These are the traffic jams at the end of the Tour of Spain cycling race in Madrid

Even though the predictions have already been made, a time trial stage confuses the nerves and any technical failure has consequences that an online stage does not have.

Last year, the final parade was, as is traditional, a triumphant race for the winner, although it is a custom that, like everything in cycling, varies: it varied even to the point of running through the southern districts of the capital dedicated to applause. the last few meters of the route.

In everyone’s imagination remains the penultimate time that the Vuelta Ciclista a España ended in Madrid in a stage against the clock. It was in 2002, the year of the Centenary of Real Madrid, that Aitor González, a self-confessed Real Madrid supporter, surprisingly won with logical complexities. On the Bernabéu pitch at the end of the stage, he had the glory of winning the general classification, after negotiating the difficult entrance to the stadium and the passage through the changing rooms. Two years later, Santi Pérez would win the challenge against the clock.

This before; However, in the logic of cycling, and in the spirit of the race itself, there is innovation. This year, for example, reaching the two Madrid sites of a very Spanish company, Telefónica, after having covered 3,240 kilometres. If last year it was the south that welcomed the passage of the peloton, this year it will be the northern districts of the capital that will mark the meticulous rhythm of the riders through enclaves as internalised as the Plaza de Cuzco, the Paseo de la Castellana, and the entire axis of the Paseo del Prado until, in a round trip, greeting the Landscape of Light, parading along Cibeles and arriving through Alcalá at the Telefónica building, on the Gran Vía.

Previously, the Vuelta has had unprecedented scenarios; Francisco Pi and Margall Avenue, Arturo Soria or Alberto Alcocer Street. In one way or another, the capital of Madrid becomes the scene of a culminating moment and thus the crowds of eight neighborhoods are transmitted to the world: Hortaleza, Ciudad Lineal, Chamartín, Tetuán, Chamberí, Salamanca, Retiro and Centro. It is true that the profile does not present complications, but the length and the state of the asphalt favor a development of the stage, presumably, fast from the moment the first rider goes down the exit ramp until the last one does so around 7:30 am, on the Telefónica clock.

To this end, the Madrid City Council has drawn up a mobility plan to minimise traffic effects, taking into account the characteristics of a stage that will take place between 4:20 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and which, according to municipal sources, will host almost 50,000 people.

The City Council’s plan already includes traffic cuts at five in the morning on Paseo del Prado, Plaza de Cibeles and Gran Vía, with traffic mainly affected in Plaza del Emperador Carlos V, Plaza de la Independencia, Princesa and Ventura Rodríguez. until approximately 10:00 p.m. on Sunday. The return of the test trucks will have to be taken into account.

The total road closure, from 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., will apply, among others, to central arteries such as Arturo Soria, Alberto Alcocer tunnel, Paseo de la Castellana side, Bravo Murillo street, roundabouts of Cuatro Caminos. and Quevedo, Paseo del General Martínez Campos, Colón, Cibeles, Cánovas del Castillo, Emperor Carlos V and Gran Vía squares up to number 26, the finish line.

In any case, the council recommends public transport for short distances and the use of the M-30 and M-40 lines for long distances.