The 20th stage promised a hard and different day. In total, 208 kilometers separated the start, in Manzanares El Real, from the end, in Guadarrama. It is the longest in this edition, a source of anecdotes. And although it has shone for sports, it also has for extra-sports, in addition to that magical coincidence that finds the perfect setting in which to happen on the asphalt on which bicycles roll. Like you are left without house keys and you send a message to your father through the Vuelta. And let it work.
One twenty in the afternoon. Alejandro Díez, user of X (formerly Twitter) decides to use the hashtag as a tool to unlock the door to his house. He didn’t have keys and lockpicks are not used in one’s own home. “Can you tell my father to open the door for me? I’m ringing the doorbell and it doesn’t open, and I’m completely sure he’s watching the stage at full volume. Let’s see if he finds out that way…”, wrote. The spell was cast.
A story with a happy ending
Television on. Carlos de Andrés and Perico Delgado speaking. They give voice to the endless stage. They read the tweet. They burst into laughter. “Well, that’s it, father of Alejandro Díez. Open the door, there is the kid there who wants to come in,” says one. “I don’t know if what we are doing is a public service”answers the other. “Well, hey, help.”, they conclude. S silences before a last laugh and a very sincere: “Oh Lord”.
This is a story with a happy ending. “Are you in already, Alejandro?”asked another user. The answer came at lunchtime, with his stomach open and Alejandro inside the house. “Yes, yes, there was luck hahahahaha”, he sentenced. Just 40 seconds of anecdote that delighted those cycling lovers who, like Alejandro’s father, enjoyed a stage that is not just any one: It bears the surname ‘longest of the Vuelta’ and, for some, the shape of a key.
