exhausted camaraderie

Poetry Recaps for Week Three of La Vuelta 2023

Dane Hamann

Sep 18, 2023

Superheat
(Stage 16 — Liencres Playa > Bejes)

Clouds congregate.
Coastal drizzle,
                           then shower,
                                                  then sun.
The shine of blue water.
			  The pop of green hills.

The peloton is
		          strung	        	out
                                                             on wet roads,
bypassing beach villages
as anxiety superheats the pace.

The stage is mostly gentle
			                until
				                the last few Ks,

where the riders stab upwards
on a sharp climb
                          toward a small mountain hamlet.

They twist along the canyon,
walls of rock leaning over
                          the road as if selfie-taking fans.

It’s an effort that sears
                                      both lung and muscle.

The team that occupies the entire podium

	suddenly attacks itself.

But by the line,	the red jersey
					        stays red,

a teammate poised
			just behind,	waiting
		                                     to leap past
in case of trouble.

Faces of pain replaced
by exhausted camaraderie

	and the relief of a stage win
			dedicated to the health
                        of a fallen teammate.

Otherworldly
(Stage 17 — Ribadesella > Altu de L’Angliru)

Fog eats
into the thickets
early along the Angliru.
Later, it shrouds everything
beyond the narrow road.
Nothing exists
except the test
of legs, lungs,
and loyalty.

Another team tries
to score a hit
against the podium trio.
They come close
but ultimately whiff
as the otherworldly gradients
clamp the jaws
of gravity
around their wheels.

The riders that dissolve
into the cool mountain mist
are forgotten,
while the three phantasms
that round a corner 
at the head of race
are revealed to be teammates,
their podium positions
solidifying with each pedal churn.

Surely they will time trial
together to the finish?
Surely their strength lies
in their combined talents?
Surely the red jersey has nothing left
to prove? Typically, as the days
of a grand tour dwindle,
there are less and less questions
to ask. Not so this time.


A Night's Difference: Press Release Erasures 
(Stage 18 — Pola de Allande > La Cruz de Linares)

Before Stage 18

Team Jumbo-Visma Press Release, 13 September, 2023

After Stage 18

Team Jumbo-Visma Press Release, 14 September, 2023

Blood and Balance
(Stage 19 — La Bañeza > Íscar)

The peloton flies through dry and quiet villages. Flat roads dive diagonally toward Madrid. Heat hazes the horizon. The clouds let sunlight fall on the plains as if they are curtains venting beams onto a green-and-reddish-brown carpet. It’s a day of high-speed vigilance for the race leaders. A day of spinning wheels, spinning legs, spinning turbines; the hypnosis of the road and sky. A day to turn the questions inward, let them silently jangle around while the legs and nerves prepare for one last trial. At the end of the day, it’s the sprinters who must face questions of speed and positioning. Questions of precarity, luck, and strength. Unexpected answers in blood and balance. Relief comes bellowing out of the throat of a team that had long searched for a stage victory. The finish line buzzes with a low evening hum that makes it feel like the Vuelta can sense the last few pages of its book are about to be flipped.

Rolling Embrace
(Stage 20 — Manzanares El Real > Guardarrama)

A sawtooth stage
throws a few final hurdles

in front of the riders.
Roads roll over the sierra

standing sentinel outside
Madrid. A rollercoaster

of a course, torture
for tired legs. How much

can possibly be left
after three grand tours?

The team of the red jersey
manages the race well.

The break is granted a big lead.
National jerseys sustain

A hard pace. Everything
controlled. The tightness

in the shoulders begins
to evaporate. The year’s

nonstop workload should lead 
to a miraculous victory.

A weary thrash to the finish
for the breakaway. A brief

challenge on the cobbles
that lead up the last climb

among the GC group.
A simple demonstration

that the red jersey indeed
fought to a worthy win.

The strength of talent,
the strength of a superstar

team and its dedication,
confirmed in a rolling embrace.

In the Warm Twilight
(Stage 21 — Hipódromo de la Zarzuela > Madrid. Paisaje de la Luz)

The race ends as the hours slip
in Madrid from golden to blue.
A last splash of sunlight squeezes
through stone façades as a last gasp
of havoc continues to scramble
the perception of predictable racing.
After the sprint win by a breakaway
rider at the front of the fiercely charging
peloton, final jerseys are handed out
in the dying light. Atop the cherry red
podium, three teammates are smiling
in the easy way of the completely
dominant. It’s difficult to accept that
the three weeks are over. They are.
Cava for the top three and their cloths,
pizzas and beer for the rest of the field.
Memories of this trip around Spain
heard in the warm twilight, as laughter
and cheers echo at the team buses.