XLIV Vuelta Ciclista a Ávila

Continuing my calendar of heavy racing this week, and following my race and illness on Tuesday in Huesca, and my race yesterday in Valencia, after the long drive back to Madrid from Valencia last night, this morning we traveled up to Avila for the 2 day mountain stage race, the Vuelta Ciclista a Ávila., a very prestigious race that was founded in 1948. See the race preview here >>

Stage 1 – Saturday

Stage 1 was a 140km mountain race that ran between Navalacruz and Navarrevisca. It was a crazy tough race, and in the first two hours the terrain was up and down, and I was in the peleton. Then we hit the 15km main climb! It wasn’t just my legs or my body, but it was the intense heat which was bad, and I was dropped quite early on the big climb. It was late in the afternoon, which meant that it was so hot that I had to take water continuously.

It was the longest climb that I have ever done in a race, and it took 1 hour to reach the summit. It was a heavy stage, and I crossed the finish line in 84th position.

Results Sheet/Classification – Stage 1 >>

https://twitter.com/SpcaTeam/status/898893404167446528

Hoy a las 16h primera etapa con 140km de Etapa, coronando Mijares a poco mas de 10km de meta #VueltaAvila pic.twitter.com/AktlqcJdO2

— oscar cabedo (@CabedoOscar) August 19, 2017

https://twitter.com/SpcaTeam/status/898905170578481152

Terminada la 1ª etapa de #vueltaAvila con un 5º puesto, se intentó en Mijares, mañana lucharemos por ganar la vuelta. @FundContaTeam pic.twitter.com/fZf5tol2uk

— Miguel Ángel Ballesteros (@MABallesteros96) August 19, 2017

#vueltaAvila pelotón a su paso por Arenas de San Pedro, calor, calor y mas calor… GRANDE CAMPEONES!!! pic.twitter.com/m9bqx7BwEh

— joper4 (@Joper4Joper) August 20, 2017

Os recordamos resumen del finde amateur con #VueltaAvila #Antzuola #BizkaikoItzulia y #CEMerida como protagonistas: https://t.co/dtsyeUSJKQ

— Ciclismo El Pelotón (@ElPeloton) July 11, 2016

Stage 2 – Sunday

Today was another tough mountain stage of 118km, with the town of El Tiemblo as its start and its finish, but after three previous races this week and recovering from illness, today hit me hard, and halfway through the race I became mentally and physically drained, and I lost touch with the peloton when the attacks started.

My next race is in two weeks, so now it is back to Madrid for me, rest up a little and pick up my strength again.

Results Sheet/Classification – Stage 2 >>

https://twitter.com/SpcaTeam/status/899179311558787073

Gran espectacion en #vueltaavila #ridersCambre @dxtcampeon @fgalciclismo pic.twitter.com/y9R4f5z26R

— C.C.Cambre (@cambre_caeiro) August 20, 2017

Hoy acompañamos a nuestro querido Julito Jiménez en el homenaje que le rinde la #VueltaAvila. Felicidades campeón https://t.co/vZatXpo8nD pic.twitter.com/HaUqnHvnll

— Bicicletas Otero (@BicicletasOtero) August 20, 2017

Preparing the Strategy…