La Vuelta; have you seen the parcours? Brutal!
In my opinion, too hard; if it was Italy or Spain they’d engineer it to suit the characteristics of the ‘home boy,’ but in España it’s one for the mountain men – maybe they forgot that Alberto wasn’t riding; that we may have seen the best of Carlos; that Valverde will have a bad day and that José Manuel Fuente and Luis Ocaña have left us (God rest their souls).
Fuente and Ocaña would have loved this race route; back in the 70’s when Merckx ruled the Earth the Spaniards did things very differently to how we’re used to Grand Tours being ridden in this millenium.
![Is La Vuelta too hard](https://www.veloveritas.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/27/is-the-vuelta-too-hard/ocana.jpg)
Nowadays the first big shuffle of the pack leaves most happy with their hand and the race becomes a procession with most of the top ten happy to ‘hold.’
This has been the norm recently – Di Luca apart, but we won’t dwell on that though! – but that wasn’t the way the Spaniards did it.
Merckx might have terrified most of his rivals, but not the Spaniards – Ocaña was proud and impulsive.
As a rabid young Merckx fan I didn’t like the Spaniard – I didn’t like any rider who challenged Eddy.
![Is La Vuelta too hard](https://i2.wp.com/www.veloveritas.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/27/is-the-vuelta-too-hard/Mosquera.jpg?fit=300%2C444)
It wasn’t until I was a little older that I realised what a classy rider he really was, elegant and cool – a consumate climber and chrono man.
Fuente was no ‘tester’ but had the heart of a lion – a mountain lion that is – he and Ocaña were bitter rivals but united in a common goal – to send Merckx home to Belgium with his tail between his legs.
They never quite managed it, but Eddy was given many a hard time by the Fuente and his Kas companeros.
Maybe that’s why I like Mosquera, last year he was battling Alberto, Levi and Carlos Sastre; far from being over awed he battled hard against the Pro Tour guys.
Ocaña and Fuente would have approved; a place on the the podium for the Galician?
I hope so.