Although the story is often associated with black and white, This was a Vuelta a España in Blue and Black. The Murcian group had already provided cycling with a soundtrack the previous year with the unforgettable ‘I’m going crazy’, and in 1983 they pulled another rabbit out of the hat. ‘Con los dedos de un mano’ sounds insistent in the background of the summaries of Televisión Española and, what is more important, at the beginning and end of the live broadcasts, the great novelty of that year to provide the sporting spectacle with an even greater penetration in Spanish homes. That, and the Lakes of Covadonga.
At that time, La Vuelta a España was a race in search of meaning and sustainability. Only four years before, with a view to the 1979 edition, the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation had been forced to rescue it in collaboration with Unipublic, which would henceforth assume the weight of organizing the race. It was a time of rapid and profound changes in the country at all levels, and of experimentation in sports.
The high mountains defined the best cycling events in the world, but in the great Spanish round they had only flirted with passes in the Pyrenees and modest high ends on climbs with little accumulated unevenness such as Arrate (launched in 1972), Naranco ( 1974) or Formigal (1975). It was with Unipublic that a goal was scheduled for the first time in the top of colossi as Sierra Nevada (1979) and the Rassos de Peguera (1981). And then, in 1983, came the Lakes… of Enol. And it is that, in the first two occasions in which this mythical climb was faced, its official name was ‘Lagos de Enol’.
Don Pelayo
The popular heritage says that Cangas de Onís was the first capital of Spain because it established Don Pelayo, the first monarch of the Astur Kingdom which, over the centuries, became the current Kingdom of Spain. His remains rest in the Santa Cueva del Real Sitio de Covadonga, next to the homonymous virgin, and it is there where the start of the ascent of about 12 kilometers is located that enters the Picos de Europa National Park to culminate in the Lakes of Covadonga. It is a privileged spot in which there are two permanent glacial lakes, Enol and Ercina, and a third seasonal one, Bricial.. A gift for the visitor; an ordeal for the cyclist.
That first time that La Vuelta faced the Lakes of Enol it was repeated ad nauseam that they would be the ‘Lakes of Hinault’ because the ‘Badger’ bernard hinaultWith four editions of the Tour de France and one of the great Spanish round to his credit, he was the top favorite to succeed at his debut. However, it happened that the ‘Junco de Bérriz’ Marino Lejarreta was stronger than the French uphill, and the Palencia Alberto Fernandez he successfully defended his leader’s jersey, then yellow. The brave ‘Galletas’ had left that day from his town, Aguilar del Campóo, in what was one of his last great days of glory on the bicycle before he died the following year in a tragic traffic accident. However, in that Vuelta both Lejarreta and Fernández they ended up being surrendered by Hinaultwhich gave the coup de grace in the Port of Serranillos two days from Madrid.
The climb to the Lakes of Covadonga was defined by different personalities from the world of cycling as “ruthless”, “terrible”, “harder than Alpe d’Huez”; But above all, it became “the first sign of identity of La Vuelta” in its modern age. No less than 22 times he has appeared on the route of the great Spanish round, which makes it the most frequented high finish in the race. Throughout the years, the Lakes of Covadonga have experienced moments of all colors. In the sad chapters, none like the one written by the best Spanish cyclist in history the day he didn’t get to climb it. Miguel Indurain closed his sports career by not completing his pilgrimage to the Lakes of Covadonga in La Vuelta in 1996: It stayed ten kilometers from Santa Cueva, and 26 from Enol and Ercina, when the march stopped at the Hotel El Capitán in Cangas de Onís. They were his last pedal strokes as a professional cyclist.
Roglic, Nairo, Lucho Herrera…
In the glory pages, a conspicuous omission: no cyclist has raised his arms in the Lakes of Covadonga dressed as leader of La Vuelta. Yes, three cyclists sentenced the race in their favor, taking advantage of a victory on their ramps: ‘Lucho’ Herrera (1987), Nairo Quintana (2016) and Cousin Roglic (2021) they won in the Lakes and rose to first place in the general classification, which in all three cases they held until the end. Also Delgado ‘Parakeet’ he won this summit in 1985, and became the leader… but he lost that honor the next day in favor of robert millerwho was only dismounted in the mythical stage of the DYC Distilleries one day before the end of the party in Salamanca.
This May 7th, 40 years and 5 days after its premiere in the male versionThe Women’s Tour by Carrefour.es will tread the Lakes of Covadonga to round off its inaugural edition. Their 12.4 kilometers in length and 865 meters of unevenness, 6.95% average slope with maximum slopes of 15% in the La Huesera area, will surely define a race whose general will come already ordered by the team time trial in Torrevieja, the final uphill of the Mirador de Peñas Llanas in Riaza or the mid-mountain of Cantabria. The women’s peloton is looking forward to the chance to add their own chapters to the legend of a mythical peak.