Distance: 172km
Highest point: 2,247m
Terrain: High mountains
Category: Road stage
A new classic?
The Vuelta can't boast the same number of iconic climbs as the Tour and Giro, but Unipublic may have found one to add to their list in the Bola del Mundo. This takes in the oft-used Navacerrada pass, but instead of dropping towards Madrid, the riders turn onto a minor road that leads up to the telecommunications masts standing almost 300m above the pass. That height is gained in three brutal kilometres with several steep ramps. There's plenty of climbing early on too, notably of the cat 1 León and Navacerrada passes. The latter is initially tackled from the north side, then the route loops back to come at it from the south and heads towards the Bola del Mundo.
If Alberto Contador rides, this is about as close as he can get to a home mountain finish. Although he lives to the south of Madrid in the town of Pinto, he often trains in the sierra to the north of the Spanish capital. His final training camp before the Tour was held in these very mountains and included a ride up to the Bola del Mundo. "Very hard" was his verdict, and he's widely regarded as the world's best climber.
After yesterday's spur to action, Carlos Sastre could be looking favourably at this stage. If he can manage to take a win here, then it would be something of a swan song for the rider, whose powers seem to be fading with age.
-
A winning start for Matteo Malucelli on stage 1 of Le Tour de Langkawi
Tightly contested bunch sprint on Kuah finish line as Italian quickly starts chipping away at task of stacking up against 2024's effort of three stage wins -
'I couldn’t live like that' – Matt Dinham returns to the peloton at Tour de Langkawi after nearly two years off racing and a decision to take a chance with surgery
'It's great to be back' says Australian in the moments before heading to the humid start line in Kuah -
'We can do better' – AusCycling re-examines junior development pathway for talented young Australians
'We've got a very clear roadmap for how we're going to enhance and improve our system and we want to give it a red hot crack, but we I also understand there's cynicism in the system and the proof will be what we deliver,' AusCycling CEO Marne Fechner tells Cyclingnews -
No regrets ‘because I did my best’ - Mavi García on road race bronze medal at Rwanda 2025
41-year-old Spanish rider calls the result ‘the cherry in my career’
