Vuelta a España 2020: Stage 9 preview

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Stage 9: Cid Campeador. Castrillo del Val to Aguilar de Campoo

Date: October 29, 2020

Distance: 157.7km

Stage start: 1:25 pm CEST

Stage finish: 5:05-5:30 pm

Stage type: Flat

This is that most unusual of days at the Vuelta, a stage without a categorised climb. With a touch under 1,000 metres of vertical gain all day, it’s one that the sprinters will be determined to decide between themselves.

The 157.7km route starts in Castrillo del Val, which lies at an altitude of 850 metres on Spain’s central plateau, and stays very close to that height all the way into the finish at Aguilar de Campoo, three times a Vuelta start town but never previously the host of a stage finish. The peloton’s fast finishers will get a first chance to test each other in the intermediate sprint at Herrera de Pisuerga, two-thirds of the way through the 158km stage.

The riders will pass through the finish line a first time and begin a 35km loop around the large Aguilar reservoir just to the west of the Aguilar de Campoo. Returning to this town, the route is totally flat over the final five kilometres.

There are three tight turns to negotiate coming into the finish, the first as the riders re-enter Aguilar de Campoo and switch south away from the centre to start a semi-circle to the south to reach the eastern edge of the town. Having arrived at this point, there’s a close-to-180-degree turn to the left into the finishing straight, which follows a gentle rightward curve all the way into the line.