Vuelta a España 2022 Vuelta a España stage 6(Bilbao > Ascensión al Pico Jano. San Miguel de Aguayo),181,2 km - Mountain

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Bizkarra (lives nearby) said the climb before is tough, though, steep, and bad roads on both sides. Often those non-gc teams in the lead tend to keep the gaps too close, so if Groupama does the same, it could still be a GC day, I guess. The tempo in the field should normally be high almost throughout the final ~45k
 
It's obviously not the hardest climb in the world, but the fact that the steepest kilometres are at the start could still lead to earlier action than if they had been near the top. Especially if they drill the penultimate climb and get rid of some of the domestiques.


Jano,_Pico_Barcena_de_Pie_de_Concha_profile.gif
 
Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis)
Mark Padun (EF Education-EasyPost)
Jan Bakelants (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert)
Nelson Oliveira (Movistar)
Fausto Masnada (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl)
Kaden Groves (BikeExchange-Jayco)
Marco Brenner (Team DSM)
Dario Cataldo (Trek-Segafredo)
Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Xabier Mikel Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi)

Bakelants best in GC, +5'02''.
 
It did in 2019, stage 5.

It didn't last year. Granted, it was stage 3 but Picon Blanco isn't a "fake climb", is it?

Today's climb looks too easy. Even the first kilometers aren't that hard . I think the key riders for a potential nice stage are Yates and Lopez. If they decide to try, then it's game on.. If they don't eventual roglstomp at the final.
 
I have Padun on each way at 70/1, hopefully FDJ don't panic and start to mow the break down as Bakelants is the immediate danger at +5 minutes, rather just keep it at a manageable gap. He can semi-backdoor the red jersey later in the race as well as maybe is in better climbing form than Mollard, although that is a big unknown at the moment and has been for a long time.

*** knows what Kaden Groves is doing in there though.