Vuelta a Espana stage 13 - Preview

Following the dramatic finale that was served up on the Vuelta's first visit to this ridiculously steep Cantabrian summit finish in 2017, there was never much doubt that the race would make a quick return. Two years ago, Stefan Denifl took a fine solo win for the Aqua Blue team, but the main story, at least initially, was the time that race leader Chris Froome leaked to his rivals on the abrupt slopes of the final ascent, which opened up the GC contest again. Denifl, of course, was stripped of this win earlier this year having admitted to blood doping.

Route director Fernando Escartín sees this as the most critical stage so far in the battle for the overall title. It is considerably tougher than the route that put Froome in so much trouble, with seven climbs on the menu compared to just three in 2017. It's interesting to note that the riders won't go above 900 metres at any point, yet will clock up almost 3,800 of vertical gain as they pass over a series of second- and third-category hills on the way to the special-category finale.

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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014). 

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