I am not amused by the stage. What a pity. We started bad when we had no broadcast of Krabelin. Who is the blame there? secondly, nothing happened anyway. Kind of weird. The stage looked like it was going to be action from the start. Oh well, to the ladies race then.
There's a lot they could have done with this stage, but having the regular version of Ixua (the traditional side) and then a series of highway climbs and short ramps as the finale rather than doing something like Muniozguren or Parriolaburu which are nearby, or swapping when they do regular Ixua and the Krabelin side of Usartza, would have been better.
The thing is, though, they did get some really good racing out of this kind of format with Krabelin a long way out in recent years, but this stage - and the fact the strongest rider already had the jersey - probably means it's due a bit of a rethink how they do this stage next year.
At the very least, do the Karabieta loop first, bringing the two Arrate-complex climbs closer together, so it's Karabieta loop, then the Azurki loop, then Krabelin-Trabakua-Ixua-Trabakua with a lot more connectivity in the last part.