occasions, its easy , seriously though, its fuckin brutal, the last 5k is excruciating. The hardest climb I have done although the Ventoux is bad if the winds up.

 

By all accounts, it is a terrible climb as you say.
25% gradient in the last 5kms.
And that's after doing several kilometres at gradients 12% and above.

I read a very good article in Cycle Sport in 2002 when this climb was unveiled for the first time, by Unipublic.
Fernando Escartin - the superb Kelme climber - was as asked to co-write the article about climbing the Angliru.
He had never climbed Angliru before.
Immediately after he climbed it his first words were "the peloton will need to change their gear mechs for this one - I've never climbed such a tough mountain".

 

Yeh , I remember that, wasn't it in the summer of '98, I thought that was when it was first climbed at the Vuelta, when Ulrich won the overall

 

Finally some posts about the race and not about Armstrong.
The climb is brutal... You don't need bad weather to make it worst. But I'd love to see rain.

 

The profil of the stage

 

Only really interesting stage of this years Vuelta. It's a very hard climb, people could loose a lot of time here. One of the hardest climbs in Europe which is good.

 

it was in 1999 they used angliru the frist time

Angliru - an epic stage of road racing More on that brutal climb to Alto de la Angliru, stage 8, Vuelta e Espana, by Martin Hardie, cyclingnews.com correspondent.

Alpine stages are a race within themselves. You only have to watch such stages of the Tour de France, Alpe D'Huez, Galibier, Tourmalet to get the feeling. Nothing seems to stir the imagination like the combat between cyclists ascending a giant climb. Even on the flat television screen the climbs are daunting. The real thing so much more.

Stage 8 of the Vuelta promised to expand the concept. It promised to be one of the epic stages. Even before a crank was turned in anger, the Alto de el Angliru, in Spain's northern Asturias region, was to a cycling legend. In February, seven months before the race, eventual stage winner Jose Maria Jimenez described the classic climbs of the cycling world as "child's play in comparison". Of el Angliru Fernando Escartin said "if you stay sitting down, your front wheel goes up in the air. If you stand up, the back wheel slides".

At a time when cycling has gone from one body blow to another we wondered whether the Vuelta hype could ever be met. Was this a cynical attempt by Unipublic, organisers of the Vuelta, to grab a few headlines? Was this stage really going to push the mountain stage further than any climb before? Were its 23% ramps really where the Spaniards would get their own back for all the crimes perceived to be committed against them in the recent past?

13.5kms of climbing, 19%, 14%, 23% and 17% with portions in between giving new meaning to the phrase false flats. All of this in the last part of a 176 km stage after already crossing 2 category 1 and a category 2 climb.

But you had to wonder would anybody live to fight el Angliru another day? The dispute was not between riders, it was the mountain against man. Some said that no one could get up if it rained. Even before el Angliru was mounted it poured. Down La Corbetoria, down El Cordal the race slid. In a ravine Olano is found with the tiny frame of Lotto's van de Wouwer, lying with his bike, Olano's on top. In the finale Escartin was not there. It was not this Spaniard's day but he was only bruised, not battered. No shattered collar bone.

Olano remounted and was dragged back into the race. Liquigas' Ivanov is somehow still upright and still up the road. Ahead still lays el Angliru. Where it has been all day, beckoning, taunting: 'I cannot be climbed, not today'.

Between Olano and Ivanov a group of five. The climb is underway and with 10 kms to go Ivanov has a minute lead over Mapei's Tonkov, Kelme's Rubiera and Heras and Telekom's Ullrich and Guerini. With Ullrich in the group, Zarrabeita works to bring his ONCE captain, Olano back up to them. But as Zarrabeita can work no more, Tonkov moves away from the other four. Soon he is past Ivanov and in no time has a 59 second lead over those he left.

The climb continues and Olano is now back with the Ullrich group. Only 6 kms remaining and Jimenez and Heras start their pursuit of Tonkov. They start to eat into Tonkov's lead and pull away from Olano and Ullrich, who seem content now only to limit their losses, reach the summit and mark each other out of el Angliru's fury. But then Tonkov increases his lead again. With 3 kms to go Jimenez leaves his teammate, Herras behind. With only the last kilometre remaining Tonkov still has 40 seconds on Jimenez. Then somehow Jimenez bridges and Tonkov is caught and passed. Jimenez crosses the line, there is no energy left for a victory salute. But a victory it is for Spain, Banesto, Jimenez and of course Alto de el Angliru.

With his victory, Jimenez gave Spain and cycling what it craved "I dedicate it to all of Spain, because I was in debt with all of it and with the team, since until now, thing have not gone the way they should have for the work I was doing in training ... It cost me a lot more than the rest, because I had a big debt with my fans and the people that prepared this climb. Before the start, I felt that I had a lot of responsibility ... I could see Tonkov a little earlier, but, even though I was feeling well, I wouldn't just take off, because I was a little afraid, maybe I didn't choose the right gearing for the rain. But once I passed the toughest section, I decided to go after him."

In somewhat of an understatement Tonkov said "It has been an incredible stage" But the gap crossed by Jimenez on the final sections of el Angliru were not without controversy. Tonkov complained : "I'm very angry because Jimenez was helped by the motorcycles which didn't allow me to sprint." Mapei also believed that a commissaire's car had acted as the rabbit for Jimenez to chase across to Tonkov. But the Russian warned that the Pyrenees were still ahead.

It seems that el Angliru may well have given cycling the type of shot in the arm it needed. The spectacle, the suffering, the falls and the epic battles on a brute of a mountain. Over 120,000 fans lining the route Ð standing in pouring rain. The joy and tears of victory and loss. As those of us who ride sit back in awe, it all comes home in a most frightening and real manner when we think of the gearing used: chainrings of 30 or 32 teeth and rear sprockets of 25 or more.




and During stage 15 of the 2002 Vuelta a España, riders ascended the Alto de El Angliru in heavy rain. An unexpected consequence was that some cars were not able to climb the steepest part of the ascent. Some riders were caught up behind stalled team cars whereas some were forced to ride up the mountain with flat tires because the mechanics could not service them.

 

Nice one - thanks for this additional info, Zlat.

Apologies I mistakenly posted 2002 as being the first time Angliru was in the Vuelta.
It was of course 1999 as you point out.

 

Why are those three climbs before the Angliru 1st catagory? They would be 2nd or 3rd cat climbs if they where in the Tour de France... I'm guessing nothing will happen until they hit the final climb. First slopes will make the initial selection, then when they hit the really steep bit after the false flat everything will go to hell and it's just a case of who can grind their way up the fastest.

 

No more wheel sucking from Contador, attack after attack after attack. Dominating performance and Valverde must be really kicking himself he lost time for no reason on stage 12.

 

A great stage with Contador justifying why he was the favourite - just too good for Valverde and Sastre on this type of climb. Not such a bad year for him after all. The Hog was extremely happy with his team in the interview afterwards - I wonder how Armstrong would have coped?

What about the fans though? Absolutely mental. I was sure one of the favourites was going to get brought down. Do these morons that run alongside them on single track roads with flags trailing over the wheels and screaming in their faces have no idea how close they are to taking a rider out? At times Contador and Valverde were actually having to steer round people - the last thing you want to do on a 20% gradient. There is wild enthusiasm and then there is idiocy - today there was too much of the latter.

 

Re-watched stage 13 again : yeah Valverde climbed really well especially on the Angliru in the latter part of that climb.

Just like the Tour de France 2008, Valverde's "san jour" on the Vuelta stage 12 has seriously cost him.

 

Great ride by David Rebellin and David Mouncoute also - on this stage.