{"id":2110349,"date":"2026-08-25T07:53:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T04:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2110349"},"modified":"2026-08-25T07:53:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T04:53:33","slug":"vuelta-a-espana-hail-hotel-has-been-spammed-with-rave-reviews-we-suspect-theyre-not-all-legit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2110349","title":{"rendered":"Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a \u2018Hail Hotel\u2019 Has Been Spammed with Rave Reviews. We Suspect They’re Not All Legit."},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Untitled-design-16.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Jim Cotton<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated August 25, 2026 02:15AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a lost a stage Monday, but a random hotel and military training center high in the French Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es gained a lot of good Google reviews.<\/p>\n

The IGESA Village Club Mont-Louis Les Sorbiers has been inundated with reviews since Tadej Poga\u010dar and the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a peloton mobbed into its lobby to shelter from golf ball-sized hailstones on Monday.<\/p>\n

Some look legit, some are hilariously fake. Some blur the boundary between both.<\/p>\n

A user named \u201cTadej Poga\u010dar\u201d was keen to share their thanks after they piled through the front door when an apocalyptic hailstorm forced the cancellation of stage 3 of La Vuelta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks IGESA for providing me and the girls with shelter. Btw I\u2019m Urska Zigart\u2019s boyfriend. She\u2019s a famous pro cyclist from Slovenia,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

Another user named Mark Vannieuwkerke appears to have encountered Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d while they were taking their leisure in the IGESA.<\/p>\n

Vannieuwkerke\u2019s review attached an image of Rogli\u010d that appears to be cropped from a picture taken by noted cycling photographer Cor Vos.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAN ANNOYING CYCLIST\/SKI JUMPER FROM SLOVENIA HARASSED ME,\u201d was the review of the tile.<\/p>\n

\u201cA cyclist \u2013 completely soaked and frozen \u2013 approached me and explained he was a former ski jumper, crashed hard, then became a pro cyclist winning the biggest races, losing the Tour against a schoolboy\u2026 I did NOT ask him anything!!\u201d read a snippet of the review.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t all trolling.<\/p>\n

Will Barta, Julien Bernard, and Tobias Johannessen were among the many pros who posted their genuine appreciation to the facility after scores of frozen and wet cyclists showed up without a reservation.<\/p>\n

Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a turns 1 star hotel into viral sensation<\/h2>\n
\"Riders
Riders had to scramble for shelter when a huge hailstorm hit stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/span> (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The IGESA Village Club Mont-Louis Les Sorbiers is described on Google as a \u201c1 star holiday complex\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nestled up in the Catalan Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es, the high-mountain location is popular with hikers, climbers, and mountain bikers.<\/p>\n

It also serves as a type of training center for the French military.<\/p>\n

It seems some Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a cyclists made good use of the center\u2019s fitness facilities Monday afternoon. Images show Georg Steinhauser keeping warm on an indoor bike trainer while wrapped into towels, for example.<\/p>\n

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Speaking to The Cycling Podcast<\/em> on Monday night, American veteran Larry Warbasse said the hosting was top-notch.<\/p>\n

The attending staff seemed to know what a ragged athlete \u2013 or military person \u2013 needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave everyone towels \u2026 gave everyone hot tea, they started to bring out fruit for everyone, then they brought out a thing of Haribo for everyone. It was insane how great a care they took of us,\u201d Warbasse told The Cycling Podcast<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope somehow we can repay them \u2026 It would be really nice if we all did something for them because they really, really saved all of our days. We were probably there for an hour before we could get back to our buses.\u201d<\/p>\n

That hour of hospitality offered by the IGESA Village Club Mont-Louis Les Sorbiers on Monday might have been the most profitable in its history.<\/p>\n

It just became a 4.9-star-rated viral sensation, legitimate reviews or not.<\/p>\n

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Here are some of our favorite reviews. Can you pick the real ones from the fakes? Don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s not hard.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"Vuelta<\/figure>\n
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\"Vuelta<\/figure>\n
\"Vuelta<\/figure>\n

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Jim Cotton<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated August 25, 2026 02:15AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/vuelta-a-espana\/vuelta-a-espana-hail-hotel-google-reviews\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Untitled-design-16.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated August 25, 2026 02:15AM The Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a lost a stage Monday, but a random hotel and military training center high in the French Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es gained a lot of good Google reviews. The IGESA Village Club Mont-Louis Les Sorbiers has been inundated with reviews since Tadej Poga\u010dar and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2110349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2110349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110349\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2110349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2110349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2110349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}