The first-ever La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es will live a remarkable finale atop Lagos de Covadonga, a mythical climb that has been visited 22 times by the male bunch
Heritage, history and remarkable sport stories – Lagos de Covadonga has a captivating legend written all over its slopes. Women riders will produce a chapter of their own there on May 7th
We tend to assimilate history with black and white, yet in this case the 1983 edition of La Vuelta was rather blue and black. Azul y Negro, a music band for Murcia, had established the soundtrack for Spanish cycling the year before with its song ‘Me estoy volviendo loco’. Its newest single, ‘Con los dedos de una mano’, kept playing on the background of the live broadcast produced by Televisión Española, the Spanish public radio and television service which, at the time, owned and operated the two only nation-wide TV channels. This live broadcast was the main addition of that Vuelta. As for the purely sporting side, Lagos de Covadonga was its main attraction.
Back then, La Vuelta was a race struggling for an identity and a raison d’être. It was only in 1979 that the Spanish cycling federation had had to step in and keep the event afloat after its previous organizers pulled out from the endeavour. Unipublic gave a hand on the exhilarating quest to put together a top sporting event in just a few months, and took the helm from the following year on to make it a state-of-the-art production.
Up until then, the race had been shy when it came to featuring on its course those big climbs that used to determine the world’s best races. Unipublic included Sierra Nevada as a summit finish as soon as in 1979, and used a Pyrenean climb like Rassos de Peguera just two years later. For its 1983 edition, they decided to showcase Lagos… de Enol. Yes indeed, on the first two occasions the climb to Lagos de Covadonga was ridden at La Vuelta, its denomination was ‘Lagos de Enol’.
It is common knowledge in Spain that Cangas de Onís was the country’s first ever capital, as back in the 8th century it was there that Don Pelayo set the court of the Reino Astur that eventually evolved into the Kingdom of Spain. The remains of Don Pelayo lie in the Santa Cueva of the Real Sitio de Covadonga – the base of a 12-kilometre climb into the heart of the Picos de Europa National Park. On its crest we find a beautiful site with two perennial lakes, Enol and Ercina, and a small basin that occasionally becomes Lake Bricial. Those are the Lagos de Covadonga. Quite a sight for the visitor – and quite a torture for the rider.
This joke was told a hundred times during the 1983 Vuelta: the Lagos de Enol were bound to be the Lagos de Hinault. After all, Bernard Hinault was the marquee name in the startlist as he already had four Tour de France overall wins, and a Vuelta title, under his belt. He was the main favourite to triumph atop the climb everyone expected to become mythical. Yet Marino Lejarreta and Alberto Fernández had different plans and managed to upset the Badger, who saw the ‘Junco de Bérriz’ surge early to claim the victory and couldn’t take the then-yellow leader jersey off the shoulders of a rider known as ‘El Galletas’ – “Cookies”. This nickname was awarded to Fernández because of the large pastry factory that sits on his village, Aguilar del Campóo, which coincidentally hosted the start for that Lagos de Covadonga stage.
Both ‘El Galletas’ and Lejarreta eventually surrendered to Hinault’s domination. The Badger got the overall win in Salamanca but, more importantly, Lagos de Covadonga had been introduced to the world of cycling in style. Riders described it as “merciless,” “gruelling,” “harder than Alpe d’Huez.” Years later, a race director defined it as “the first-ever identity trait of the modern Vuelta.” Lagos de Covadonga became a fixture, and it is to this day the most-utilised summit finish on the event’s history with 22 visits.
Over the years, Lagos de Covadonga has been the stage for a number of iconic victories – and defeats. No episode has been as sad for cycling fans as the day when the best-ever Spanish cyclist never reached its slopes. On September 20th, 1996 Miguel Indurain was due to climb Lagos de Covadonga in the 13th stage of that year’s Vuelta. Yet he failed to do so, as he withdrew from the race with 26 kilometres to go, choosing to quit as he passed by his Banesto team’s lodge for the night – Hotel El Capitán, at Cangas de Onís. Those were Indurain’s last pedal strokes as a professional cyclist.
As for glory tales, there is one remarkable omission – almost an anomaly: no rider has won atop Lagos de Covadonga while wearing La Vuelta’s leader jersey. There were three cases on which the day’s winner took the GC lead and held it all the way to the overall win: ‘Lucho’ Herrera (1987), Nairo Quintana (2016) y Primoz Roglic (2021). In 1985, ‘Perico’ Delgado triumphed in Lagos de Covadonga, and also claimed the leader jersey… yet he lost the primacy in the GC to Robert Millar the following day. Delgado later got it back on the second-to-last stage, thanks to the unforgettable Destilerías DYC skirmish on which every Spanish-speaking team at the race seemingly colluded against Millar.
Next May 7th, 40 years and 5 days after its introduction at La Vuelta, Lagos de Covadonga will host the finale of the first-ever La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es. Its 12,4 kilometres at an average gradient of 6,95%, with some slopes as steep as 15%, will for sure decide the GC of the race. There will be opportunities to create time gaps before this climb, though, such as the TTT in Torrevieja, the uphill finish to Mirador de Peñas Llanas in Riaza or the hilly terrain in Cantabria. In any case, it’s sure thing that the female peloton is looking forward to add a chapter of its own to the legend of Lagos de Covadonga.
