[Leica] Nathan's PAD 30/8/2022: La Vuelta in Alicante

[Nathan Wajsman]

Last week, Tuesday, the 10th stage of the Vuelta a España bicycle race was a 31 km individual time trial from Elche to Alicante, along roads which are also part of my cycling route, albeit at a somewhat lower speed (the best cyclists completed the ITT with an average speed of about 55 km/h). I took the day off to have a look. After experimenting with various vantage points, I went to a large roundabout called Plaza Luceros, a couple of hundred meters from the finish line. The advantage of this spot was that the curve forced the cyclists to slow down a little, thus increasing my percentage of successful images.

I took about 70 photos, here are 3 of them for an appetiser. 

Alejandro Valverde, a Spanish cyclist is a true phenomenon, and one of the cyclists I really wanted to see. He is 42, and this is his last professional season and thus his last Vuelta. To be able to compete at this level at his age is amazing:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-qVCGwCR/A <https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-qVCGwCR/A>

What I am usually after when photographing cycling are the facial expressions of effort and suffering, the essence of the sport. Here, French cyclist Nans Peters is providing me with both:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-Kvtq3c2/A <https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-Kvtq3c2/A>

In a time trial, the cyclists start 2 minutes apart, so you have some natural breaks in the action. I used those to turn my camera on the spectators and other details. One of those details that caught my attention was the helmet of this motorcycle cop, with his blood type on the back. I don’t know if this is done in other countries, but it does seem like a sensible precaution:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-HXPGNSW/A <https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-HXPGNSW/A>

More to come once I have processed my Scotland photos from earlier in the week.

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
photo at frozenlight.eu

http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
http://www.greatpix.eu
http://www.frozenlight.eu

YNWA