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The Vuelta a España already started  last Saturday  at the Costa Blanca.
Time for us to look back on the first edition in 1935.
There were 14 stages, and 300 pesetas to be won at each stage for the first hero to cross the finish line.

300 pesetas? Well, that is € 1.80 … just enough for one Cortado..

50 riders started the adventure of which 29 reached the finish. This year 176 riders are participating, but how many will arrive in Madrid…?

 
 
 
 

The Saint Bernard Pass

 
 

A mountain pass and a dog breed …
yes, we climbed various cols this summer.
The Saint Bernard Pass in Switzerland for example.
A nice long gradual climb in a beautiful environment.
On the way to the top, that one question just kept on going: which rider kept such a dog on a leash? The answer is Alberto Contador. He was kept company by a Saint Bernard dog after winning the 15th stage of the Tour de France  in 2009..

 
 
 

A bag full of pesetas, eternal fame for a day or a Saint Bernard dog…
What is the profit of a stage victory? In 1961 Jacques Anquetil won two stages in the TDF and earned €300 per stage. In 1987 Laurent Fignon won € 2700 with his victory on La  Plagne. And Julian Alaphilippe? He won two stages and wore the yellow jersey for fourteen days. This is € 11000,- per victory and € 500,- for every day in the yellow jersey.  Alaphillipe also won the prize for the most attacking rider and earned the most with that one: €20.000.  But an indelible hero status in the collective memory of the French nation is of course priceless!

 
 
 
 

You could not have missed it:  cycling legend Felice Gimonde passed away. The first rider who won all three major tours and thereby declared himself a saint.  This canonization was established by Pope Paul VI, on May 16th 1974, when the Giro d’Italia left the Vatican City.

 
 
 
 

But a carbon frame has so many advantages;
No more ugly welds and a sublime stiffness to increase your speed.

For all those who still have doubts
Let us forget how fragile they are.

Gordon Matthew a.k.a. Sting