A stage the Spanish describe as rompepiernas, or leg-breaking.
The road bumps constantly up and down for the first two thirds, with two much larger bumps to follow in the final third. The category 3 Alto de Baeza won’t disturb the serene progress of the favourites but the first-time finish on the Alto de Cazorla might trouble some of them. The climb has two very different aspects. It rises steadily for almost 20km before a sharp descent that leads straight onto a very steep 2km up to the finish.
After more than 200km in sapping heat, the closing 2,000m could well produce the biggest splits so far between the big hitters for the overall.
Fernando Escartín (two-time Vuelta runner-up):
"You’d be right to describe this as rompepiernas. Once again there are constant undulations but I don’t suspect that the gaps between the main contenders will be all that big. The uphill finish will suit riders such as Joaquim Rodríguez and Alejandro Valverde."
The text in this preview originally appeared in the September edition of Procycling magazine.
-
Luke Durbridge's new Bianchi Oltre XR4: Gallery
The bike that won the Santos Festival of Cycling -
Bevin predicts 2021 season will 'have the same sense of urgency as 2020'
New Israel Start-Up Nation recruit set on repeating 2019 time trialling success -
Eric Young leads 10-rider roster for Elevate-Webiplex Pro Cycling
US-based Continental team adds four 'young, hungry bike racers' for 2021 -
Tom Dumoulin’s timeout and training camp interviews - Podcast
Simon Yates, Bob Jungels, and Allan Peiper interviews all feature
