{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Volta a Portugal","provider_url":"https:\/\/avoltaportugal.com\/en\/","title":"And if the roads could talk - Volta a Portugal","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"diuBRhshoa\"><a href=\"https:\/\/avoltaportugal.com\/en\/if-only-the-roads-could-talk\/\">And if the roads could talk<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/avoltaportugal.com\/en\/if-only-the-roads-could-talk\/embed\/#?secret=diuBRhshoa\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;And if the roads could talk&#8221; &#8212; Volta a Portugal\" data-secret=\"diuBRhshoa\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/avoltaportugal.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n","description":"AND IF THE ROADS COULD TALK The Volta a Portugal em Bicicleta will take on a new dimension in 2026 with the launch of A Grand\u00edssima, the race\u2019s official Granfondo, which will allow hundreds of amateur cyclists to experience, for one day, the thrill, atmosphere and mystique of the country\u2019s biggest cycling competition. THE ORIGIN 1978 1927 1980 1932 1982 1932-1933 1984 1939 1986 1950 90s 1951-1958 LATE 90s 1957-1960 START OF THE MILLENNIUM 1962 2007-2015 1967 2014 1970 RECENT YEARS THE ORIGIN 1927 1932 1932-1933 1939 1950 1951-1958 1957-1960 1962 1967 1970 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 90s LATE 90s START OF THE MILLENNIUM 2007-2015 2014 RECENT YEARS THE ORIGIN The story behind the birth of the Volta a Portugal is a mix of romance, newspaper rivalry, and an adventure that would seem downright crazy today. To understand it, we must go back to 1927. That is where the idea begins to take shape. That is where the road begins to speak. THE MADNESS OF A NEWSPAPER AND A CLUB It all began with an idea inspired by the Tour de France. The newspaper Di\u00e1rio de Not\u00edcias, driven by journalist Ra\u00fal de Oliveira, wanted to create something that would unite the country. Joining this project were the national cycling organizations of the time and Sporting Clube de Portugal. The goal was not only sporting, it was territorial. In a Portugal where many roads were little more than paths, organizing a major stage race was a way of showing that the country could be crossed, that it could be connected. THE FIRST &#8220;GIANT&#8221; The first attempts to organize major routes emerged. Dozens of cyclists took to the road without a professional structure, without organized teams and without the technical support as we know it today. Logistics were basic, and the riders themselves carried spare tubular tires across their chests and tools in small bags. The terrain was unpredictable. Long distances, dirt and stone roads, stages that demanded far more than speed. It was cycling in its purest form. Closer to exploration than to competition. It was on the road that the Volta was born. 1927: THE CHAOS OF CAMPO MAIOR The Setting: A forgotten border region and roads that were little more than ruts in the earth. They would start here. At a time when the country was not yet connected, and crossing it was more exploration than competition. There were no reliable maps. In Campo Maior, the peloton got lost. The bicycles sank into the dirt, the wheels gave way on loose stones, and the dust hid the route. Ant\u00f3nio Augusto de Carvalho won by instinct. Unable to follow the road, he chose to discover it. As they passed through the villages, the locals watched with suspicion: men covered in mud, appearing out of nowhere. It was not just sport. It was the unknown. The country was mapped, but its roads were not yet. 1932: THE COUNTRY CHOOSES SIDES The setting: the straight roads between Lisbon and the North, when the highway still didn&#8217;t have two carriageways. The country did. The duel between Jos\u00e9 Maria Nicolau and Alfredo Trindade sparked the first great popular rivalry of the Tour. Nicolau was a mass idol, associated with Benfica; Trindade, with Sporting. The road ceased to be just a route and became emotional territory. The rivalry spread through villages, caf\u00e9s, newspapers and roadsides. Portugal discovered that a cycling race could divide opinions and, at the same time, bring the entire country together around the same passion. Years later, Nicolau&#8217;s memory would also find its way into literature. Ruy Belo dedicated an elegy to him, in which the cyclist seems to keep riding away, even after death: \u201cJos\u00e9 Maria Nicolau has broken away. Who can catch him now?Never has he pedalled so hard as he does today.Surely he will arrive ahead of time.The stage was decisive, and it is won.\u201d The road still remembers those days. When the Tour was not just a race. It was a choice. 1932\u20131933: THE ROAD CROSSED THE BORDER The Setting: The humid North, the smell of the sea, and a road that, for the first time, left Portugal behind. Until then, the Volta took place within a country closed in on itself. The roads connected cities, villages, and mountain ranges, but they always ended at the border. In 1932, that changed. In the 14th stage of the third edition of the Volta a Portugal, the peloton set off from Porto towards Vigo. For the first time, the race left Portuguese territory. It was not just an international stage. It was the feeling that the road could continue beyond the known map. It was 154 kilometres of dust, endurance, and improvisation to Galicia. The caravan moved slowly along difficult roads, passing through towns where the sight of the riders seemed like an impossible event. When they arrived in Vigo, they found something unexpected. The streets were packed. The authorities were waiting for them. And the crowd welcomed the Portuguese riders as if they were heroes returning from a historic journey. On that day, the road realized that cycling could do something rare: connect peoples before politics could. Alfredo Trindade won the stage. Months later, he would also win the Volta itself, thanks to a remarkable performance in the Serra da Estrela. But the road kept another memory of that journey. It kept the moment when the Volta ceased to belong only to Portugal. The success of the finish in Vigo was so great that the race would return to Galicia the following year. Because some roads do not end at the border. They continue within people. 1939: THE VOLTA WITHOUT REST The Setting: Endless roads, constant dust, and a country where cyclists almost stopped being able to tell one day from another. In 1939, the Volta a Portugal became a test of survival.There were 30 stages in just 16 days. Riders raced in the morning. They raced again in the afternoon. And the next day, it all","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/avoltaportugal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1932.jpeg","thumbnail_width":1042,"thumbnail_height":849}