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.
Esteban Chaves, Moreno Hofland and Rohan Dennis wear the leaders’ jerseys in a race. A glimpse of the future? No, it’s a scene from the past: the 2011 Tour de l’Avenir. The race is on this week. There are several stage races for U-23 riders that matter but none more so than this one. It’s length, international field and mountainous profile make it an essential rendez-vous. If it didn’t exist we’d have to invent it.
The race heads north and heads for new regions. A “transition stage” yes but a subtle finish awaits. As the profile shows today offers an uphill finish, no summit finish but a test between the sprinters and the puncheurs.
It’s time to head inland for the first summit finish. The road to Cumbres Verdes is short but steep enough to be selective and enough to start filtering the contenders from the pretenders.
Every site sponsor gets thank-you note and Trek have been here in July and August with a promotion for the new Emonda frame.
There’s also a reminder about the supporter caps and your chance to win one below too.
So far we have a variety of sprint finishes with wins for Nacer Bouhanni, Michael Matthews and John Degenkolb. Today’s stage offers a classic flat route with few surprises in the finish, a day for the pure sprinters.
The USA Pro Challenge had Lexus as official vehicles. The Tour de France has Skodas.
A day for the sprinters but the first second category climb and it’s 14% gradients await. The finish is similar to 2011 when Peter Sagan won but the Slow-vak finished 129th yesterday. Time to make amends or will someone else win in Córdoba?
Two flat stages means the Vuelta has to visit a mountain range and today’s stage includes four categorised climbs on the way to a tricky uphill finish.