vuelta Ibiza stage one

La Vuelta Ibiza

La Vuelta Ibiza is three day stage race held over Easter every year, usually in the north west of the Island.

Stages one and three are around 30km each and more like sportifs. Stage two is 80 km and takes in most of the big mountains and is timed over a 37.5 km mid section.

Yesterday we signed on in Sant Antoni at the headquarters of Mammoth, the organisers. In the usual goody bag was a racing jersey and a t-shirt, it was then that we realised the main sponsor was Space!! Yes, space the rave nightclub, probably the biggest consumer of ecstasy and amphetamine based pharmaceuticals in Europe……yay!  Another quick look through the goody bag  revealed no trace of  free samples :( This may be the start of a new trend, what with Amgen the makers of epo sponsoring the tour of California :) as we pass through the start we hear a shout from Jane’s mother and sister from Wales. The Welsh tifosi  also known as the  taffosi!   :)

Stage one:

Stage one starts in Eivissa Town  on the Vara del Rey. It’s very official, and like the tdf and other big races, we have to mount a stage, walk across and sign in.

The start is signalled by lots of fire crackers thrown to the floor in front of the start line, and we’re off! Like most of these races, there are so many taking part that we wait a few seconds and then start scooting and finally cross the start line a few minutes after the front runners. :)

The first km or so is with a huge tailwind blowing us through downtown Eivissa and through all of the junctions held on red as the police stop  the traffic. We gradually move up through the groups here and as we hit the first climb people are coming backwards.  It’s nice gradual wide fire road middle ring climb, we have already decided to keep it steady and ride together as Jane is recovering from  a twisted knee from the  Three Peaks Trial a couple of weeks ago. But, still we’re passing people and climbing easily.  The first descent is down some very rutted and greasy tracks, Jane is a bit nervous at first but soon realises that she has more grip then she thinks.  The next climb is another three kms but a bit steeper and it’s onto the granny ring. Over this one and we find a beautiful hairpin asphalt road descent! Which then becomes a  rutted fire road. Bonkers, a stretch of pristine asphalt in the middle of nowhere. :)

Next up is the last big climb of the route, for me it’s 22/32 mostly on this one. It starts ok but then gradually becomes more and more broken up and rocky on the right hand side. And more and more we are left with a narrow rideable line on the left.  Even this starts to disappear and become an off camber greasy ledge, Jane is riding very well on this stuff and people behind us are slipping into the rut. Just before the top an angled wet root catches her back wheel and she dabs. I manage to squeeze past and at the top of the climb is the refreshment checkpoint. We grab a couple of  cokes and set off down. It’s pretty much down all the way now, but for a couple of bumps.  Jane responds well to coke and she descends well. We catch a couple on the slight rises, but we see no one on the descents. We pass two more guys on a short sharp greasy 20%+ .  Two or three km’s to go now and I get my head down and Jane tucks in behind on a wide camino. We hit a track wide water splash here flat out and a guy flags us down shouting ‘espera!’  This is the official end and the next section into town is neutralised. We stop and a chap comes up to Jane and says something about ‘primera mujer’  and then realises she’s not Spanish and he says well done first woman home. We’re  pretty astounded! He introduces himself as the President of the Balearics racing and says that he lived in Leicester for a while and does a passable midlands accent :) A local girl then turns up and he grabs them both for a photo. After five minutes the group has expanded to about 20 and we’re told to set off  to town we cruise the streets and once again all the traffic is held back for us.

A lovely day out and I wore shorts  for the first time this year……..hurrah!