Racing restarts after the first rest day of the Vuelta a España with an intriguing stage. It runs at close to sea level until the sharp second-category climb of Puerto de Almáchar, which tops out 14km from the finish back on the Mediterranean coast at Rincón de la Victoria.
The racing gets underway in Roquetas de Mar, just to the west of the rest day town of Almería. The stage’s course is westwards throughout, inland to begin with, but soon returning to the coast and then passing resort after resort: Adra, Calahonda, Motril, Almuñécar, Nerja and Torrox. The intermediate sprint soon follows in Torre del Mar.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
After passing through Vélez-Málaga, the riders will arrive at the foot of the day’s only significant climb, the Almáchar. It’s not too taxing to start with, but really bares its teeth in the final 4.5km. A kilometre at 11 per cent is followed by another at more than nine, then there’s an easier section that’s followed by another kilometre at 10 per cent, the gradient dropping to half that figure over the final few hundred metres to the top. The organisers have added a little more spice by making it a bonus point, rewarding the first three riders to crest it.
The 14km running downhill into the finish at Rincón de la Victoria are, according to race director Fernando Escartín, fast but not particularly technical. As a consequence, the first riders to top the Almáchar are likely to be the ones who’ll dispute the finish.
Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014).
