Vuelta a España 2022 Vuelta a España stage 5(Irun-Bilbao),187,2 km - Medium Mountains

[sir fly]

FERNANDO ESCARTÍN COMMENTARY
HILLY. Beautiful stage: five mountain passes that will be filled with the Basque public. Both climbs to the Vivero in the final part will be responsible for selecting the leading group. It will be interesting to discover who controls the race, even without clear leaders in the general classification, particularly in a day that is not ideal for sprinters.

96,9 km: Puerto de Gontzagarinaga (Cat 3) (4,3 km al 5,1%)
89 km: Balcón de Bizkaia (Cat 3) (4,2 km al 5,6%)

70,4 km: Alto de Morga (Cat 3) (8,1 km al 3,6%)

47,8 km, 19 km : Alto del Vivero (Cat 2) (4,6 km al 7,9%)

Irun
The most famous butcher's town in the whole cycling world.
La Vuelta knows Irun’s hospitality first-hand. The Guipuzkoa locality was the location of the official departure of La Vuelta 20, following its obligatory modification due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Locals stepped up to meet this challenge with unparalleled responsibility, agility and professionalism. Their welcoming character, a reflection of their open border tradition, made it possible for La Vuelta’s toughest ever edition to go ahead.

• 4 stages of La Vuelta have departed from Irun
• 62.910 inhabitants
• Province of Guipuzkoa

Bilbao
Over the past decade, Bilbao has recovered its prominent role in the world of cycling - one it should never have lost in the first place. Such historical stages as Igor Antón’s victory in 2011, or that of Philippe Gilbert, in 2019, have always been accompanied by the incomparable Basque cycling fans. La Vuelta returns, yet again, to the Biscay capital, which celebrates its silver anniversary with the Guggenheim Museum. In 2022, this emblem of modernisation and iconic art museum marks 25 years since its inauguration.

• 43 stages of La Vuelta have had finales in Bilbao
• 350.184 inhabitants
• Province of Biscay

 

[houtdffan]

Stage is perfect for a Remco raid.

Question is, does he keep his powder dry?

 

[red_flanders]

Stage is perfect for a Remco raid.

Question is, does he keep his powder dry?

Seems early for a big effort, seems hard to keep the kid reigned in. Should be interesting. Irritating that I have an early meeting tomorrow…

 

[Red Rick]

Now the real big question is who is gonna pace

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Depends on who is in the break.

 

[movingtarget]

Looks like a nice stage on paper. Good one for the break.

 

[Riek s]

I don't expect a Remco raid today, which would imply he goes solo the 1st time they do alto del vivero. If he ever decides not to go for GC, this would be a stage for him.

The 2 cat-2 climbs might be interesting for those 'GC' people who had a hard time yesterday. HIguita? if he is as badd as yesterday he might be dropped on those climbs.
I can imagine a team that ups the pace just to see if they can already distance someone before they find their 'form'. Or that we see an attack on the last climb. (I wouldn't rule out Roglic here since he can win the sprint and its mostly downhill after the climb, so not really a waste of efforts).

Will Ayuso do better now? Still not a long climb, so should be something he should be able to handle in a peleton of 40+. (if there are no major attacks ofcourse)
Will the QS team survive a cat 2 climb? (or will it only be Remco/(Vanwilder)/(Julian))

 

[tobydawq]

Is the start city, iRun, some sort of running apparel made by Apple?

 

[RedheadDane]

Is the start city, iRun, some sort of running apparel made by Apple?

Whatever it is, they clearly forgot what sport they're doing.

 

[tobydawq]

Whatever it is, they clearly forgot what sport they're doing.

Maybe people can also run there.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Is the start city, iRun, some sort of running apparel made by Apple?

At least it's better than B-iLbao. I have no idea what that product is or how to pronounce it. Steve Jobs must be spinning in his grave, unless he was cremated, which is entirely possible. Don't really know much about him except that he was very famous. More so than anyone in the peloton probably.

 

[tobydawq]

At least it's better than B-iLbao. I have no idea what that product is or how to pronounce it. Steve Jobs must be spinning in his grave, unless he was cremated, which is entirely possible. Don't really know much about him except that he was very famous. More so than anyone in the peloton probably.

I just know that he often wore a turtleneck which neither Sheldon Cooper nor the Apple cofounder, Steve Wozniak, cared for.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K1uj9VmCzo&ab_channel=LosInklings

 

[Ulle97]

Seems early for a big effort, seems hard to keep the kid reigned in. Should be interesting. Irritating that I have an early meeting tomorrow…

I think he will hold back. I don't feel he will unleash an attack here.

 

[RedheadDane]

Maybe people can also run there.

I'm talking about the fact that a bike race is gonna start in Irun.

 

[tobydawq]

I'm talking about the fact that a bike race is gonna start in Irun.

Maybe people can also cycle there.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Going to be 34°C later in Bilbao, wouldn't surprise me to see some GC candidates losing a bit time today already.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Higuita complained about the heat already yesterday, doesn't bode well for him if true.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Is the start city, iRun, some sort of running apparel made by Apple?

iRun better than iRan

 

[Hugo Koblet]

This looks like a stage for the break. Lutsenko, Battistella, Alaphilippe, Pacher, Vine, Pinot and Buitrago seems like good condidates. Perhaps even Pedersen and Hayter will target this from the break as well.

 

[Volderke]

I feel Remco won't attack, as he is taking the GC approach saving as much as possible for the big mountains.
But I feel this can backfire, as his proven strength is in this kind of stages, and his proven weakness (until now, but there are 500 pages filled with discussion whether this weakness is true) is in the high mountains.

The complexity in attacking is that the climb is just a bit too short to create big gaps, and the distance between the Vivero climbs is just a bit too much so things can get organised.

Irregardless of the above, I would say: ¡attaque!

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Going to be 34°C later in Bilbao, wouldn't surprise me to see some GC candidates losing a bit time today already.

Lets hope Remco has learned from Tour de Swiss and pick the right helmet today.

 

[rallybanana]

I'm talking about the fact that a bike race is gonna start in Irun.

Froome will win this bike race

 

[noob]

Even if a break goes the stage could be GC decisive, no? One doesn't rule out the other?

 

[yaco]

I am wondering if Jumbo drill the circuits which would knock out two or three of the GC contenders.

 

[Boes]

I don't see why Jumbo would drill anything besides last climb. Roglic can win a sprint of a reduced peleton.
If they drill hard early on, it only opens up for a Remco raid because domestiques are dropped so why take the risk.