Cyclist
Behind the scenes at the Vuelta a España with pro photographer Chris Auld
The 2024 Vuelta a España was – meteorologically speaking – a race of extremes. Scorching temperatures in the south of Spain were followed by foggy deluges in the north. While this presented problems for the riders, it also made life harder for the photographers trying to capture the action.
‘It’s horrific,’ says photographer Chris Auld. ‘You think, “Oh, this is going to be great – the fog’s going to look amazing.” But really, you’ve got no view and it’s the worst possible scenario. Then you’ve got to somehow edit the pictures.’
Auld knows his business, having worked on WorldTour races since 2017 and covered five Vueltas. While it can be a solitary pursuit at times, if things go awry the informal alliances that form between colleagues can be invaluable.
‘We share transport and accommodation to keep costs down and we’ll share pictures as well,’ says Auld. ‘So if you’ve missed something your clients need, someone else can sort you out. It gives clients more bang for their buck, since we can cover different angles and more of the race.’
As with any professional group, there are hierarchies: ‘You’ve got day photographers in their coloured bibs who are lower in the pecking order than the full-timers or whole race photographers. And then the guys on the motos get priority over everyone. That’s just how it is.
‘I’ve been around a while so my colleagues will let me get a spot on the railings when I need it. You get guys turning up at the finish line of the final stage who don’t know about the hierarchy and try to muscle in. Suffice to say we soon let them know how it works.’
And when you do finally get the spot you need, the next challenge is getting the right angle.
‘I’m desperately just trying to get rid of all the horrible advertising signage in the background, while the race organisers are doing everything in their power to get it in. If we shoot it without advertising it’s better for us. It’s cleaner, it’s nicer, and it’s available to other brands that don’t want images containing rival logos.’
Unlike the Tour de France, which keeps everyone at an unrelenting pitch of mild panic for the whole three weeks, the Vuelta is calmer.
‘The Vuelta bosses are cagey about the information they will give you. They might say, “You can’t access this climb after 3.30pm, even if you’ve got your official sticker.” I absolutely had to get the climb shot for my client so I couldn’t take the risk and went straight there. Lo and behold, my colleagues shot the rest of the race, rocked up after 3.30 and drove straight through.’
‘It was insane when the Tour started in the Basque Country last year, but at the Vuelta the crowds were smaller. The Spanish fans are pretty respectful and you don’t get those walls of people that you get at the Tour. It’s easier to cover.’
There are still plenty of rules for photographers to follow, however, and dealing with bureaucracy is a constant challenge.
Driving is another challenge, although easier than in France: ‘Instead of closed roads, the Vuelta uses rolling roadblocks. That means we can drive towards the race instead of away from it, which gives us more flexibility and the chance to make more shots. You find the race, stop, shoot, and then hop back in the car. If they do a loop, it means you will see them twice and get two shots, whereas at the Tour, if you’re behind the race, that’s it, you’re finished.’
This does have its downsides, though: ‘The Granada stage had a really short loop, so we tried to get them on the climb twice. Unfortunately the broom wagon riders were going so slow that it looked like the lead vehicles were going to catch the back of the race. I was in one of the last cars behind the race – police coming past – and the road was getting so narrow and tight.’
As for those extreme temperatures, Auld thinks starting the stages earlier might be the answer: ‘At 5pm it was still over 40°C on some stages and yet they’re starting the races at the hottest time of day.’
An earlier start would also help with the photographer’s diet: ‘We get back to the press room at 9pm, at which point you start your three hours of editing. It’s why you spend so much time at McDonald’s on a Grand Tour.’
The 2024 Vuelta a España in photos
Main image: ‘This is early in the race when I still had some enthusiasm for sign-on. Eventually I gave up going to them because they’re the same every day and clients stop using the images too. Here I managed to find a different angle of Wout van Aert in the leader’s red jersey, which was something slightly new.’
‘Bike races have a tendency to put a horrible electronic screen behind the podium riders nowadays, which is why I look at every possible way of avoiding this screen to stop it ruining the pictures. Here’s Wout again on Stage 3, checking how he looks in the mirror before his jersey presentation.’
‘This is Ben O’Connor’s huge solo win at Yunquera on Stage 6, where he put four and a half minutes into everyone else. It was reasonably easy to get a good spot on the line to catch the win; the struggle is avoiding all the advertising signage. As for Ben, he endeared himself to the public with the way he handled himself. It seems like he might have changed a bit since that Netflix series.’
‘On Stage 3 it was about 40°C. You see fans standing by the road for hours with no shade and I just think they’re crazy. I went into this tunnel just to keep cool, and that’s where I caught Visma-Lease a Bike’s Edoardo Affini with his yellow jersey standing out against the grey concrete.’
‘My colleagues thought I was nuts for bothering to shoot the depart of Stage 6, which started inside a Spanish supermarket. But to me it was the story of the day. It’s the Vuelta in a nutshell. I’m sure Carrefour were over the moon with how much coverage they got, although I suspect Lidl-Trek were a bit disgruntled.’
‘This is EF rider Owain Doull just before the peloton did the double ascent of the category 1 Alto de Hazallanas on Stage 9. There were some boys at the back suffering in the heat, and getting the water-over-the-head shot while they’re riding just requires being in the right place at the right time.’
‘I actually prefer shooting in this kind of sparse, scorched landscape in the south of Spain, as opposed to the Basque Country were everything is tree-lined and green and could be Yorkshire. This looks more like the Vuelta to me. It was Stage 9 on the way to Granada and this was a good place to stop, with the road arranging nicely underneath the pylon and the overlapping hills.’
‘Around parts of northern Spain the scenery can be very samey for the whole day – just rolling green hills forever. Before Stage 13 my colleague saw this concrete roof on Google Street View and we thought we’d go for it. If the parcours is a bit bland and the bunch is together all day, then you need to find new ways to get a good range of images.’
‘This was Stage 15 on Cuitu Negru, one of those super-steep climbs the Vuelta is famous for – las rampas inhumanas – where the gradient hit 24%. We had to get a ski lift to the top, and again it was thick fog, which is far from ideal as you just end up with a blank backdrop. You can see the pain on Mikel Landa’s face, partly from the steepness, partly because he is being dropped by his main rivals in the last few kilometres.’
‘Wildcard team Kern Pharma were the story of the Vuelta and will have embarrassed a lot of the bigger teams. Here, Pablo Castrillo is taking the first of his two stage wins on Stage 12. It’s a cresting shot and I tried to maintain a clean background; I would have liked the Spanish flag to be fully unfurled, but I’ll have to live with that.’
‘Because Primož Roglič spent so little time in red – only taking it off O’Connor in the last couple of stages – that’s why the red Specialized bike is at the front of the picture of the team celebrating in Madrid. The bike was never ridden. It’s come about because Tadej Pogačar took his bike onto the podium at the Tour and now all the bike brands want it for marketing purposes.’
‘This was one of the few shots I got of Roglič in red. At the final stage time-trial in Madrid I had to be really careful about where I stood. The fully barriered streets meant it was hard to get around, and I daren’t stray too far from the podium as I’d need to be there as soon as Roglič finished the stage.’
Stage 20 was the only road stage outside of the first week where Roglič wore the red jersey, so I couldn’t afford not to get some images of him in it. On the Picón Blanco climb I got as low as I could to take this photograph, and I like the way the fans being on an upper bank above the riders gives it a nice, enclosed atmosphere.’
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