After finishing 10th Vuelta, Spaniard Mate rides 1,000km home

(Reuters) - After racking up 3,500km in finishing his 10th Vuelta de Espana last weekend Luis Angel Mate could have been excused a few days off but instead has opted to cycle another 1,000km home.

The 37-year-old who rides for the Euskaltel–Euskadi team finished 30th overall in the three-week slog that finished on Sunday in the north west city of Santiago de Compostela.

Now he is back in the saddle,  bike-packing  his way to his home on the southern coast in Marbella.

He is calling the journey, which will take him around six days, the  Vuelta de la Vuelta .

"When I saw the Vuelta was finishing in Santiago de Compostela, the idea of doing an adventure like this immediately sprang to mind," Mate wrote in a column for Rouleur, saying he was inspired by the  Camino  pilgrimage trail to Santiago.

"It seemed a unique opportunity to be able to enjoy the bike in a different way to competition and all the stress, the braking, the crashes, the watts... I simply wanted to grab my bike and ride home without using a plane or a car, under my own steam, in order to be in harmony with myself.

"It s a precious journey that I need to do to break that cycle you get into after three weeks of racing."

Stopping off for coffee and cake will be a far cry from the adrenaline-fuelled world of the professional peloton in which he has completed 207 Vuelta stages.

"For me, cycling is more than a sport or a job; it s a way of understanding life and knowing who you are," Mate wrote.

"I ve told myself I ll arrive by Saturday at midday to have a dip in the sea and a meal at home," he added.