The first of a triptych of mountain stages with summit finishes today offers a sharp climb with some of the steepest roads in the race ahead of the longer and more gruelling stages tomorrow and on Monday. Decisive, maybe not but be sure to tune in for the action late in the stage.
Neither sprint nor summit finish today’s stage offers a good chance of a breakaway sticking to the end… where a tough finish awaits.
A circuit race for today’s stage, an air of a Belgian kermesse as the race does eight laps around Logroño. We can expect a sprint finish. Today’s the day for a siesta and if you need to wash you hair, do it today.
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A short stage with a sharp finish up a narrow track. After yesterday’s time trial will the race for red be fixed today or will others be out of revenge and a chance to open up the race?
Crucial, vital, decisive – pick your adjective. Today’s 36.7km time trial is an important stage and a chance to reshape the overall classification before a series of summit finishes.
If a stage race an exercise in taking riders and placing them into a chronological hierarchy the Vuelta still has a long way to go. One time trial and two summit finishes done and there’s still plenty to decide.
Not one but three climbs. Why a trilogy? Simply because if you climb the first you can keep going, riding an Alpine sine wave across the Chartreuse range to follow a legendary race route.
Legendary? Yes because this has decided the result of the Tour de France several times. Many have not heard of this and the Chartreuse Trilogy is falling of the radar. Proof that a road’s status is dependent on regular visits by the Tour?
The first high altitude finish of the Vuelta. At first sight this looks like one of the toughest stages of the race with the distance and altitude, a finish close to 2,000 metres above sea level. But it’s a ski station finish with moderate gradients and the slope eases before the line. It’s still a summit finish showdown but cleverly it won’t provide the definitive selection.
A day for the sprinters. The first week’s felt like it’s been reserved for the sprinters and rightly so as there’s no point fixing the overall classification from the start. All this is set to change but for now a flat stage with a high speed finish.