With an early climb, the 192.8km winding stage 13 of this year's Vuelta a España screams break away day, with terrain that suggests that any team who has another plan on their mind will have their work cut out for them. Though, some may be up to the challenge.
As race director Fernando Escartín outlined: "This winding stage will be particularly hard during the first part. It will be difficult to control and will benefit the strongest or fastest men who manage the day’s climbs well."
Visma-Lease a Bike may be key among those who have the incentive to keep things under control, given their duo of Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan, who has already soaked up three stage wins at this edition. Though, the category 1, 3 and 2 climbs along the way will give the attackers plenty of chances.
It's just a few kilometres from the start in Almuñécar, that the first category climb of the Guájares mountains, the Venta de la Cebada, arrives and it should signal a fierce battle to join the breakaway.
From there, the route heads northwest, where the riders face a succession of ups and downs as they cross the interior of Granada province, tackling two more climbs, the Alto del Legionario and the Puerto de Granada. The latter topping with 37 kilometres of descent to the finish in Loja.
Climbs
Venta de la Cebada (cat. 1, 14.1km at 5.1%), km. 31.2
Alto del Legionario (cat. 3, 15.4km at 3.1%), km. 83.4
Puerto de Granada (cat. 2, 7.4km at 5.6%), km. 155.4
Sprints
Tocón, km. 145
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Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
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