What’s the most famous climb in the Vuelta? The race climbed up to the Lagos de Covadonga yesterday – pictured – but arguably the most well-known climb in this year’s edition is… the Col d’Aubisque, used when the Vuelta slips into France for a day.
It’s telling that a foreign climb grabs the limelight, as good as the Vuelta can be when compared to the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia one big missing item is a repertoire of mythical climbs.
The Vuelta doesn’t have many mythical climbs, there’s no Ventoux nor Stelvio but the Lagos de Covadonga are the closest the race gets, a climb that’s been a regular since the 1980s and climbed for the 20th time today.
A mountain stage with some small ascents that have had a big impact. The final climb of the Alto del Naranco was where Chris Horner beat Vincenzo Nibali to win the Vuelta in 2013.
The first mountain stage of the Vuelta, 173km and then the vicious climb of La Camperona with its 20% slopes.
Lampre-Merida been sold to a Chinese firm. It means there will be no Italian team in the top flight of the sport, a first. While welcoming interest from around the world it’s still astonishing to imagine that the land of Milan-San Remo and the Giro, Coppi and Barali, Nibali and Aru won’t have a major team.
A lot of red in the profile above but this is a chance for the sprinters ahead of a mountainous weekend and if you get a sense of a déjà vu it’s normal as the route was used in 2013.
Steven Kruijswijk is out of the Vuelta after crashing into an unmarked bollard during the finish of yesterday’s stage. It’s the latest safety concern. Each time there are calls for something to be done but what could be done and who could do it?
A mountain stage? Certainly a mid-mountain stage with some awkward climbs and descents along the way including a difficult climb placed just before the finish.
A decisive summit finish yesterday revealed who is climbing well and today brings another uphill test with a longer, steadier uphill run to the line to confirm the contenders for the overall classification.
