Aguilar de Campoo – Valladolid
Distance: 186.4km
Highest point: 890m
Category: Flat
Look to the sprinters
The 2012 Vuelta offers a mere half a dozen or so opportunities to the sprinters and this is among the most obvious of them. A lot of the riders will be familiar with some of these roads from the Vuelta a Castilla y León and they will be well aware that the principal danger comes from the wind. Although relatively flat, the stage takes place on the high plains. If it starts to blow, the peloton could split all too easily, especially given the fatigue that most of the field will be fighting by now. Valladolid has a long Vuelta history. The late Wouter Weylandt won the last stage into the city in 2008, outsprinting Matti Breschel.
Bingen Fernández: "This will be a very fast stage. It runs more or less downhill into Vallodolid. This is a very windy area, though. Normally, it should be a bunch sprint but the wind will decide whether it’s a big group or a small group that contests it."
-
Neilson Powless, Larry Warbasse, Michael Matthews among men's field at Maryland Cycling Classic to challenge defending champion Mattias Skjelmose
Alison Jackson, Tiffany Cromwell, Lauren Stephens add star-power in debut of women's UCI one-day race in Baltimore -
September will mark the end of the road for Ceratizit Pro Cycling after failed sponsorship hunt
Women's WorldTour team confirmed to compete at Maryland Cycling Classic before wrapping up at end of season after a decade of racing -
'With the team we've got, it's well within our grasp' – UAE Team Emirates-XRG ready to step into Vuelta a España spotlight at team time trial
Emirati squad looking for victory on Wednesday with leaders João Almeida and Juan Ayuso sitting 10th and 11th on GC -
'The bad and the beauty of team time trials, everyone is nervous' – Ineos Grenadiers ready to embrace the stress in pursuit of back-to-back Vuelta a España stage wins
British squad confident of challenging stage 5 team race against the clock in Figueres, but admit they 'haven't got the best lineup' against UAE and Visma
