2014 Vuelta a España stage 5

Walking to the sign on this morning, I turned right to head to the park and noticed a not insignificant hill. I’m sure the peloton will have noticed this same not insignificant hill, too, as today’s roll out started from the bottom of said hill. That’s racing!

 

Lots of tasks to be done in the morning, including clearing up any excess clutter.

 

Shade! And it was in abundance today! Hurray!

 

In fact, at yesterday’s sign on, there was just a handful of people at the barricades with 45 minutes to go because the stage was completely exposed to the sun. Today, however, the shaded front row was already filled in with well over an hour to wait.

 

Every race has its quirks that bother me as a fan and at the Vuelta it’s these sandwich board ads. They put considerable distance between fans and riders so it’s an extra obstacle to deal with. I parked myself smack in between 2 of these boards of course!

 

There was a playground nearby but plenty of kids amused themselves by climbing easily through the barriers.

 

Meanwhile, the woman next to me amused herself with her inflatable clappers. I was slightly less amused when she poked me in the eye about 8 times in the first minute!

 

You may have noticed that yesterday I didn’t post any photos of the white jersey being presented. That’s because it wasn’t! I’m not sure if Valeri Conti didn’t realize he had kept the jersey or what, but because the jersey wasn’t awarded after stage 4, it was going to be awarded just before stage 5. This made sense enough but the presenters decided to stand right in front of my spot which put a huge damper on my autograph collecting!

 

Wilco Kelderman.

 

After just a few minutes, a few kids had slipped through the barriers and also parked themselves in front of me.

 

Peter Sagan.

 

Jose Herrada.

 

And in no time, the riders were outnumbered by press and kids. Combined with the woman next to me yelling, “Oye!” to every rider, drowning out me trying to say a rider’s name, made it clear awfully quickly that today’s haul would be far more modest than yesterday’s!

 

Nathan Haas and Dario Cataldo.

 

As crowded as it was on stage…

 

…it was even busier at the bottom of the stairs!

 

The space was eventually cleared and the peloton had a bit more breathing space. Below: David Millar signing autographs.

 

At sign on yesterday, David Millar approached the emcee and asked into the microphone, “Cartas postales?” When he came to sign for me, I told him I’d bring him some post cards to the stage today. Since it was so busy this morning, my plan was to give his postcards to the first Garmin rider I could find. I managed to get Johan Vansummeren to come over. He looked a bit confused as he’d already signed for me yesterday but he knows my face by now and could tell that I really really wanted to talk to him. He was mobbed by a bunch of kids who had squeezed through the barriers and he signed about 8 autographs before he could get to me. I handed him the post cards as well as a thank you note for Biso who let me hitch a ride in the team bus yesterday.

Later, when David Millar turned up, he found me in the crowd. He was so happy with his postcards and stamps that he had the team sign a hat for me! I wasn’t looking for anything in return but I was really touched by his gesture. Thanks, David! Now I just hope the post office doesn’t lose his mail!

 

Sammy Sanchez.

 

There was still 15 minutes left in the sign on window, but I grabbed my stuff and climbed the hill to watch the neutral start.

 

John Degenkolb borrowed the green jersey from Michael Matthews but the ice vest was all his.

 

Start!

 

The day was just beginning for the peloton and was still very much in progress for the crew. The stage had to be broken down so the crew could get on the road to set it all up again tomorrow.

 

Today’s 8 autographs came from: 42 Rohan Dennis, 53 David Arroyo, 77 Luis Mate, 81 Romain Sicard, 155 Jose Herrada, 181 Sam Bewley, 187 Cam Meyer, and 219 Haimar Zubeldia.