Lakes of Covadonga

The Lakes of Covadonga (el. 1134 m.) are composed of two glacial lakes located on the region of Asturias, Spain. These lakes, often also called Lakes of Enol or simply Los Lagos, are Lake Enol and Lake Ercina located in the Picos de Europa range and they are the original center of the Picos de Europa National Park, created in 1918. They are near Covadonga Sanctuary.

A mule grazing by the Ercina lake, Nov 2015.
Lago Enol seen from La Picota
Lago Ercina.
Ercina Lake

Vuelta a España

The road ascending from Covadonga to the lakes is a popular climb in professional road bicycle racing, having been used by Vuelta a España many times in the last 25 years.

Lagos de Covadonga is the most important climb in the modern history of the Vuelta. The road that leads to the lakes starts at Covadonga and is 12.6 kilometres long at an average gradient of 7.3% (height gain: 1056 m). The most demanding section is La Huesera, 7 kilometres from the top of the climb, with an average gradient of 15% during 800 meters. It was featured for the first time in 1983 with the victory of Marino Lejarreta.

Winners of the Lakes of Covadonga stage

Year Name Country
1983Marino Lejarreta Spain
1984Raimund Dietzen Germany
1985Pedro Delgado Spain
1986Robert Millar United Kingdom
1987Lucho Herrera Colombia
1989Álvaro Pino Spain
1991Lucho Herrera Colombia
1992Pedro Delgado Spain
1993Oliverio Rincón Colombia
1994Laurent Jalabert France
1996Laurent Jalabert France
1997Pavel Tonkov Russia
2000Andrei Zintchenko Russia
2001Juan Miguel Mercado Spain
2005Eladio Jiménez Spain
2007Vladimir Efimkin Russia
2010Carlos Barredo Spain
2012Antonio Piedra Spain
2014Przemysław Niemiec Poland
2016Nairo Quintana Colombia
2018Thibaut Pinot France

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.