Stage 7: Vuelta a Espana in Valencia

Very rarely is there an opportunity to attend two sporting events in the same day while in Europe. Not that two sporting events do not occur on the same day, but getting the wife approval is more difficult. Under normal circumstances, I probably would not drive 90 minutes to attend the Tour of Spain – given the fact the tour was in other areas closer to where we are staying. However, Valencia’s second division soccer club, Levante, had a home match scheduled for Saturday night – meaning I could attend both events in Valencia Saturday.

Last Sunday, when we went to Valencia, all of the shops were closed since it was the end of August (Spain is closed in August as the Spaniards are on vacation). Thus, with the wife wanting to shop and two sporting events in Valencia the day was set.

Time Trials
The event in Valencia was an individual time trial – meaning rather than spending 5 minutes watching the leaders and the peloton, cyclists ride individually on a course throughout the city. If you are a cycling aficionado this is the best way to watch every rider as they are not bunched up with the rest of the tour. The event started at 1:20 pm and finished around 5:30 pm.

However, if you are the Ultimate Sports Wife and enjoy spending less than one minute watching the riders during a regular stage, then this is not the event for you. Thus, Nicole decided she would not brave the rain and instead shop at the El Corte Ingles we parked at (0.02 euros per minute) for the event. But Nicole had the last laugh as she was able to watch a section of the time trial from the 8th floor of the El Corte Ingles rather than stand in the rain by the finish line as I had done.

The Race
The seventh stage consisted of a 30 kilometer time trial that started and finished on Valencia’s Formula 1 street circuit. Since I was unable to see the entire course when I attended the Formula 1 event two weeks ago, this gave me an opportunity to see the finish line – which was one of the reasons I walked in the rain to see the main area.

Fabian Cancellara won the stage and kept the gold jersey for one more day finishing the 30-kilometers in 36:41 – way ahead of the other competitors. David Millar, who placed second, was 32 seconds behind Cancellara, third place Bert Grabsch was 36 seconds slower and fourth place David Herrero was 40 seconds behind.

Stage 6: Vuelta a Espana in Xativa

On a weekend when La Liga is not playing due to World Cup qualifying matches, the perfect distraction is to have the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) come through our area. The current plan is to attend five consecutive stages within a reasonable driving distance (no more than 90 minutes away).

The first stage within a reasonable driving distance was stage 6, which began and ended in Xativa – a one hour drive from where the Ultimate Sports Wife and I are staying. Xativa hosted its first stage finish. The last time it hosted a stage start was in 2004.

Pre Event Dining
As with any cycling tour the most enjoyable part (for both you and the wife) is eating and drinking while waiting for the cyclists. The Ultimate Sports Wife finds cycling events the perfect event since she is able to eat, drink and relax waiting for the cyclists and then when the cyclists finally do show up they whiz by in less than one minute.

We found two cafes in Xativa that were on the final turn to the finish line. The first was Horno Pasteleria Ortiz. The second was Bar Las Vegas. Both had outdoor seating but Ortiz was cleaner and we had a better view of the course. After a couple of drinks and a snack we got up to watch the riders.

The Race
After waiting for about 20 minutes, the leaders of the stage rode by at 5:14 pm. The peloton was not too far behind, which came by two minutes later.

Slovenian Borut Bozic won the stage for team Vacansoleil, who beat out American Tyler Farrar and Italian Daniele Bennati, giving Vacansoleil their first victory in a major three week race. German Andre Greipel, who finished 10th, is still the leader and wears the gold jersey.

After the race
Before or after you watch the riders, you should be sure to tour the city where the race starts or finishes. After the race, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I drove to the Xativa Castle located on a hill above the city.

Stage 8 of Vuelta Mexico

After reading the sports section of a Mexican newspaper on Saturday, I discovered that the Tour of Mexico’s last stage was taking place in Mexico City Sunday morning. In addition, they were riding through Mexico City’s El Centro which is where most of Mexico City’s tourist attractions are located. Since I was planning to go to the city center on Monday afternoon, I figured I should just go Sunday morning and watch the event as well. Also, with stage 8 scheduled to last around 2 hours, I would have just enough time to make it to the start of the first World Baseball Classic game which was scheduled to start at noon.

The Event
My cab driver dropped me off at the Palacio Nacional and I walked the course as the cyclists would ride by every 10 minutes or so. Rather than a typical stage in which the cyclists ride from one city to the next, this stage was a circuit where the riders complete a pre-determined number of laps. Floyd Landis was racing in his second event after completing his two year doping ban. The last time I saw Floyd Landis race was in the 2006 Tour de France where he failed his famous drug test. The event was over in one hour and 36 minutes which gave me plenty of time to get to the World Baseball Classic.

Stage 6 of the Tour of Switzerland

Yesterday, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I attended the 6th stage of the Tour of Switzerland - an event I discovered was taking place during our stay. When arriving in a new city or country, I try to find the local sports paper. The paper will list all of the main events that are important to the local country but do not reach the U.S. news. I picked up a copy of the Swiss sports paper (Blick Sport) at a local restaurant.

The paper had a section on the "Tour de Suisse" an event I knew was sponsored by UCI (Union Cycliste International) and a prep event for the Tour de France. Thus, I borrowed a map from our hotel's front desk and looked up each city the tour was visiting. Ambri, Switzerland was our best bet to attend. Stage 6 started there and it was in the Tocino region - an area Nicole wanted to visit.

It took about an hour to drive from Lucerne to Ambri and we barely had to drive off the autobahn. We arrived in Ambri at noon and saw the stage was starting at the local airport - a field in the middle of the Alps. Ambri was fairly desolate, but the event was happening. Local wine and cheese merchants were providing the necessary fan fare and the cyclists were mingling with the crowd. We spent 45 minutes walking around the area, drinking our wine, sampling free fondue and Gruyere cheese, and then headed towards the starting line.

At 1 pm, the cyclists were off; at 1:01 pm the cyclists were gone. The event was over but the festival went on without it. Once again, the Ultimate Sports Wife felt that cycling was the best spectator sport. One minute of action and as much wine and cheese as you like.

Some people left the event, while we stuck around to view the location of the event - a normally empty field nestled in between two spectacular mountain ranges. After the event, we continued driving South wondering if we should have spent longer soaking up the festive atmosphere in the middle of nowhere.