Day 10 - Cauterets - Lourdes (35km)

[Rich] The day kicked off with yet more Vuelta action! Well, action is a slight exaggeration: we watched the riders amble up to sign on, do a leisurely procession lap of the town, and then head off for more serious activity back in Spain. Confusingly, leading Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi was awarded the polka-dot jersey, usually associated with the best climber. It seems the Vuelta has decided to do everything differently, and make polka-dots the design for the points leader (ie: the green jersey in the Tour de France). Jersey presentations usually take place immediately after the stage finishes, rather than the next morning, but it seems the podium girls had clocked off by the time Petacchi made it to the top of Cambasque the previous day.

From the mountain idyll of Cauterets, we had just a short ride (mainly downhill) to the tourist tack of Lourdes.

Lourdes: it attracts a lot of old people