- Sep 20, 2017
- 12,006
- 22,735
- 28,180
The flattest road stage of the race, barring the final parade. However, it might actually be an exciting day, as the route is really exposed and (as per the predictions at the time of writing on Thursday evening) the wind direction becomes more favourable the closer to Zaragoza they get.
(author's note before posting: sadly the forecasted wind speeds have dipped since I last edited this text, not very optimistic anymore)
Map and profile
Start
A fairly lengthy transfer south has taken the riders out of the Pyrenees and into relatively flat terrain. However, this far north of the Ebro there are still hills, and today’s starting town Monzón is located beneath a particularly steep hill upon which a sizeable castle has been built. It was first constructed in the 10th century, when Monzón was near the northern border of the Caliphate of Córdoba (i.e. the one established by the Umayyads in the 8th century). In the early 11th century, the Caliphate collapsed as a result of civil war and was replaced by a number of smaller so-called Taifa kingdoms. This situation benefited the Christian kingdoms in the north of the country, including Aragón, which became independent from Navarra around the same time. At this time, Aragón essentially consisted of what are now the Aragonese Pyrenees, but its kings gradually expanded their territory southward, conquering Monzón and its castle in 1083. Aside from two brief periods of Muslim reconquest in the first sixty years after this, Monzón has remained part of Aragón ever since.
In 1143, the king of Aragón handed over control of the castle to the Knights Templar, a religious military order that had been founded early in the century to fight in the Crusades. After being sanctioned by the Pope, they became extremely wealthy through donations and guarding the valuables of pilgrims. During the 12th century, the Templars were at their peak, more powerful and prestigious than counterparts like the Knights Hospitaller or the Teutonic Knights. However, while those two still exist, the Templars were extinguished in the early 14th century. There were two main reasons for this. Firstly, the Crusader states had all been conquered by this point, damaging the prestige of the Templars and undermining their purpose. Secondly, many royal houses were deeply in debt to them, and it was for this reason that France waged war on them from 1307 onwards, seizing their treasury. When the French King Philip IV successfully pressurised the Pope into dissolving the order in 1312, it was all over. Monzón, where the Templars had been so powerful that they had held guardianship over King James I during the minority of his 62-year reign, reverted to the crown – after a successful siege by James I’s grandson James II, no less.
This was not the end of the importance of the Castle of Monzón. The kings of Aragón held court here with some regularity until after the establishment of personal union with Castilla, and in 1626 France and Spain negotiated a treaty here that ended one of their many wars. Only under the Bourbons does it appear to have declined in importance. After several centuries where little of note happened, the 1950s and 1960s saw rapid industrialisation, with the population growing from under 6000 to over 14000 people in just 20 years. The post-Franco era has been fairly stable here. Monzón is also notable as the birthplace of Conchita Martínez, the 1994 Wimbledon singles champion as well as the winner of three Olympic doubles medals. It has seen the Vuelta just once, in 1977.
(picture by Willtron at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
Not particularly much to say about this one. Assuming the wind blows from the northwest, as is predicted at the time of writing, it’s a block headwind in the rolling first 60 kilometres to Huesca, the provincial capital, where the riders turn southwest into a crosswind. After another forty or so kilometres, the riders reach the Gallego valley, where the landscape becomes greener and, more notably, the route starts heading south, which means it’s time for a cross-tailwind. This most echelon-prone section lasts through the intermediate sprint in Peñaflor until about 35 kilometres to go, where the riders enter the Zaragoza urban area. It would have been a lot less, but for the 23-kilometre final circuit that has been added to the route. The final 2.8 kilometres, from the point where the riders enter the circuit, are the same as the 2023 stage that finished here. As you can see, it’s not a technical finale, although we do once again have a road that drags to one side, in this case the left, until very close to the line.
Finish
Although there had been a small town here since before the Roman conquest, Iberia had been Romanised for about two centuries before Emperor Augustus, showing boundless humility, established the much larger town of Caesaraugusta which would develop into the city we know today. It was spared from any major sacking when Roman authority collapsed, which meant that its relative status became more important in the Visigothic era. The Umayyad conquest brought greater levels of wealth to Spain, and Zaragoza benefited particularly as it was made the capital of the Upper March, which spanned the Ebro valley in its broadest sense. The civil wars I described earlier were actually a net positive for Zaragoza, as it now became the capital of a kingdom rather than a march. Its new rulers expanded not just its political but also its economic and cultural significance, and by the end of the 11th century the city numbered about 25000 inhabitants and occupied about four times as much space as it had in Roman times.
However, this era was not to last, as more militarily powerful players were rising. To the south, the Almoravid dynasty were in the process of re-establishing a single Muslim state in Iberia, as part of an empire that reached as far south as modern Senegal. To the north, as discussed previously, the Kingdom of Aragón was on the rise. While the latter made great inroads in the northern part of the Taifa (including Monzón), it was the former that ended its independence with the capture of Zaragoza itself in 1110. Almoravid rule would prove to be short-lived, as the Aragonese conquered the city in 1118 and made it their capital. This actually triggered a period of economic and population decline, with migrants from the north unable to make up for the exodus of large swathes of the Muslim population (those who wished to stay were allowed to do so, but not within the city walls). That prestige never entirely returned, and although it remained an important city, it had the same population size in the 16th century that it had already had in the 11th.
By this point, personal union with Castilla had been established, and as Aragón was the smaller and less important of both kingdoms, it slowly fell out of royal favour. Although the monarchy did not face as much resistance here as in Catalonia, it did have to beat back an uprising in 1581. During the War of the Spanish Succession, it soon became clear that the Bourbon candidate Philip had little time for Aragonese autonomy, and thus Zaragoza rose in support of the Habsburg candidate Charles. Although Charles’ armies won a major battle at Zaragoza in the latter stages of the war, in 1710, the subsequent campaign to take Madrid was a dismal failure, which was the main factor other than international politics in deciding the war in Philip’s favour. Thus, Aragón and Zaragoza alike lost the considerable remains of their special status. In spite of the loss of its institutions, the 18th century would actually see Zaragoza grow at a pace not seen since the Arab days.
This period of development came to a brutal end when Napoleon invaded Spain. Zaragoza was besieged twice in 1808-1809. The first siege was successfully repulsed, but the second descended into a typhus outbreak and three weeks of street fighting. By the time the defenders finally surrendered, most of the city had been reduced to ruins and an estimated 50000 people had been killed. The first half of the 19th century was therefore mostly about reconstruction, before the arrival of railway connections to Madrid and Barcelona in the 1860s and industrialization (centred especially around sugar refinery upon the loss of the remaining colonies in 1898) triggered substantial population growth. However, poverty and inequality were significant issues, and thus Zaragoza became one of the hotbeds of organised labour. In spite of this, the city was held by Francoist forces for the entirety of the Spanish Civil War – in fact, the failure of the republican offensive to capture the city in 1937 contributed to their eventual downfall. In the latter years of the Franco regime, Zaragoza was selected as a new centre for economic development, causing rapid growth that continued mostly unabated until the financial crisis in 2008. In less than half a century, the city’s population doubled. Of particular note is the Opel factory, the flagship of the Zaragozan industry. In addition, the city continues to benefit from its position halfway in between Madrid and Barcelona. For the Vuelta, too, Zaragoza has historically been highly central: Madrid aside, no other city has been visited in as many editions.
(picture by Gregorio Puga Bailón at Flickr)
(author's note before posting: sadly the forecasted wind speeds have dipped since I last edited this text, not very optimistic anymore)
Map and profile
Start
A fairly lengthy transfer south has taken the riders out of the Pyrenees and into relatively flat terrain. However, this far north of the Ebro there are still hills, and today’s starting town Monzón is located beneath a particularly steep hill upon which a sizeable castle has been built. It was first constructed in the 10th century, when Monzón was near the northern border of the Caliphate of Córdoba (i.e. the one established by the Umayyads in the 8th century). In the early 11th century, the Caliphate collapsed as a result of civil war and was replaced by a number of smaller so-called Taifa kingdoms. This situation benefited the Christian kingdoms in the north of the country, including Aragón, which became independent from Navarra around the same time. At this time, Aragón essentially consisted of what are now the Aragonese Pyrenees, but its kings gradually expanded their territory southward, conquering Monzón and its castle in 1083. Aside from two brief periods of Muslim reconquest in the first sixty years after this, Monzón has remained part of Aragón ever since.
In 1143, the king of Aragón handed over control of the castle to the Knights Templar, a religious military order that had been founded early in the century to fight in the Crusades. After being sanctioned by the Pope, they became extremely wealthy through donations and guarding the valuables of pilgrims. During the 12th century, the Templars were at their peak, more powerful and prestigious than counterparts like the Knights Hospitaller or the Teutonic Knights. However, while those two still exist, the Templars were extinguished in the early 14th century. There were two main reasons for this. Firstly, the Crusader states had all been conquered by this point, damaging the prestige of the Templars and undermining their purpose. Secondly, many royal houses were deeply in debt to them, and it was for this reason that France waged war on them from 1307 onwards, seizing their treasury. When the French King Philip IV successfully pressurised the Pope into dissolving the order in 1312, it was all over. Monzón, where the Templars had been so powerful that they had held guardianship over King James I during the minority of his 62-year reign, reverted to the crown – after a successful siege by James I’s grandson James II, no less.
This was not the end of the importance of the Castle of Monzón. The kings of Aragón held court here with some regularity until after the establishment of personal union with Castilla, and in 1626 France and Spain negotiated a treaty here that ended one of their many wars. Only under the Bourbons does it appear to have declined in importance. After several centuries where little of note happened, the 1950s and 1960s saw rapid industrialisation, with the population growing from under 6000 to over 14000 people in just 20 years. The post-Franco era has been fairly stable here. Monzón is also notable as the birthplace of Conchita Martínez, the 1994 Wimbledon singles champion as well as the winner of three Olympic doubles medals. It has seen the Vuelta just once, in 1977.
(picture by Willtron at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
Not particularly much to say about this one. Assuming the wind blows from the northwest, as is predicted at the time of writing, it’s a block headwind in the rolling first 60 kilometres to Huesca, the provincial capital, where the riders turn southwest into a crosswind. After another forty or so kilometres, the riders reach the Gallego valley, where the landscape becomes greener and, more notably, the route starts heading south, which means it’s time for a cross-tailwind. This most echelon-prone section lasts through the intermediate sprint in Peñaflor until about 35 kilometres to go, where the riders enter the Zaragoza urban area. It would have been a lot less, but for the 23-kilometre final circuit that has been added to the route. The final 2.8 kilometres, from the point where the riders enter the circuit, are the same as the 2023 stage that finished here. As you can see, it’s not a technical finale, although we do once again have a road that drags to one side, in this case the left, until very close to the line.
Finish
Although there had been a small town here since before the Roman conquest, Iberia had been Romanised for about two centuries before Emperor Augustus, showing boundless humility, established the much larger town of Caesaraugusta which would develop into the city we know today. It was spared from any major sacking when Roman authority collapsed, which meant that its relative status became more important in the Visigothic era. The Umayyad conquest brought greater levels of wealth to Spain, and Zaragoza benefited particularly as it was made the capital of the Upper March, which spanned the Ebro valley in its broadest sense. The civil wars I described earlier were actually a net positive for Zaragoza, as it now became the capital of a kingdom rather than a march. Its new rulers expanded not just its political but also its economic and cultural significance, and by the end of the 11th century the city numbered about 25000 inhabitants and occupied about four times as much space as it had in Roman times.
However, this era was not to last, as more militarily powerful players were rising. To the south, the Almoravid dynasty were in the process of re-establishing a single Muslim state in Iberia, as part of an empire that reached as far south as modern Senegal. To the north, as discussed previously, the Kingdom of Aragón was on the rise. While the latter made great inroads in the northern part of the Taifa (including Monzón), it was the former that ended its independence with the capture of Zaragoza itself in 1110. Almoravid rule would prove to be short-lived, as the Aragonese conquered the city in 1118 and made it their capital. This actually triggered a period of economic and population decline, with migrants from the north unable to make up for the exodus of large swathes of the Muslim population (those who wished to stay were allowed to do so, but not within the city walls). That prestige never entirely returned, and although it remained an important city, it had the same population size in the 16th century that it had already had in the 11th.
By this point, personal union with Castilla had been established, and as Aragón was the smaller and less important of both kingdoms, it slowly fell out of royal favour. Although the monarchy did not face as much resistance here as in Catalonia, it did have to beat back an uprising in 1581. During the War of the Spanish Succession, it soon became clear that the Bourbon candidate Philip had little time for Aragonese autonomy, and thus Zaragoza rose in support of the Habsburg candidate Charles. Although Charles’ armies won a major battle at Zaragoza in the latter stages of the war, in 1710, the subsequent campaign to take Madrid was a dismal failure, which was the main factor other than international politics in deciding the war in Philip’s favour. Thus, Aragón and Zaragoza alike lost the considerable remains of their special status. In spite of the loss of its institutions, the 18th century would actually see Zaragoza grow at a pace not seen since the Arab days.
This period of development came to a brutal end when Napoleon invaded Spain. Zaragoza was besieged twice in 1808-1809. The first siege was successfully repulsed, but the second descended into a typhus outbreak and three weeks of street fighting. By the time the defenders finally surrendered, most of the city had been reduced to ruins and an estimated 50000 people had been killed. The first half of the 19th century was therefore mostly about reconstruction, before the arrival of railway connections to Madrid and Barcelona in the 1860s and industrialization (centred especially around sugar refinery upon the loss of the remaining colonies in 1898) triggered substantial population growth. However, poverty and inequality were significant issues, and thus Zaragoza became one of the hotbeds of organised labour. In spite of this, the city was held by Francoist forces for the entirety of the Spanish Civil War – in fact, the failure of the republican offensive to capture the city in 1937 contributed to their eventual downfall. In the latter years of the Franco regime, Zaragoza was selected as a new centre for economic development, causing rapid growth that continued mostly unabated until the financial crisis in 2008. In less than half a century, the city’s population doubled. Of particular note is the Opel factory, the flagship of the Zaragozan industry. In addition, the city continues to benefit from its position halfway in between Madrid and Barcelona. For the Vuelta, too, Zaragoza has historically been highly central: Madrid aside, no other city has been visited in as many editions.
(picture by Gregorio Puga Bailón at Flickr)
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