Stage 15 of #LaVuelta24 ends at a monstrous climb to Cuitu Negru. All sorts of interesting geology here, but the highlight of today has to do with engineering geology. First the basics: the riders find themselves climbing up onto the north slope of the Iberian Meseta Central, or

Ok, the challenge is on. Let’s see what happens if we play tuba to a rock.

Rest day at #LaVuelta24 😎😴🏖️🍸. And now you know why geologists call sedimentary layers 'beds' 🛏️. 🤠 #Couchpeloton #GeoTwitter

We had to wait until stage 16 of #LaVuelta24 , but finally, finally it's dinosaur day! The peloton starts at the Asturias coast, which is a well-known dinosaur heaven. For a change, we have left the old, folded rocks of the Pangea mountain building phase, and moved up to the

Stage 17 of #lavuelta24 brings us underground! The region around Santander is covered with limestones from the Cretaceous, and these are full of holes! Limestone is known for 'karst' processes, names after the Karst Plateau in Slovenia. Basically, when limestone is under

Stage 18 of #LaVuelta24 has the riders racing up and down rocks of the Cretaceous, consisting of limestones, sandstones, and clays. And you wouldn't think so if you saw them, but they contain little magnets that tell a fascinating story. Everyone who has seen a compass knows

You’d think we should’ve seen that meteorite coming… ☄️🦖

Stage 19 in the battle for red in #lavuelta24 brings the riders to the Rioja region, along the flanks of the Ebro valley. We didn't get much change to talk Pyrenees this Vuelta, but here we can, a little bit! The hills of todays' stage coincide with large, NW-SE trending

Stage 20 of #LaVuelta24 is the queen stage for a good reason: the riders have to limb >5000 m today over a bunch of tough mountains. So let's talk how mountains are made. The simplest and quickest wat to make a mountain is of course volcanism. Just pile up a bunch of lava.

The final stage of #LaVuelta24 brings the peloton to the Madrid Basin. This is a topographic depression surrounded by mountains, which was filled with sediments in the last 20 million years or so. The Madrid Basin contains the world's largest deposits of sepiolite, a special

This but cycling. Or otters, tbf.

It’s about time that we had a proper bikerace through Utrecht central station’s bike station!

In case you wanted more evidence that the Ardennes were completely eroded flat, then uplifted (in the last million years or so), and were incised by rivers to make the famous climbs: look at this profile of the Tour of Luxembourg. You can place a ruler over the hill tops. Read

We have partnered with Earth and Planetary Sciences at ETH Zurich at ETH Zürich Zurich, the UCI World Championships official science partner, to bring you the science of the cycling races! Check our website to already get into a glacial mood. ethz.ch/de/die-eth-zue… #UCIRoadWorldChampionships2024