You're listening to El Classico, the cycling podcast of the 2023 Vuelta España from Barcelona

to Madrid.

You are indeed listening to El Classico, my name is Daniel Freeber. I'm the host of this

episode and I am on La Cruta de Linares, where today the Vuelta España was

mercifully spared by the mysterious Núbero, the historian, God of Clouds and

Storms, who according to local legends frequently wreaks havoc in this part of

the Corridillera Cantabrica, the Cantabria Mountains, unmistakable in his goat

leathers and wide brimmed hut. Núbero is said to delight in striking animals

with bolts of lightning, ravaging crops with hail and cruelly denying loyal

domestic so once in a lifetime opportunity to win grand tours with devastating

attacks in the closing kilometers of decisive mountain stages. It's likely

economical with the truth on that last point, perhaps. However, also in

Asturias today, but not with me here on La Cruta de Linares is a good friend,

a voice of cycling. You're a sport commentator, Rob Hatt, Rob, where exactly in Asturias,

but not at the race, are you? I'm in that wonderful big working class city

that is keep on right on the coast. Any sightings of Núbero there? No, not

or by you either. That's the Asturian slang, by the way, for that fine ring

that soaks you through. So it wasn't spitting thankfully today, it was, it's been

an absolutely glorious day up here. Rob, are you familiar with Núbero?

Apparently it's a big thing. No, I'm familiar with Núbero. Is it? Yeah, it's a big

thing in Asturias apparently. That last word I mentioned, or by you, is

something that's graffitied on to almost every motorway bridge up here. It's

...