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The Vuelta a Espana from the outside: The race turns it's back on Madrid
CyclingMonday, 18 September 2023 at 11:30
Yesterday Madrid lived another festive afternoon with the arrival of the Vuelta a Espana in a final stage that thanks to Remco Evenepoel, Filippo Ganna and company was exciting until the last meter. The main streets of the capital were filled with fans from all over the world (many Slovenians cheering Roglic, many Colombian fans of Bernal and many Danish fans in love with Vingegaard).
Gran Vía was a hive of activity and the Paseo de la Castellana was packed with cycling lovers and onlookers who passed by and joined the party. However, the organization once again proved to be far from the Tour de France.
When you go to the Champs Elysées to enjoy the final day of the Grande Boucle, you have at your disposal numerous stores to buy all kinds of cycling-related products and not only 2 official pseudo-shops announcing again and again that they sell you the mascot-cuddly toy for 15 euros.
It also has giant screens that all fans can enjoy and not only VIPs. Yes, because in the Vuelta if you are a child of 8 years that you go with your father to try to see the idols you have complicated to follow the race. Everything is focused on the VIP: the public address system can hardly be heard and, as I said, it was impossible to follow the race on the screens.
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Either you pay, or nothing. And I can understand that VIPs have preferential treatment and enjoy having cyclists closer, but not that, for example, at the exit of Manzanares El Real a child could not see Evenepoel closely because he was right in front of a bored politician leaning on a fence looking at his cell phone.
Another small detail of the arrival in Madrid has to do with the billboards that are hooked to the fences and that prevent to see the riders from a distance. These are small details that accumulate and make you reconsider coming back as a spectator, something that has never happened to me in Paris with the Tour despite the fact that the influx of people there is much greater.
The last touch is for the cyclists. Attentive to their photos, to the media, but without greeting the children arriving with posters of their idols. It costs nothing to stop by for a moment to say hello to the fans who chant for you... As I say, small details... But well, this is still the old Spain, where either you are plugged in or they don't make it easy for you to enjoy...
Group of people in Cibeles without visibility to the Vuelta screens.
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