La Vuelta and Asturias practically go hand in hand. They are part of practically every edition of the Spanish round, usually with days for climbers, and in this tour of 2023 they will make an appearance again. An unprecedented peak, that of the Cruz de Linares pass, one of the six mountaintop finishes to be released in La Vuelta this year, it will have to talk. It will be on stage 18, on September 14, fully booked in the third week of the race.
And, as if that were not enough, the previous stage will also end in Asturias, in one of the great giants of world cycling: the Angliru. It will be a double that will decide a large part of La Vuelta, in the absence, as far as the general is concerned, of the penultimate day around Madrid. Cruz de Linares (8.3 km at an average 8.6%) is this year’s discovery in Asturias, just like last year was Collado-Fancuaya. Hard ramps that reach up to 16% and a double pass in the last 30 km, the second being the final one of the day. Pelayo Sánchez, the great star of Burgos BH this season, lives practically at the foot of the port.
“It is a joy that La Vuelta is committed to this type of climb. Until the town of Castañedo there is practically no rest, with constant slopes of over 8% and 14% in wooded areas. Once past this town and after a very hard concrete ramp (the maximum slope)the landscape changes and we begin to see mountains in the background, clear terrain, no trees, ‘slides’ with some rest and then the final climb to the finish line”, analyzes Pelayo in detail, who knows the climb perfectly.
“It is part of my training, a fixture, and after La Vuelta, it will be better known and cyclists will take note. For me it’s almost like a Moto GP circuit to do it with your eyes closed. It is ideal for doing constant pending work and is perfect for connecting with other ports (Fancuaya, AngliruCoverage…) accumulating unevenness ”, adds the Asturian while he glimpses the rest of the mountains.
The one who is promoted twice will mark the rest of the stage: “That double step will give a lot of play because it is possible that we will see two races. One for the stage and one for the general. For the second ascent, positioning is important, because the road narrows and losing two hundred meters can drag you for the rest of the ascent. In the final part, the most uncovered, it would be rare for the wind to hit you head-on”.
Judge of La Vuelta
On the way in which the stage develops, Pelayo contemplates a possible end in terms of the men of the generalthose that will be played will finish at the top on the podium in Madrid: “It is a tough day, high mountains, five ports in total… if the favorites put a demanding pace on the first climb, they would leave the breakaway with few options. The descent then is technical, and in cases like this the descent is almost as important as the ascent”.
Both in Castañedo and Linares, the two towns that are part of the climb, Its small inhabitants are dedicated to livestock and another important part is already a retired population. “Here, the Sierra del Áramo area is quiet. In general, in Asturias there are a lot of fans, we are a land of cyclists, as in my case. We don’t usually have good weather, but we have the terrain that invites you to ride a bicycle”, says Pelayo about the significant number of professional Asturians throughout history.
“It is a hard day, high mountains, five ports in total…”
Meanwhile, his team, Burgos BH led by Julio Andrés Izquierdo, will start for the sixth consecutive edition in La Vuelta as one of the invited squads. Pelayo will be one of his references: “I am very excited that, where I usually train, I run in a race, and on top of that it is in La Vuelta. A few years ago (in 2019) We achieved a beautiful victory in this test with Ángel Madrazo, and hopefully this year we can repeat that success”. Asturias will reveal a new secret in Cruz de Linares, who will be a judge of La Vuelta.