I think averaging 10,3% just 9km from the line is probably going to make it raced too hard for the more versatile sprinters to hang on, unless you're maybe counting Gerrans and Sagan as versatile sprinters. If raced really hard, it's almost Purito terrain.
Back in Spain, after the rest day, similarly we're on transitional stages.
Stage 16: Santander - Miranda de Ebro (Área Recreativa de San Juan del Monte), 193km
Puertos:
Puerto de Alisas (680m) 8,0km @ 6,7% (cat.2) - km 35
Puerto de la Sia (1225m) 20,5km @ 5,2% (cat.1) - km 64
Alto de Ro (546m) 6,4km @ 3,6% (cat.3) - km 110
Puerto de Orduña (900m) 7,9km @ 7,6% (cat.2) - km 150
San Juan del Monte (624m) 3,0km @ 5,0% (cat.3) - km 193
Metas Volantes:
Amurrio - km 134
Miranda de Ebro - km 187
After three successive days of mountain carnage, from the steep slopes of Pozo de la Nieve to the difficult mountaintop finish at El Acebo, and finishing off with a difficult MTT on the mythical Lagos de Covadonga, the riders will be glad of the rest day, on which a short transfer from Asturias into neighbouring Cantabria will take place. The first stage after the rest day will see us transition from the coastal mountains into the inland plateaus on a stage custom made for the breakaway, but with a sting in the tail for the main contenders.
The intention of the stage is to ensure that we have a strong breakaway, as it is highly likely they will duke out the stage win, so obtaining a large group of stagehunting riders is a priority. To this end, the early parts of the stage feature two sizable obstacles on our way inland; first up is the category 2 Puerto de Alisas and itswinding scenery, but it is soon followed by the long and drawn-out grind up to the Portillo de la Sia, an insanely dramatic road via the Collado de Asón which twists ever skyward on the way to forming the border between Cantabria and the Provincia de Burgos. There are myriad possibilities from here; you could turn right at the base of the descent for a gradual finish at Estación de Esqui Lunada, or right again to climb the easier side of Picón del Fraile; even more dramatically, you could take on the partially sterrato northern face of Picón Blanco directly from the Portillo de la Sia, then descend its brutal southern face (not recommended if you are Ivan Basso). But here, we're a long way from the end, and none of this is really necessary.
The descent into Espinosa de los Monteros heralds the start of a very long flat stretch along the plateaus of northern Burgos, broken up partway through by a gradual and unthreatening descent. The break should ideally be about 10 minutes ahead here. The only real break-up of this section is the uncomplicated Alto de Ro, which could easily be considered "no puntable". This leads into a brief foray into Euskadi, which is of course rare but no longer implausible in La Vuelta. This leads to an intermediate sprint in Amurrio, but the main reason for the detour is to include the toughest ascent in the Sierra Salvada, the difficult Puerto de Orduña. This has been given category 1 status in the race recently (in 2012), however is more a tough cat.2 in my opinion. Nevertheless, it is steeped in Vuelta history, being one of the iconic climbs of the race from the days when the race still finished in Euskadi, and also being forever associated with one of the greats. With ramps of up to 14% and very little respite, this will be the spot where the breakaway shreds to pieces and the chaff is shelled. Just over 40km remain at the top though, so it would be a brave rider who is strong enough to drop everybody on the climb and still a powerful enough rider to hold on until the finish.
Orduña, since the Sierra Salvada leads on to the plateaus, is one of those lopsided climbs; the descent is short, and then there are about 30km of flat roads leading into Miranda de Ebro, an industrial city on the banks of - as its name suggests - the Ebro, but perhaps equally notorious for harbouring one of Franco's main concentration camps, the last of all to close. Here, there are bonus seconds once more available as it hosts an intermediate sprint just 6km from the finish. And half of that is a small uphill rise to the finish.
The uphill drag to San Juan del Monte is one of those climbs that gradually turns up the heat so that the 3km @ 5% stats don't really tell you all that much about it. That said, it isn't especially steep - the toughest stretch is 150m or so at 9% - before it eases out with the last 600m being more or less all at 500m. Here's a more detailed profile. The climb featured in the Vuelta a Burgos in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The first time around, Joaquím Rodríguez was victorious, just ahead of a trio of Hermans, Valverde and Botcharov. A year later, a somewhat less puncheur-heavy top 10 ensued, with Samuel Sánchez just managing to out-punch the more power-oriented climbing of José Iván Gutiérrez, with Kristof Vandewalle a few seconds behind. The two previous winners duked it out in 2011, both finishing a few seconds ahead of the rest, with the Asturian winning the sprint. That said, Denis Menchov - never a man known for his puncheur credentials - was 4th. That should give you an indication of the style of the climb - it's not a pure puncheur's climb, but if some of the GC guys are inclined to work for a few seconds, they may be able to get them. I'm going to make the assumption that the break will take this, so this could be a battle of the functional climbers, all-rounders and second-tier guys whose GC ambitions have fallen by the wayside. This is a potential banana skin, but also a good opportunity for stagehunters.
Santander:
Miranda de Ebro (San Juan del Monte):
Back in Spain, after the rest day, similarly we're on transitional stages.
Stage 16: Santander - Miranda de Ebro (Área Recreativa de San Juan del Monte), 193km
Puertos:
Puerto de Alisas (680m) 8,0km @ 6,7% (cat.2) - km 35
Puerto de la Sia (1225m) 20,5km @ 5,2% (cat.1) - km 64
Alto de Ro (546m) 6,4km @ 3,6% (cat.3) - km 110
Puerto de Orduña (900m) 7,9km @ 7,6% (cat.2) - km 150
San Juan del Monte (624m) 3,0km @ 5,0% (cat.3) - km 193
Metas Volantes:
Amurrio - km 134
Miranda de Ebro - km 187
After three successive days of mountain carnage, from the steep slopes of Pozo de la Nieve to the difficult mountaintop finish at El Acebo, and finishing off with a difficult MTT on the mythical Lagos de Covadonga, the riders will be glad of the rest day, on which a short transfer from Asturias into neighbouring Cantabria will take place. The first stage after the rest day will see us transition from the coastal mountains into the inland plateaus on a stage custom made for the breakaway, but with a sting in the tail for the main contenders.
The intention of the stage is to ensure that we have a strong breakaway, as it is highly likely they will duke out the stage win, so obtaining a large group of stagehunting riders is a priority. To this end, the early parts of the stage feature two sizable obstacles on our way inland; first up is the category 2 Puerto de Alisas and itswinding scenery, but it is soon followed by the long and drawn-out grind up to the Portillo de la Sia, an insanely dramatic road via the Collado de Asón which twists ever skyward on the way to forming the border between Cantabria and the Provincia de Burgos. There are myriad possibilities from here; you could turn right at the base of the descent for a gradual finish at Estación de Esqui Lunada, or right again to climb the easier side of Picón del Fraile; even more dramatically, you could take on the partially sterrato northern face of Picón Blanco directly from the Portillo de la Sia, then descend its brutal southern face (not recommended if you are Ivan Basso). But here, we're a long way from the end, and none of this is really necessary.
The descent into Espinosa de los Monteros heralds the start of a very long flat stretch along the plateaus of northern Burgos, broken up partway through by a gradual and unthreatening descent. The break should ideally be about 10 minutes ahead here. The only real break-up of this section is the uncomplicated Alto de Ro, which could easily be considered "no puntable". This leads into a brief foray into Euskadi, which is of course rare but no longer implausible in La Vuelta. This leads to an intermediate sprint in Amurrio, but the main reason for the detour is to include the toughest ascent in the Sierra Salvada, the difficult Puerto de Orduña. This has been given category 1 status in the race recently (in 2012), however is more a tough cat.2 in my opinion. Nevertheless, it is steeped in Vuelta history, being one of the iconic climbs of the race from the days when the race still finished in Euskadi, and also being forever associated with one of the greats. With ramps of up to 14% and very little respite, this will be the spot where the breakaway shreds to pieces and the chaff is shelled. Just over 40km remain at the top though, so it would be a brave rider who is strong enough to drop everybody on the climb and still a powerful enough rider to hold on until the finish.
Orduña, since the Sierra Salvada leads on to the plateaus, is one of those lopsided climbs; the descent is short, and then there are about 30km of flat roads leading into Miranda de Ebro, an industrial city on the banks of - as its name suggests - the Ebro, but perhaps equally notorious for harbouring one of Franco's main concentration camps, the last of all to close. Here, there are bonus seconds once more available as it hosts an intermediate sprint just 6km from the finish. And half of that is a small uphill rise to the finish.
The uphill drag to San Juan del Monte is one of those climbs that gradually turns up the heat so that the 3km @ 5% stats don't really tell you all that much about it. That said, it isn't especially steep - the toughest stretch is 150m or so at 9% - before it eases out with the last 600m being more or less all at 500m. Here's a more detailed profile. The climb featured in the Vuelta a Burgos in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The first time around, Joaquím Rodríguez was victorious, just ahead of a trio of Hermans, Valverde and Botcharov. A year later, a somewhat less puncheur-heavy top 10 ensued, with Samuel Sánchez just managing to out-punch the more power-oriented climbing of José Iván Gutiérrez, with Kristof Vandewalle a few seconds behind. The two previous winners duked it out in 2011, both finishing a few seconds ahead of the rest, with the Asturian winning the sprint. That said, Denis Menchov - never a man known for his puncheur credentials - was 4th. That should give you an indication of the style of the climb - it's not a pure puncheur's climb, but if some of the GC guys are inclined to work for a few seconds, they may be able to get them. I'm going to make the assumption that the break will take this, so this could be a battle of the functional climbers, all-rounders and second-tier guys whose GC ambitions have fallen by the wayside. This is a potential banana skin, but also a good opportunity for stagehunters.
Santander:
Miranda de Ebro (San Juan del Monte):
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