The Vuelta a España goes to Andorra today and pleasant weather awaits, 26°C and sunshine. As a ski resort in the Pyrenees it’s an obvious destination for a race with climbs and hotels but there’s a wider ecosystem for much of the pro peloton here. The micro-state has become home to plenty and this is creating a self-fulfilling phenomenon attracting more riders and in turn physios, nutritionists, mechanics, financial advisors and more.
Long before today’s nation states, Andorra was one among many counties, kingdoms, provinces and other divisions of land. The oddity is that it has persisted while all the rest have been folded into what we know as France and Spain today. Being an enclave in the mountains has helped, there few resources to claim and it has not been strategic either, there are easier passages across the Pyrenees to the west and east. Another factor was that in 1278 it became a shared entity with the Count of Foix (in France today) and the Bishop of La Seu d’Urgell (in Spain) appointed as co-princes of the state and the borders set then have barely been changed; today the Bishop of La Seu d’Urgell is still the co-head of state, only now alongside the French President. In the 1990s locals got more of a say with their own parliament.
The Pyrenees were long exploited by smugglers, moving contraband or more recently trying to dodge tariffs and duties. Andorra got into this arbitrage by more legitimate means. Local tobacco cultivation which continues to this day made it a place for smokers from Spain and France to stock up, then low taxes made it a budget destination. Smokers could enjoy a day trip for skiing or thermal baths and return with bulk purchases of cigarettes. This expanded into a wider retail offer for washing machines, TVs and other big ticket items – bikes too – sold at unbeatable prices because they were tax-free, coupled with the incentive of low duties on fuel meaning the drive from large population centres like Barcelona, Toulouse, Zaragoza or Pau wasn’t as costly either. Some of this retail took a hit because of the internet. Consumers were able to shop around for low prices, benefit from warehousing efficiency and have goods delivered to them. But to this day the VAT rate is 4.5%, while it is 21% in Spain and 20% in France. A box of cigarettes is about €40 compared to €140 in France.
Alas one cycling angle is, or hopefully was, that Andorra’s easygoing retailing apparently extended to pharmaceuticals, including the over-the-counter sale of recombinant-EPO. Just walk in, pay and walk out apparently but this is hard to substantiate today; it could equally have been the result of a crooked pharmacist. Either way it was apparently a destination around the turn of the century for some looking to fill up their fridges with vials of EPO, and save on VAT while doing so.
Onto the more substantial and bona fide angle and Andorra has become a tax haven for riders. In 2006 Joaquim “Purito” Rodriguez moved to the principality. He’s a Catalan by birth so it was close by. He seemed to become an evangelist who attracted others. Or at least the tax rate did the talking. Today many riders are attracted by this, a flat 10% rate applies to income above €40,000. For comparison earn over €60,000 in Spain and the rate is 45% which explains why Girona isn’t the draw it used to be; over the border in France it’s about 33%. The VAT rate matters too as riders billing for services only need add 4.5%.
Another draw is residency. Work visas can be hard to get for non-Europeans but Andorra will grant a VIP residency visa to a cyclist brandishing a pro contract and willing to lodge a €50,000 bond for two years. This simplicity is a big draw for some, perhaps as much or more than the tax rate as getting a visa can be time consuming.
Housing is another attraction. You can rent a three bedroom apartment – one room for bikes and a home gym – for under €2,000 a month. If you have to ask how much this might cost in Monaco then you probably can’t afford it; but €20,000 per month is normal. Or see why many a Monaco pro opts to rent a studio and their home gym is the balcony.
Low taxes, easy visas and housing. The downside to all this is being sequestered in the middle of the mountains. A sprinter just can’t find many flat roads to train on but even a climber doesn’t have it easy either. The Pyrenees are damp, and with the lowest altitude in the principality at 900m it is cold for three out of the four seasons. So whatever the tax saving, the practical difficulties are legion with airport connections further away. Plus it has the dull feel of a retail outlet and ski resort. The solution to this for many is to actually live in Girona while keeping residency in Andorra where being present for 90 days is sufficient. Plus nobody seems to be counting.
If you know of plenty of cyclists who are resident in Andorra, it’s also become home to many others. Indeed the wintry weather is less of a problem for winter sports athletes of course, but those who do motor sports, trail running or or take part in indoor sports have made it home. Plus a growing “influencer”, Youtuber and gamer streaming quotient who just need a cosy apartment rather than the outdoors, indeed the Andorran government is making a big push in e-sports. All this though means there’s a wider ecosystem. Physios, masseurs, nutritionists for athletes, accountants, banking and legal advice for others. There’s an economy growing up around the service of the pro cyclists and others.
Building on this the principality wants to establish itself as as sports and well-being destination with facilities for rehab, hotels with altitude rooms – sleep at 1,500m but adjust the dial to simulate 2,700m – and more.
Conclusion
Once just a drab high altitude retail outlet, Andorra’s become home for many pro cyclists although plenty will say it’s still a drab place. Yes plenty are attracted by the tax rate but housing and visa requirements underpin this, Monaco’s rental rates reserve it for an elite. It’s a regular bidder for the Vuelta and Tour, able to supply hotel accommodation for the convoy but increasingly able to afford it. If the Vuelta was here last year and is back today, there’s every chance it features next year or soon again in the Tour too.
Alas for those with ill-gotten gains, Andorra is no longer a tax haven. Ultra-high-net-worth individuals will have to slum it with millionaires and other tawdry types in BVI, the Cook Islands and the such like.
I wonder if Pogacar can “Purito like” take up a good cigar after a race?
Of course the 45% rate over 60K only applies to what you gain over that sum, while the first “blocks” of rates applied are normally more favourable than in other countries (and obviously still apply to “the first 35K” you earn even if your total is above 50K). Spain being more “federal” than many federations of States also has relevant regional differences even for IRPF. However, of course elite sport persons, top influencers and others are very well above 60K, so the low taxes on basic earnings have a marginal impact on their situation. If you earn some 70-80K a year Spain is probably still a better tax destination than other countries, not as much if you’re above that, and less and less so, so imagine contracts in millions.
Not speaking specifically of Andorra, but another important point to remember is that when taxes are low you soon discover that you have to pay more under other differents forms like “compulsory private health insurance”, plus a broader and broader range of “residency hidden taxes” like “property tax” (fine), “garbage tax”, “garage tax”, higher and higher VATS or the likes. Governments typically try to attract votes cutting down income taxes, then citizens have to pay more than ever for basic services like health and education which they perceive simply like “oh, bad luck, the cost of living is rising”; or, as I said, taxes are reintroduced with a medieval variety of smaller taxes on little aspects of life which are 1) more local, hindering the concept of equality 2) typically less progressive (hence less fair) 3) harder to control for the citizen hence making rational decision-making much more complicated.
One thing is that, yes the riders have to buy private health insurance cover as well for their residency. So this, the bond etc requires some resources up front before moving/applying, neo-pros tend to start in, say, Girona.
The UK is considered to have a particularly (indeed, historically) high tax rate, yet only applies a 45% rate above £125k of earnings (approx €145k). So much more favourable than Spain, but as you say there are a multitude of other, less-progressive taxes, such as council tax for example.
Spain does have the Beckham law though, which allows a flat rate 24% rate for workers whose earnings originate outside the country, so presumably a lot of pro cyclists qualify for this (though apparently it’s not necessarily easy to obtain in reality!).
The UK was considered to have low tax rates from an Italian or French perspective ^___^
Although the UK rate is 40% above £50k (c€58k), so not *that* much more favourable for people earning in that bracket.
UK rate is quite a bit lower below that threshold though (20% vs the Spanish 19-37%). Which may explain some of our crumbling infrastructure.
Err…while what you say is true about the 20 percent tax rate for low incomes, it isn’t really explaining the crumbling infrastructure. There are a few problems in Britain including: (i) Britain is actually quite poor compared to other western European countries; (ii) there are a very large number of people who do not work because they are ill and are receiving welfare payments; (iii) Britain has borrowed large amounts of money recently and is paying a great deal to service the debt. [Note, other countries in western Europe also have problems (ii) and (iii) if not always to the same extent].
It depends which European countries you’re comparing with. Obviously the UK isn’t up there with Norway or Luxembourg, but according to the OECD the UK’s GDP/cap is about the same as France, slightly ahead of Italy and Spain and slightly behind Germany (on a purchasing power parity basis). The employment rate is slightly ahead of Germany and a fair bit ahead of the other two. Government debt is a lot bigger than Germany, but a lot smaller than the others. (Although we pay a higher rate to service it than the Eurozone). Overall, we’re in a similar position to the other large West European countries.
So, while it doesn’t explain the whole problem (I only said “some”), the deliberate narrowing of our tax base in the 2010s has definitely contributed to the problems.
The true tax burden is what the government is actually spending. In France it’s 57% of GDP, Spain and UK about 45%, Italy 51%, and Andorra 38%. The rest is quibbling about who pays the tax, how the tax is collected (income, property, VAT, garage tax), and when the tax is collected (from current taxpayers or future taxpayers).
That’s not really true. As said above, if you have to pay differently for some things, for example healthcare, then that expenditure is not made by the government. Does your figure for France include payments made via the mutuelles?
And tax is not a burden – it’s what we pay for a civilised life.
Taxes are protection money … only this and nothing more.
Indeed. Protection from illness, protection from illiteracy, protection from squalor, protection from crime, protection from arbitrary decisions from the rich which only favour themselves. That is what a state should do – protect its citizens.
I see protection as a positive, I read your comment to imply otherwise.
Why no protection from bankruptcy?
The State obviously doesn’t own its whole fidelity to the citizenship but it isn’t merely the watchdog of Capital, either. It’s a different field of action for different forces although of course we can all name examples in which its capacity of action was prevalently seized for external interests or for the benefit of any internal privileged elite. Currently, the State as a partially alternative field of action to pure Capital is under menace from three main directions: reducing its leverage (less resources availabe, i.e. less taxation), reducing or abducting its autonomous mechanisms (reducing the role of pure politics vs. “technical” decisions, discredit on institutions mediating political action like parties, movements, traditional media or unions etc.; making politics a variant of marketing, increasing the role and importance of private financiation); plundering of resources through private business in key high-impact fields (education, health, military, communications, energy).
“Taxes are protection money”
This is a very silly understanding of the situation. In a democracy, taxes are voted for by the whole population via the choice of government, and provide a benefit to that population. If you don’t agree with what the government is doing then you need to vote for someone else, and convice the majority of voters to support your choice.
Sure.
The number from France does not include mutuelles.
Up to a point taxes do pay for useful things like schools, police, the justice system, defense. However when tax money is frittered away via waste and fraud, it becomes corrosive to civilization, and a certain rate, taxes just become predatory.
You are treating the government as something external to you. But this is not true. the government is elected by voters/taxpayers. If you disagree with what the government is doing, then you should elect someone else.
If someone else is not elected, that says the majority of people disagree with you that “tax money is being frittered away via waste and fraud” is an important problem. Usually, you will find that spending you don’t like is liked by someone else: they think the spending is useful and want the government to spend that money.
I always felt that Andorra has a gloomy look not only because the implications of their activities but also because… the valley’s got a very shady natural sun exposition, sort of narrow and the mountain casting lots of shadow even in summer.
Yet, nobody can doubt about Purito’s motives for moving there and, no, not because he ever was really a smoker (which he wasn’t) but because his home town is really a terrible place, sort of a sacrifice zone in the outskirts of Barcelona!
(Yeah, of course he could have moved to better places without leaving Catalunya 😉 )
However, his relationship with the place looks very genuine, he knows the territory in detail and seems to love the area.
Andorra looks pretty grim and remote as a place to live. There is very little to do there, and most of the year, as you say, is dark, dank and gloomy. For me, the tax savings would pale compared to what it is like as a place to live (but each to their own).
Well when you’re training 20+ hours a week you don’t want to do much else
Yes, you make a good point about the training. But your partner is likely going to be bored even if you aren’t. And presumably, most people would like to go out and do something nice at least occasionally.
Of course, everyone is different.
I like the phrase ‘sacrifice zone’. I’m sure that it has a good urban planning application, but I’m imagining Purito rustling up a full-blown suovetaurilia with friends and family in 2012.
One for the Giro, one for the Vuelta, and one for the following year’s Worlds…
^____^
“Andorra looks pretty grim and remote”
A fitting place for a pretty grim and remote stage, race and result. My goodness…
Monthly rent in Monaco looks insane, was browsing just to see for myself and wow.
How about this Vuelta eh? You can really sense the excitement in these comments…about taxation.
The last time I felt this level of excitement was when I was stuck in a four-hour queue on the M25, with the radio only managing to pick up “Gardeners’ Question Time.”
Come for the cycling stay for an partily informed discussion on the ethicality of tax and the boundaries of what is a philosophically permissible action by the state. We had art history during the Tour so why not….
LOL.
This is the first GT in 15 years I’m not following closely, but I still come for the daily banter on Inrng. 🙂
Ethicality – good word
Slightly OT… but!, yesterday was really good with big selection and reshuffling little groups much further from the line than expected. I’ll surely follow with keen interest how do the storylines develop around Carapaz, Rogla, Kuss, Mas, Widar, Onley… each compelling for different reasons. I’m personally less involved on Gall or Skjelmose but they’re solid rivals who add up to the competition. Curious about greatly awaited Pablo Torres and Marco Brenner.
Only downside, the TV production should increasingly learn to pay less attention to that man in red showing the race sponsors 3 mins in front of the rest, a pedalling one-man caravan of sort. Let roadside spectators enjoy that with just a few glimpse for TV ones.
4 stages, 1 ITT (generally low interest), ditto 1 (albeit extremely good and selected) sprint, 1 cancelled… I think the level of interest couldn’t be very different, especially on inrng with «reduced coverage» for the Spanish race. In Spain, it’s quite high on the generalist press, which for cycling is a great result. In the rest of the world… I wonder if it’s even visible. Which countries do usually broadcast it free-to-air in recent years? Maybe Belgium, Australia, Colombia… anybody else? Not Italy, not the Netherlands, not France, not Germany, not the UK. Same issue as the Giro, back to «re-nationalisation» of the product in the worst sense.
Danish TV2, our semi-free-to-air station, is broadcasting the Vuelta, but viewership is expected to drop by about half compared to last year, largely due to the absence of Vingegaard.
The Vuelta is free to air in Germany on Eurosport.
Thanks to the above re: the German and Danish situation. I’d be curious to know if ES being free to air grants better figures or, as I’d tend to suspect, the main factor is being broadcast on an “important” generalist channel. For instance, in Spain cycling audience drops when any whole stage or race is broadcast on the equally national, equally public, equally free Teledeporte instead of generalist La 1 or La 2. Anyway, that varies in different nations, for example the drop in audience for this same reason is less violent in Italy for the Giro than for GTs on Spanish TV, and L’Equipe TV in France got excellent figures for the Giro, when they broadcast it. So, it would be interesting to check ES’ performance as a free to air channel, both when they have an exclusive and when they broadcast a race which is always on any other national channel.
Tuesday’s figures were very satisfactory for Spanish TV, over 1M viewers and the best programme that whole day across all channels before prime time and its “openers” (except news, of course). Obviously, cycling on TV struggles a bit as TV generally does, but it’s defending or improving its share, that is, it’s decreasing less (surely for generational reasons, too).
Currently, as I forwarded, what “worries” me more is that we’re going towards an increasingly fragmented public of the sport, with strong divides based on the nationality… of races! Which makes totally pointless any calendar reform or the likes unless it goes hand in hand with a deep reform of the management of TV rights, including agreements about commitment to broadcast etc.
Excellent point about how these races end up being seen. In the US, many of the races that were on GCN+ are now on HBO, which is nice since I want to have that service anyway and we get the Eurosport feed. But the ASO races are on Peacock, which is run by NBC, who are the self-styled “Olympic sports” network. They put an Americanized shell on the coverage by having the awful Bob Roll do the commentary from his kitchen or whatever. Then there are the races that are only on Flobikes. All of this leads to very fragmented, often barely acknowledged (by the networks who put it on), often frankly terrible coverage of road cycling in the US. Not a great way to grow the sport, as we’ve discussed before. For a bit we had the Netflix Tour documentary (Unchained here), which was a fantastic entree into the cycling culture, but sadly that went away too. It seems like the American market could be tapped, but it won’t happen the way things are currently run.
Interesting that most races mainly have a large audience in their home market only (except of course, the Tour de France). Maybe this suggests the move to create a small number of races which has all the top riders all compete is not the best way to go for cycling. Does this instead suggest we need to encourage Pro-teams in Belgium/France/Italy/Spain which race their national circuit with local sponsors and reserve places for them into their local races? This is the exact tier of teams which has been squeezed out in the last 20 years.
Good point, and I’d tend to agree.
I’m not sure that such an option, which means essentially going back to 20th century cycling (although of course it extended in different ways into 21st century) is the only one available, but that system proved to be sustainable and resilient enough.
It’s pretty evident that an alternative path could be taken into consideration (the Giro achieved impressive viewing figures quite fast in France or Spain when appropriately broadcast for mass market), but it’s as evident, now, that a complex set of decisions taken at different levels (UCI, RCS, FLCS, several TV broadcasters) are pushing things back to the previous model.
OTOH, international big teams and everything which revolves around them would probably work at their best within a different scenario, i.e., the one which the sport *seemed* to be tending to, which is bound to produce internal tensions.
It’s worth noting that the biggest European sport by far, football (so big that it can’t be a term of comparison for anything), works on sort of a double layer of national vs. international scale, the only common element being…those huge top teams which usually play both, and which grant by far most economic income and fanbase for the national scene. At the same time, their attempts to gain more independence from the national scene have failed miserably to present date.
Even in sports as in so many other fields, Europe looks to be struggling to combine its overall dimension, which makes it relevant from a global POV, and its national specificities, which is where it still roots for good or ill a great part of its energies (diversity, identity, sense of belonging etc.)
In hindsight, we might have too many world tour teams and not enough room for second tier teams with more local sponsors who want to specialize in a smaller number of the big races mainly on their home circuit.
For example, next year we might not have any Belgian Pro-team. I am not sure much is gained by having Movistar (for example), doing the cobbled classics when they have no interest in being there rather than a bunch of Belgian pro-conti riders who live for those kinds of races. Similarly, someone like Alpecin has absolutely no interest in the one-week stage races in Spain or Switzerland and could easily be replaced by a lower ranked team with some semi-decent climbers.
I guess that the idea was that the system could produce 18 superteams able to fight seriously on every front, but that’s ignoring a good deal of reality, it’s like trying to transform the sport out of abstract premises. To start with, even leaving aside the quantitative aspect of “how much money”, some sponsors might be interested in a global or European shopwindow, many other… just aren’t, so the sport asks them more money for something they don’t care about. You gain appeal on one side (the side of big spenders, admittedly) but what the plan seems not aware of is that you *lose* smaller spenders in the process, it’s not like they’ll stay to win less than ever and/or just showing up in contexts they can’t gain anything from.
However some serious economic growth no doubt happened, now will that bubble just float up and away from grassroots (eventually blowing up…) or will the pyramid slowly find some balancing mechanism?
This sort of things takes decades to evolve, a couple at least, so it’s difficult to judge in the short term.
I’d say anyway that some stitches and patches for short term health are needed.
Gabriele,
I think we more-or-less agree. But one point to make is that it is not (just) that the small teams can’t win. Having 18 WT teams and guaranteed places for the top 3 Pro-teams means that the other Pro-teams can not even enter the races which are important for them. There are only two true wild-card entrees for the Giro/Vuelta (unless someone drops out). And other stage races, in practise, have very few places for invited teams.
This situation makes it difficult for teams like Solution Tech Nippo to go to their sponsors for money since they can not be sure they will be in the big Italian races (no MSR or Giro this year). Even teams like Bardiani are sweating on their selection. These teams would be better with a roster of 20 riders (rather than 25) since they would not need to be looking for so many races outside Italy (which adds to their costs) which do not interest their sponsors.
@John Please note that part of what I expand on above is what I believe to be the logic behind some processes happening in cycling, not that I agree with that or defend it as a valid option. I really haven’t much of a personal “normative” stance in it, rather a “descriptive” approach.
That said, I agree with you but that’s precisely what I mean when I say that some actors are pushing things in a given direction. The UCI is currently raising and raising the bar for smaller teams (the need to be in the first 30 to take part), making the sport more competitive, more interesting even in remote races, but surely harder for small teams and sponsors, the latter being obviously crazy when being asked money to race in Turkmenistan only to harvest minimal survival points. China is sort of a decent option for many small Italian sponsors with interests there, but that’s not always the case.
It must also be acknowledged that the UCI and, only recently, also RCS indeed took some other small decisions thought to help minor teams. Clearly too little too late, but, as I said, I still hope that there’s room to find a better balance as some circunstances also become increasingly clear.
I think the Vuelta could do decent numbers on the main channels in Germany, but not huge, unless there is a good storyline to create involvement, e.g. Lipo going for GC.
Something I have noticed for myself, sports that I would never watch on niche channels, like swimming and track and field do gather my attention when the main channels broadcast some events like the european championships recently.
Agree, I watched a lot of the European athletics championships on free TV in England and really enjoyed it – the mixed relay events were a great addition. Perhaps it also helped that Britain won quite a lot of gold medals on the track!
Free hour long highlights on channel 5 in U.K. Same as the Tour.
An interesting separate point to examine would be how do highlights work in terms of viewership (figures) but also impact (visibility of ‘moves’ or ‘strategies’ works totally differently in highlights).
Personally (i.e., something which has no meaning beyond individual personality), I never watch highlights, that is, I can make my own highlights watching a ‘recorded’ race, but for some reason rather than watching a 60 minutes programme I tend to read written articles or just the results. Which is strange enough, admittedly. Several friends love highlights… I guess that for me a relevant part of a race is those long ‘useless’ sections when time difference between groups sways slightly so things are in a balance of sort and you’re watching trying to guess how things will end up depending on what everybody decides to do. Their sheer duration is part of their intrinsic interest, for me, because energies are beimg spent (or not), windows of opportunities are closing as decisions are being taken (or not) etc.
All the above made the Zurich Worlds a great race to watch, for me, unlike, say, Lombardia that same year.
So far this Vuelta I’ve only got round to watching the highlights of stage one, a day late, and not any of the other stages. As I’ve been following what’s happened on each stage via Pro Cycling Stats & social media I’m finding it difficult to muster any enthusiasm for watching limited highlights (by the time you remove the ad breaks & the bits with the annoying presenter it’s 40 minutes at most of actual race coverage) when I already know the results. I feel I’m getting more out of listening to a couple of podcasts giving post-race discussion. If only Inrng had daily posts for the Vuelta like for the other grand tours then I’d be reading all the comments on those too.
@gabriele – I think you might have the mindset to enjoy Test cricket (I most certainly do) if you can get your head around silly mid-off, cow corner, googly and the like! Although the speed of results these days may detract from that.
@gabriele free one-hour highlights on Channel 5 in the UK at 7pm every night. They use the TNT/HBO feed and add their own presenter (Rebecca Charlton instead of Orla Chennaoui).
I’m rather enjoying this Vuelta (obviously bar the GC ‘battle’).
Today was frankly great, and quite clearly *not* because Pogi won, but surely enough Pogi being Pogi added up hugely to the narrative and emotional impact of the stage, i.e., a candidate GOAT but even more so somebody who nearly never can be brought back once he goes. All that enhanced by Mas’ status as the enfant du pays with a past of enfant prodige now well behind him, often struggling for so many reasons and yet one of the few who once won a direct duel uphill against Pogačar.
It would have been good if, say, Pogi never came at this Vuelta, and today, dunno, Carapaz or Rogla attacked and went solo then Mas caught him etc., but of course this way it was immensely more significant, albeit nearly meaningless from a purely sporting POV.
From a strictly sporting POV, I suspect that with no Pogi (just as it felt the other day) we’d have had no hard fight among the top men, just some skirmish, and a dozen athletes playing it out in a reduced sprint.
P.s. The descent events were also way more interesting because each of the two in front was who he was 😉
A steep pinch and then onto the dirt … no race does like the Vuelta!
Norwegian 1-2 on a particular day. Keeping an eye on Bisiaux and Omrzel both on the front today.
And quite impressively lots of people on the roadside, at least in the uphill stretches which the police left accessible, even more so if we consider that they were racing in one of the Spanish provinces with the lowest density of population (and decreasing), about a third part of what France’s empty diagonal averages (imagine that Lozere, the *lowest density department in France*, is about +50% more densely populated than the Teruel province where today’s arrival was).
Wow – the crowds were impressive then.
As much as I’m not a fan of Team UAE and Pog isn’t really my cup of tea, this was not the way the Vuelta—and maybe even the season—should have ended for him.Tragic. 🙁
We have all these phrases in cycling about the vicissitudes of the sport, but it never seems to apply to Pogi. It makes it so shocking when the bad luck finally hits him, it feels like a massive blow to the sport. It’s a weird feeling today.
As a fan, I still feel it’s part of the sport. As you say, it underlines what he himself nearly made us forget, that is how really hard is it always to win in cycling, even with amazing athletical superiority, be it only for the chaotic and challenging nature of the race. In the middle to long term of a career, these accidents are bound to happen and one can only be happy if they don’t entail major consequences, because negative effects can be sometimes even greater than what looks predictable.
In a broader picture, I see it as a new occasion for Pogi to test those skills which are needed to be a champion even if they can’t be measured in w/kg, like facing frustration, having to shift plans, changing expectations and so on.
For some reason, Vingegaard’s accident at the TDF left me more disappointed, although it’s not like I’m happy for what happened to Pogi, especially because he was working on one of those rare empty spaces in his palmarés rather than winning the n-th edition of anything.
Cynically, and despite being a fan, I think that it’s good for the sport if other athletes have some more occasions to breath extra airtime.
Surely, it’s not good for the race, even if it might become more unpredictable. The consolation, for them, is that Pogi will be back some other year, plus they now already enjoyed the push of the superstar’s presence (typically greater in the first week) and they can now take advantage of a national athletes in contention for the overall victory.
Pogacar is still the odds-on favourite to win the Tour-Vuelta double next year, barring the possibility that he won’t, for some reason, interested in doing them both.
As a spectator, I cannot help thinking that the GC battle now has begun, but as a cycling fan that is a small compensation for missing the opportunity to see Pogacar race for and quite possibly win his third consecutive World Championship and his sixth consecutive victory in Il Lombardia,
The super cynical view is that this Vuelta is now a more interesting race, at least as regards the gc, but it comes with a giant “*” for not only this race but any other race that Pogi will miss this year. As always in cycling, “you have to stay on your bike,” but the loss of the #2 rider in the Tour and the very clear #1 in the Vuelta will mean that future peeks at PCS will include the thought that “oh, the podium was like that because…”
For myself I was mildly disappointed when I heard Pog was doing the Vuelta this year, as it seemed to me he was specifically choosing to do it in an edition which didn’t have the toughest climb in Europe in it – the Angliru. Now with preparation ASO can ensure it is in next year, and perhaps put in a double Angliru like we had a double Alpe D’Huez this year. Come on ASO, you know you (and we) want you to!
I didn’t agree with the comments after Vingegaard crashed in the Tour that that result should have an asterisk, because Pogacar was already minutes ahead of him and showing no signs of fading, but I do agree that this Vuelta result will have a mental asterisk.
Dawnstar, just to be clear I totally agree re: Pogi at the Tour. I was speaking specifically about the final podium, which was severely impacted by JV’s absence and Pogi’s performance as a super domestique. Of course, whoever ends up on the podium totally deserves it.
I was shocked by Pogacar crashing out of #LaVuelta26 but I had had a feeling since before it started that something might go wrong for him. It felt as though everyone who said he’d won it as soon as his participation was announced were doing far too much chicken counting considering the crash rate in cycling.
Cycling News has an update on Pogacar —
According to UAE medical director, Dr. Adrian Rotunno:
“He is stable, and following a thorough medical assessment at hospital, Tadej has been diagnosed with a concussion, displaced left clavicle fracture, a stable C7 cervical fracture [neck], and multiple abrasions. Fortunately, no other major injuries and no neurological fallout.”
Pogi’s season is over 🙁
Hopefully a complete recovery with no lasting, adverse effects
Thanks for this, very much appreciated. Something I don’t understand (my ignorance, no doubt) but is concussion something neurological? And can it sometimes take time to recover from, and even to see its full effect?
Concussion happens when the brain moves (shakes or spins) inside the scull, due to big accelerations of the scull. There are no protective layers between the brain and the scull, so the brain can be wounded. The wounds, or even a slight dislocation of the brain, have consequences, which we call concussion.
The brain owns excellent capabilities of healing itself, so in most cases symptoms will go away soon. Severe cases will take longer. For a friend of mine, after being hit by a car while riding, it took years; he had to change profession in the process.
I hope that Pogi will stay in the profession he masters.
Yes, a concussion is a neuropsychiatric condition – however, I interpreted the comment as related to the C7 fracture which could have been catastrophic had there been spinal cord involvement.
‘And every fair from fair sometimes declines
By chance,,or Nature’s changing course untrimmed…’
We might need a second Preview for the post-Pogacar Vuelta. 😉
PCS has some interesting data in their live feed for todays stage on the impact of certain injuries on future results. Concussions and broken vertebraes seem to be quit consequential.