Vuelta a España 2023 – Stage 15 preview

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Stage 15: Pamplona - Lekunberri

Date: September 10

Distance: 158.5km

Stage type: Hilly

Starting in Navarra’s main city, the final stage of the second week of the Vuelta a España 2023 should be a day favourable to the breakaway. The route includes a double ascent of Zuarrarrate with the final climb taking place just eight kilometres from the finish line, a perfect place to launch an attack. Stage 15 features 2,345 metres of elevation gain over 156.5 kilometres.

Heading west from Pamplona, the route takes a right turn in Estella after 52 kilometres on rolling terrain before tackling the first climb of the day, which makes its appearance eight kilometres later. The category 3 Puerto de Lizarraga (19.3 km long at 2.6%) crests at 1031 metres high, and is followed by a 500-metre drop on a 12km descent to Etxarri-Aranatz. 

After heading eastward, the riders will turn north for the ascent of Puerto de Zuarrarrate (7.3km long at 4.8%) for the first time before a quick descent which includes two successive 180 turns leading into a right-hander into the short 29-km loop back to Zuarrarrate for the second time. Stage hunters will tackle the two u-turns inside of the final two kilometres before a final sharp left turn at 600 metres from the finish line in Lekunberri.

Between 2019 and 2021,  the Emakumeen Nafarroako Women's Elite Classics finished in Lekunberri. Annemiek van Vleuten was the winner in 2020 and 2021.