Vuelta a España 2022 stage 5 preview - Breakaway potential

Stage 5: Irun - Bilbao

Date: Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Distance: 187.2km

Stage timing: 12:45-17:30 CET

Stage type: Hilly

The mountain passes in this year’s Vuelta a España ramp up on stage 5 with five categorised climbs. The 187.2 kilometres of racing commence from Irun in Guipuzkoa, which last hosted a Vuelta start in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic ruled out the original start  from Utrecht. 

There were four categorised climbs that day and Primož Roglič (jumbo-Visma) donned the first leader’s jersey of the Grand Tour on the finish to Alto de Arrate. This time out, the finish line is in Bilbao with a fast, flat 2km on Gran Vía, and Roglič already has his jersey.

A trio of third-category climbs lay mid-way through the stage, packed between kilometres 76 and 125. The summit of Puerto de Gontzagarigana (5.3 kilometres at 4.5%) arrives first and is only 7.8km to the next summit, Balcón de Bizkaia (4.2 kilometres at 5.6%). A steep descent sets up the climb to Alto de Morga (8.6 kilometres at 3.5%). 

Punctuating the day with 47.8km to ride is a double ascent of the second-category Alto del Vivero. After the second pass, the final opportunities to propel an attack will take place on the final 14.2km run-in to the finish in Bilbao.

One-day specialists

Stage 5 is much more of a set-piece battle than the other Basque stages at the 2022 Vuelta. The day is much longer and runs along the Basque coastline from the frontier town of Irún (where the race started in 2020) to Bilbao. With five classified climbs in the second half, the relentlessly hilly terrain will surely see the one-day specialists in action.

Recent Vuelta history bears this theory out. After all, it was in Bilbao that Philippe Gilbert took a fine win in 2019 following a similar series of late climbs, powering away on the short, viciously steep Alto de Arraiz late on to claim one of his most impressive victories.

"Within the context of a three-week race, they are nervous stages, and particularly Wednesday's is likely to see a break go but it'll take a long while to form," EF Education-EasyPost director Juanma Garate, who was born in the stage 5 start town, told Cyclingnews.

"In any case, it's not the same when you're racing a stage like this in the Vuelta a España as when you're racing this kind of terrain in País Vasco."

The final climb on stage 5, the Vivero, Garate says, "is a tough one. It's the second category and we did it in the Circuito de Getxo recently and it split the race apart.

"It's that long, but hard and with a false flat over the top before a long descent back down to Bilbao. Then you've got a good road back into the city.

"Even if the break gets pulled back if they give it some welly on the climb, the sprinters are going to have a really tough time getting back into the race."

With that in mind we'll be paying close attention to the break efforts early in the stage - and perhaps the first chance for breakaway specialists to take a stage win in the race so far.

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