David Stanley
2024 Vuelta a España Week Two Review
David Stanley is an experienced cycling writer. His work has appeared in Velo, Velo-news.com, Road, Peloton, and the late, lamented Bicycle Guide (my favorite all-time cycling magazine). Here's his Facebook page. He is also a highly regarded voice artist with many audiobooks to his credit, including McGann Publishing's The Story of the Tour de France and Cycling Heroes.
David L. Stanley
David L. Stanley's masterful telling of his bout with skin cancer Melanoma: It Started with a Freckle is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
David L. Stanley writes:
In Japanese, “omote” means outside, exterior, the outer face. Omote’s antonym is “ura” which means reverse, backside, the inner mind. Together, the words Omote-Ura is a phrase which applies to nearly every phase of Japanese life; public face and private face. It speaks to the face we show to the public as well as that deeper meaning which only those privy to our most personal affairs will ever see.
Perhaps you’ve been to a martial arts demonstration. Athletes flying through the air, landing in absurd positions, and they pop back up like weebles, ready for the next go-round. Bricks and blocks and stacks of boards are broken. The KI-AI shouts fill the dojo. All very thrilling. That’s the public face. The omote.
Yet in the dojo, on a daily basis, quiet predominates. The bugei stretch in silence. They attend to their shihan’s instructions and begin their daily practice. Perhaps it is a technique, perhaps a kata, yet all is quiet except for the sounds of a body slapping against the mat. The faces show a deeply calm persistence. This is ura: the inner face of martial arts that only true practitioners of bu-do can grasp.
Cycling, too, is rich with omote-ura. Perhaps the most famous occurred on the Puy de Dôme during the 1964 Tour de France battle between Jacques Anquetil, the maître of stylish elegance, and Raymond Poulidor, the bulldog of the people lovingly named PouPou. As the day unfolded, Anquetil had both the yellow jersey and a 56-second lead. What he did not have was PouPou’s sheer brilliance heading up the mountain passes.
Jacques Anquetil leading a group in stage 14 of the 1964 Tour de France.
They climbed for 10 km on a steep road up to the famous Puy de Dôme crater. Side by side, shoulder to shoulder, they were locked together with the pain of the climb. All they heard was the other gasp for air in the midst of the fans who surrounded them. Each was “breathing through the ears,” a term used to describe the battle to put on a brave face in the midst of cycling agony. That is cycling omote
Anquetil & Poulidor climbing Puy de Dôme side by side
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Poulidor was thought to be the better climber, Anquetil the better strategist and time trialist. PouPou knew that if he were to win this Tour, he must drop Anquetil and win by two or more minutes as Jacques would certainly regain time in the race’s last stage time trial. Putting on his brave face, his omote face, three times Poulidor tried to shake off Anquetil without success. Jacques three times bluffed as he pretended he couldn’t match the uptick in tempo. When Poulidor attacked again, Anquetil grasped at his jersey. He knew he was unable to answer another attack with his legs. Anquetil lost the battle of morale and his inner face, his ura, shone through in pain.
Said PouPou much later, “I slowed down, he slowed down. I attacked, he answered. It was unbelievable. I never felt that awful on a bicycle.”
Poulidor finally dropped his rival 500 meters from the summit. Anquetil struggled to up his tempo to its maximum and keep Raymond in sight. His face said it all, his ura face, “Poulidor couldn’t possibly take back all 56 seconds in a ½ kilometer, could he?”
Poulidor won the stage. A major gap had opened as Anquetil finished and he collapsed at his team car. His skin turned purple and then pale white. He had never gone so deep in a race before.
“How many?” he asked, meaning seconds in hand.
“You kept 14 seconds,” he heard in response.
Anquetil gasped, “That’s 13 more than I need.”
Omote and ura, on display.
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In the end, Jacques Anquetil triumphed. The 1964 Tour’s final stage was a time trial. Anquetil is still regarded as one of the greatest TT riders of all time. Poulidor rode well, and held on to the fastest time of the day before it was Anquetil’s turn to race. Poulidor was faster at the midway by 5 seconds. Anquetil unleashed all his skill and power in the second half to win the time trial. He won the 1964 Tour by 55 seconds, the closest margin of victory to that date.
This 2024 Vuelta a Espana is also rich in omote-ura. Most casual sports fans who happened to tune in to Stage 6, when Ben O’Connor (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) attacked to take a stunning 4:51 lead over early favorite Primož Roglič (RB-BH) could see the difficulty involved.
Ben O'Connor finishing 2024 Vuelta a España stage six. Alone. Off the front. ASO photo
And yet, there are also those who cannot grasp the pain. We still read on social media the notes of those who disparage the sport “Hell, anyone can ride a bicycle up a hill.” That’s the omote talking to a casual spectator, the wall that many riders have learned to construct to keep their competitors at bay.
To the true fan—the aficionado, the tifosi, le passionné—the ura shines through like a brilliant sun on the Nova Icària and Bogatell beaches outside of Barcelona. The true fan grasps the hundreds of hours of training in cold and rain and sleet; the heat that shimmers like an oasis in Algeria. As the saying goes, “we are celebrated for one hour in public for the hundreds of hours we toiled in private.”
The true fan realizes what today’s Stage 15’s ultimate climb can do to the body and the mind. The Cuitu Negru is 18.9km at an average incline of 7.4% with a maximum gradient of 24% in the final 5km of the climb. How steep is 24%? For every 30 feet of road traveled, the road bed rises 7.5 feet. Put another way, you take 9 big steps and at the end of those steps, you are about the height of common household door higher than back at the start. About.
Profile of the Profile Cuitu Negru
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I write as the riders are heading onto the final climb. Roglic just took a tactical bike change to his climbing bike. AND IT SURE LOOKED LIKE HE GOT MOTORPACED BACK TO THE GROUP! Why is this allowed? I am all in favor of putting riders who crashed or suffered a mechanical back at the back of the main peloton, but this, folks, is cheating.
With 6 km left in the climb, Cattaneo (SOQ) sets the pace for Mikal Landa. O’Connor glued to Landa, and Roglic/Lipowicz to BOC. All as stone faced as Mt. Rushmore.
5 km – Landa, Roglic, Lipo, BOC, Yates, Carapaz. And hey, my apologies, there’s the Kuss!
3.5 km – It’s like watching kendo masters in a contest. All calm, all on the wait for the moment to attack. All on the silent alert to respond to an attack.
2 km – Lipo lights it up. Roglic goes with him. BOC sticks right in there. No one else has closed down the gap.
1.7 km – Roglic goes solo. BOC has no answer.
1.5 km – Castrillo, from the day’s early move, is suffering alone wildly at the front. He might win this. Roglic looks great, a stoic at work, it looks like Mas has gotten up to Primoz.
Enric Mas on the narrow, steep ascent. Sirotti photo
Mas and Roglic look like hitmen stalking their prey. Jules and Vincent.
0.5 KM – Castrillo is caught by Vlasov but it is so steep, Vlasov can’t close the last few and come around him just yet. Whoa! Castrillo opens the gap again and Vlasov goes down for the count (figuratively). Vlasov, desperately trying to turn a mountain bike alpine gear, can barely stay upright with his fatigue.
Roglic near the top of the climb. Sirotti photo
And Mas has dropped Roglic. No, wait, Roglic bares it all, and just catches Mas on the line. Exquisite suffering from the Spaniard and Slovenian. Now, where is the red jersey, it is so foggy at the finish. Ah, there is BOC, he made back some time. I’m guessing he’s still in the red with a rest day tomorrow. Yep, provisional GC shows he is 43 seconds to the good.
Ben O'Connor going deep to save his lead. Sirotti photo
This just in- Roglic was docked 20 seconds for his motorpaced ride back into the peloton. Seems about right. Next offense? Throw him off the race. You’ll get nothing and like it, Primoz.
Ben O'Connor will be in red when the Vuelta starts again on Tuesday. Sirotti photo
There is no omote at this mountain top, at the peak of Cuitu Negru. All lies bare before us. We have seen Ura.
David Stanley, like nearly all of us, has spent his life working and playing outdoors. He got a case of Melanoma as a result. Here's his telling of his beating that disease. And when you go out, please put on sunscreen.