La Vuelta and the Tour Saga: A Three-Week Test of Will and Racing Prowess

On Sunday, July 23, the Tour’s director, Javier Guillén, woke in Madrid as riders rolled out along the same highway, traveling from the Vosges toward the outskirts of Paris. He received a call from France and initially suspected a prank. “Jonas Vingegaard is coming on tour,” came the message. It sounded unbelievable. He reportedly treated it as if a bomb had dropped. Yet no deception was involved. The decision, kept under wraps since Christmas, placed the winner of the Tour de France in a testing ground for the Spanish round, a three-week challenge designed to test quality, emotion, contrast, and resilience, starting this Saturday in Barcelona.”