Tips for following the Vuelta

Chilli said:

Hi, I am thinking about heading to the 2008 Vuelta and would like to get some tips and ideas on how to do this, details of following the tour etc. Are there any websites that people know of or anyone out there that has done this who can help with planning? I would like to so it independently with a few mates rather than join a commercial tour.

Any suggestions greatfully accepted!

Three cycling friends, Marc, Peter and Martin visited the Vuelta a España in 2006. Their experiences can be found at Podium Cafe. If you have any specific questions about the trip, send a pm and I'll ask Martin to reply.

Vuelta diary - getting to Calar Alto
podiumcafe.com57961Open ↗
Vuelta diary - Climbing Calar Alto
podiumcafe.com16229Open ↗
Vuelta diary: Granada pt 1
podiumcafe.com2028Open ↗
Vuelta diary - Granada - A decision?
podiumcafe.com8059Open ↗
Vuelta diary - Part 3a
podiumcafe.com493Open ↗
Vuelta diary - Part 3b
podiumcafe.com555Open ↗

Chilli said:

Hi, I am thinking about heading to the 2008 Vuelta and would like to get some tips and ideas on how to do this, details of following the tour etc. Are there any websites that people know of or anyone out there that has done this who can help with planning? I would like to so it independently with a few mates rather than join a commercial tour.

Any suggestions greatfully accepted!

Ask Whiteboytrash, a prominent member of this forum. I'm sure he'll have some useful suggestions.

Chilli said:

Hi, I am thinking about heading to the 2008 Vuelta and would like to get some tips and ideas on how to do this, details of following the tour etc. Are there any websites that people know of or anyone out there that has done this who can help with planning? I would like to so it independently with a few mates rather than join a commercial tour.

Any suggestions greatfully accepted!

I was in Spain this past September with my girlfriend and saw a couple stages of the Vuelta. Stages 15 and 16 with the rest day in between. Had I been there by myself I might have seen a few more stages but the trip was more about rebuilding some points after a heavy year of training and racing. After all, I want to be able to do the same next year. 😄 I realize that doesn't constitute "following it around" but I might be able to provide a few tips or from my experience.

1) July and August are the main tourist months in Spain. That doesn't mean there aren't lots of tourists there in September but it does mean that you can find accomodations in most cities/towns pretty easily without pre-booking. If you can speak a little Spanish, that makes it even easier.

2) Renting a car is the easiest way to get around. The bus/train system is excellent in Spain but you have to be prepared to take longer times to travel to your destinations (especially smaller towns) so you might find that would mean not getting to places on time to see the things you want to see. Also, having a car makes it easy to get out on to the route to watch from wherever you want, i.e. a key mountain climb.

3) Don't count on rest days as a good opportunity to see/meet riders. I figured this might be a good time to do so. Other than seeing a few T-mobile riders out doing a light workout on the rest day - I think they were fairly well sequestered. Either that or you need to be a better paparazzo than I am to figure out which hotels they're staying in. This of course might be an easier task if the rest day occurs in a smaller town than Granada.

4) The same goes for after the stage. Between the podium, the drug tests, the press, etc. there are just too many demands on the riders immediately following a stage and all they want to do is get their massage, eat and sleep. Better to catch them in the morning before the stage having coffee or hanging out at their team bus.

5) You must see a mountain stage! This is not only the best opportunity to get pics of them in action but also a thrilling experience. Even as a rider of reasonable fitness, I was blown away at the speed these guys climb 12-15% grades at the end of a 180-200 km stage. Pick a spot on the climb that offers the steepest grade you can find preferably on the inside of a curve (that way the riders sort of come right at you).

6) Presented with the choice for the mountain stages without mountain top finishes - I would always choose to watch from the climb rather than the finish - especially given point #3 above. Stage 15 this year was not a mountain top finish so the choice was to either watch from the Cat 1 climb that topped out 20 km from the finish or watch from the finish line. If you're going to see multiple stages you'll get to see plenty of finishes at the line.

7) Don't expect what you've seen on camera from the Tour de France. The crowds are big - but not crazy big. And that's probably a good thing. We were able to drive up to the climb we wanted to see only a few hours before the riders were due to come through. We didn't need to camp out the night before just to stake our claim on a vantage point. Still one day I'd like to get that experience too.

8) If you want the full experience get to know a little about the Spainish Pro Continental teams, e.g. Andalucía-Cajasur, Karpin-Galicia, Fuerteventura-Canarias (was Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme), etc. before you go. The locals will have favourite riders from these teams too.

9) If you learn one Spainish word (besides Cerveza) learn Venga!! You'll want to use it repeatedly along side all of the Spaniards as they cheer on their favorite riders.

10) Plan to train reasonably hard over the winter following the race. You'll need to to lose the weight gained from all the beer, wine and tapas! :o

All I can think of at the moment - have fun.