A second consecutive stage that should favour the sprinters, stage 10 is spiced up with a few more traps and more than twice as much climbing, which will give the breakaway riders a little more hope of surviving all the way into the finish. If the elements are favourable, this 185km stage should make for spectacular viewing as it winds its way westwards along the Cantabrian coast, bumping over headlands initially.
It begins in Castro Urdiales, which hasn’t featured on the Vuelta route since the 1958 edition. That year, Italy’s Guido Carlesi won the first half of a split stage into the town and France’s Jean Graczyk won the second half that ran from Castro Urdiales to Santander.
Having passed to the south of Santander, the course maintains its westward course to Mogro, then turns inland to pass through three-time world champion Oscar Freire’s hometown of Torrelavega, before turning west again to tackle the day’s main climbing test, the third-category Alto de San Cipriano.
The intermediate sprint lies just beyond at Cabezón de la Sal, where the course turns back towards the Cantabrian coast once more and the run-in to the finish in Suances, where two-time world champion Paolo Bettini was the winner on the Vuelta’s only previous visit in 2008.
The final two kilometres rise at an average of 5 per cent into the centre of Suances, the route weaving considerably from the 2km banner until a 90-degree left-hand turn at the 500-metre-to-go mark. This ascent shouldn’t trouble the sprinters and their lead-out trains overly, but positioning will be critical approaching and coming through that final turn.
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