About 12 months ago I spotted that the Vuelta Cataluña route came past our house and had a stage finish at the top of a local climb which is a real brute, 1000m of height gain in 12km. A couple of weeks before the race, MrsPB and I decided to ride up it so off we set. A few hairpins into the climb a couple of riders come shooting past, one in particular dressed in every piece of Movistar riding kit made, thermal jacket, roubaix longs, full gloves, balaclava, the works. He gave us a cheery hello and cleared off in big ring. Some time later I arrived at the top to see him chatting to his mate in the little carpark. I rode over to look down the climb for Trish and he started chatting about my bike, tyre sizes etc, the usual bollocks. I replied in my broken Spanish, turns out he lives up near Tarragona. I summonded my best vocab and informed him that the Vuelta Cataluna would be up here in a couple of weeks, he replied, “I know, I’m in it” his mate piped up “his name is Marc Soler”
He’s today just won the Paris-Nice.