An unprecedented top result at La Vuelta, the sixth of this edition, on a day marked red by the runners. This is the arrival at Cruz de Linares (8.3 km at 8.6% average), this year’s discovery in Asturias, just like last year, was the Collado-Fancuaya. Hard ramps with a gradient of up to 16% and a double pass in the last 30 km, the second being the last of the day. In total it is 179 km, starting in Pola de Allande and ending in La Cruz de Linares. Five ports in between: Estacas, San Lorenzo, Tenebredo and the double pass mentioned above pass the last climb. A technical descent between the two, which involves reaching high speeds and then going back up the same slope that they climbed a few kilometers before.
“Until the town of Castañedo there is practically no peace, with constant gradients of 8% and 14% in forest areas. Once past this town and after a very hard concrete ramp (the maximum gradient), “The landscape changes and we see mountains in the background, clear terrain, no trees, ‘slides’ with some calm and then the final climb to the finish line,” explained Pelayo Sánchez, a local runner who is competing in the Vuelta with Burgos BH , in recognition of promotion with AS last spring. It is an integral part of their training that will be better known to the general public starting this Thursday. “This double promotion will provide a lot of scope as it is possible that we will see two races. “One for the stage and one for the general” added Pelayo, who will drive for Movistar next season.
Everything will depend on Jumbo and his ever-high ambitions. Kuss spoke about this stage in AS last Monday, on the rest day, and even warned that it could lead to more differences than Angliru: “It will be a very difficult stage, perhaps with some ambushes.” The American leads the 18th stage… but by just eight seconds over his teammate Vingegaard, who would “love” if Sepp won the Vuelta. Everything is open and nothing is decided in Jumbo itself. Kuss insisted after Angliru that it would be “ideal” for the bonus to be upfront. That is, the leader is interested in a leak. Possible light precipitation at the end of the stage. A return to decision.
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Pos Cyclist | equipment | Time |
|---|---|---|
1 | TJV | 60h:34:21 |
2 | TJV | +00:08 |
3 | TJV | +01:08 |
4 | UAD | +04:00 |
|
5 | TBV | +04:16 |
|
6 | MOV | +04:30 |
7 | BOH | +06:43 |
8th | BOH | +07:38 |
9 | UAD | +09:26 |
10 | TBV | +11:26 |