- Sep 20, 2017
- 11,997
- 22,718
- 28,180
Do you want to know something depressing? In terms of elevation gain, this stage is 16 metres away from being the queen stage, and it’s on a day with nothing close to a cat. ESP and a MTF that could see very limited gaps if it isn’t raced hard.
Do you want to know something less depressing? Big climb really early on and a MTF that lends itself to attacks from pretty far out if anyone feels like doing so.
Map and profile
Start
A pretty negligible transfer has brought the riders back to the capital of Andorra, Andorra la Vella, which means it’s time to do what I put off on the previous stage and talk about the country’s history. The political situation in which it was formed originated in the 8th century, when Charlemagne pushed the Umayyad Caliphate away from this part of the Pyrenees. One of the counties he established was that of Urgell (ruled from La Seu d’Urgell, which features on the route of both this and the previous stage), of which Andorra was the northernmost part. The counts of Urgell gradually expanded their holdings and therefore had increasingly little interest in the remote and mountainous Andorra, and traded it to the bishops of Urgell in 988 in exchange for part of the more fertile Cerdanya. A century later, due to the need for military protection, they ceded the administration of Andorra to the Lords of Caboet.
In the early 12th century, the Caboet holdings were annexed by the County of Foix as a result of marriage. The Counts of Foix were often supportive of the Cathars, the main dissident faction within western European Christianity at the time. The Catholic Church denounced them as heretics (eventually instigating a genocide), which seems to have played a major role in a long-standing conflict between the bishops of Urgell and the counts of Foix. The conflict was eventually resolved in 1288, and the solution for Andorra was somewhat unorthodox: it was transformed into a more or less independent principality, with the bishop of Urgell and the count of Foix each serving as a co-prince. Andorra la Vella was selected as its de facto, and eventually also de jure, capital. The county of Foix eventually became part of the Béarn, which was then united with the Kingdom of Navarra. As I talked about during this year’s Tour, the king of Navarra then became the king of France. And because the political system of Andorra has changed remarkably little over time (in fact, the 1288 agreement served as a de facto constitution until 1993), the president of France also holds the title of co-prince of Andorra. It is not an entirely ceremonial title: the refusal of the bishop of Urgell to ratify a law legalising abortion has led to a blanket ban remaining in place.
The parliament that had passed said law is the Consell General, which was established in 1419 and is therefore among the oldest surviving parliaments in Europe. This reflects the extent to which Andorra was allowed self-government (although, to be fair, if you ruled over large swathes of southern France, you wouldn’t want to have to deal with some far-flung mountain valley either if you could help it). Said far-flung mountain valley mostly relied on its metalworks, textile industry, smuggling, and later also tobacco to stay afloat economically.
Compared to some other microstates, Andorra remained an underdeveloped backwater for a relatively long time. Although a desire to emulate Monaco existed by the 1860s, the Andorran economy we know today was not really born until the 1930s. From that decade onward, the country increasingly started to revolve around its status as a tax haven on the one hand, and tourism on the other hand, with is (in)famous duty-free shopping at the intersection of the two. Cigarette and cigar production also became a major source of income. The Spanish Civil War was, if anything, beneficial in this regard, as it led to a significant number of refugees settling here. They contributed to the economic boom that had by then already started, but was yet to really take off (that would come after the Second World War). In more recent years, its tax and banking laws have become less extreme under international pressure, including by one of its co-princes (I’ll let you guess which of the two), but it remains a highly attractive location for people with money such as pro cyclists. In fact, the population of both Andorra and Andorra la Vella itself is only one-third Andorran, with Andorrans actually outnumbered by Spanish nationals.
On account of its wealth, abundance of climbs and reliance on tourism, Andorra is also an extremely frequent stopoff for bike races, historically mostly the Volta a Catalunya and Setmana Catalana but in recent times exclusively the Grand Tours save for the new MoraBanc Clássica. The capital itself last appeared in the Vuelta in 2017, when Vincenzo Nibali won the first mountain stage of that edition here.
(picture by Tiia Monto at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
A bizarrely long neutralisation means the stage doesn’t officially start until the peloton has re-entered Spain (the stage profile is lying to you). The advantage of this is that it isn’t long at all until the riders return to La Seu d’Urgell, which is where Port del Cantó starts. Although this is the easier side, it’s still probably the most challenging climb of the day.
Both the climb and the descent are rather highway-like for a pass of this altitude and elevation difference, which makes for a much less interesting next part of the stage as we also have a lot of valley to go before the next climb, Coll/Puerto de la Creu de Perves. For some reason, every single profile you can find online starts approximately 60% of the way up the long drag before the categorised section.
The descent of this climb takes us into the Noguera Ribagorçana/Ribagorzana valley, which marks the border between Catalonia and Aragón. The road into the rest of the province goes via the double summit of Coll de Espina and Coll de Fadas. Although the latter is higher, it is obvious that the KOM belongs at the summit of the former, and that’s what Unipublic have done.
Following yet another straightforward descent, there is one more valley section and then, it’s showtime. The climb has simply been labelled Cerler here, but it’s perhaps better known as the Alto del Ampriu. Even compared to the previous stage’s MTF, the average gradient doesn’t tell the whole story. The hard ramps in the first two-thirds are well-suited to launching early, but the lack of difficulty in that final third means there is a clear risk of limited gaps. Both scenarios have played out here in the past.
Finish
Sitting one third of the way up the climb, Cerler is a ski resort town consisting of a well-preserved medieval village centre and modern apartments and hotels that have not been integrated with what existed previously in any way. It’s especially bizarre because none of these newer buildings are within 400 metres of the ski area, which is the highest in Aragón. Even more so than Pal on the previous stage, Cerler-Ampriu is a return of an MTF that used to be really common, but had fallen out of favour. The Vuelta first finished here in 1987 and returned another eleven times in the following 20 editions, with the Vuelta a Aragón finishing here another eight times in the same period. However, the Vuelta has almost entirely avoided the Aragonese Pyrenees since then, and with the Vuelta a Aragón itself disappearing after 2005, the climb has laid almost dormant since, only returning for one more Vuelta a Aragón stage when that race briefly came back to life in 2017.
(picture by Roteiros Galegos at Flickr)
Do you want to know something less depressing? Big climb really early on and a MTF that lends itself to attacks from pretty far out if anyone feels like doing so.
Map and profile
Start
A pretty negligible transfer has brought the riders back to the capital of Andorra, Andorra la Vella, which means it’s time to do what I put off on the previous stage and talk about the country’s history. The political situation in which it was formed originated in the 8th century, when Charlemagne pushed the Umayyad Caliphate away from this part of the Pyrenees. One of the counties he established was that of Urgell (ruled from La Seu d’Urgell, which features on the route of both this and the previous stage), of which Andorra was the northernmost part. The counts of Urgell gradually expanded their holdings and therefore had increasingly little interest in the remote and mountainous Andorra, and traded it to the bishops of Urgell in 988 in exchange for part of the more fertile Cerdanya. A century later, due to the need for military protection, they ceded the administration of Andorra to the Lords of Caboet.
In the early 12th century, the Caboet holdings were annexed by the County of Foix as a result of marriage. The Counts of Foix were often supportive of the Cathars, the main dissident faction within western European Christianity at the time. The Catholic Church denounced them as heretics (eventually instigating a genocide), which seems to have played a major role in a long-standing conflict between the bishops of Urgell and the counts of Foix. The conflict was eventually resolved in 1288, and the solution for Andorra was somewhat unorthodox: it was transformed into a more or less independent principality, with the bishop of Urgell and the count of Foix each serving as a co-prince. Andorra la Vella was selected as its de facto, and eventually also de jure, capital. The county of Foix eventually became part of the Béarn, which was then united with the Kingdom of Navarra. As I talked about during this year’s Tour, the king of Navarra then became the king of France. And because the political system of Andorra has changed remarkably little over time (in fact, the 1288 agreement served as a de facto constitution until 1993), the president of France also holds the title of co-prince of Andorra. It is not an entirely ceremonial title: the refusal of the bishop of Urgell to ratify a law legalising abortion has led to a blanket ban remaining in place.
The parliament that had passed said law is the Consell General, which was established in 1419 and is therefore among the oldest surviving parliaments in Europe. This reflects the extent to which Andorra was allowed self-government (although, to be fair, if you ruled over large swathes of southern France, you wouldn’t want to have to deal with some far-flung mountain valley either if you could help it). Said far-flung mountain valley mostly relied on its metalworks, textile industry, smuggling, and later also tobacco to stay afloat economically.
Compared to some other microstates, Andorra remained an underdeveloped backwater for a relatively long time. Although a desire to emulate Monaco existed by the 1860s, the Andorran economy we know today was not really born until the 1930s. From that decade onward, the country increasingly started to revolve around its status as a tax haven on the one hand, and tourism on the other hand, with is (in)famous duty-free shopping at the intersection of the two. Cigarette and cigar production also became a major source of income. The Spanish Civil War was, if anything, beneficial in this regard, as it led to a significant number of refugees settling here. They contributed to the economic boom that had by then already started, but was yet to really take off (that would come after the Second World War). In more recent years, its tax and banking laws have become less extreme under international pressure, including by one of its co-princes (I’ll let you guess which of the two), but it remains a highly attractive location for people with money such as pro cyclists. In fact, the population of both Andorra and Andorra la Vella itself is only one-third Andorran, with Andorrans actually outnumbered by Spanish nationals.
On account of its wealth, abundance of climbs and reliance on tourism, Andorra is also an extremely frequent stopoff for bike races, historically mostly the Volta a Catalunya and Setmana Catalana but in recent times exclusively the Grand Tours save for the new MoraBanc Clássica. The capital itself last appeared in the Vuelta in 2017, when Vincenzo Nibali won the first mountain stage of that edition here.
(picture by Tiia Monto at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
A bizarrely long neutralisation means the stage doesn’t officially start until the peloton has re-entered Spain (the stage profile is lying to you). The advantage of this is that it isn’t long at all until the riders return to La Seu d’Urgell, which is where Port del Cantó starts. Although this is the easier side, it’s still probably the most challenging climb of the day.
Both the climb and the descent are rather highway-like for a pass of this altitude and elevation difference, which makes for a much less interesting next part of the stage as we also have a lot of valley to go before the next climb, Coll/Puerto de la Creu de Perves. For some reason, every single profile you can find online starts approximately 60% of the way up the long drag before the categorised section.
The descent of this climb takes us into the Noguera Ribagorçana/Ribagorzana valley, which marks the border between Catalonia and Aragón. The road into the rest of the province goes via the double summit of Coll de Espina and Coll de Fadas. Although the latter is higher, it is obvious that the KOM belongs at the summit of the former, and that’s what Unipublic have done.
Following yet another straightforward descent, there is one more valley section and then, it’s showtime. The climb has simply been labelled Cerler here, but it’s perhaps better known as the Alto del Ampriu. Even compared to the previous stage’s MTF, the average gradient doesn’t tell the whole story. The hard ramps in the first two-thirds are well-suited to launching early, but the lack of difficulty in that final third means there is a clear risk of limited gaps. Both scenarios have played out here in the past.
Finish
Sitting one third of the way up the climb, Cerler is a ski resort town consisting of a well-preserved medieval village centre and modern apartments and hotels that have not been integrated with what existed previously in any way. It’s especially bizarre because none of these newer buildings are within 400 metres of the ski area, which is the highest in Aragón. Even more so than Pal on the previous stage, Cerler-Ampriu is a return of an MTF that used to be really common, but had fallen out of favour. The Vuelta first finished here in 1987 and returned another eleven times in the following 20 editions, with the Vuelta a Aragón finishing here another eight times in the same period. However, the Vuelta has almost entirely avoided the Aragonese Pyrenees since then, and with the Vuelta a Aragón itself disappearing after 2005, the climb has laid almost dormant since, only returning for one more Vuelta a Aragón stage when that race briefly came back to life in 2017.
(picture by Roteiros Galegos at Flickr)
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