Stage 5: Tremp - Els Cortals d'Encamp (AND), 180km
Climbs:
Port del Cantó (cat.1) 19,3km @ 5,4%
Coll de la Rabassa (cat.1) 13,2km @ 6,8%
Coll d'Ordino (cat.1) 17,9km @ 5,3%
Els Cortals d'Encamp (cat.1) 9,8km @ 8,4%
If the Candanchú stage enabled us to learn who would not be competing for the GC at the Vuelta, this, our first real mountain stage, certainly will tell us who will. The folks at Andorra seem to like having the Vuelta (or the Tour, or even the Volta a Catalunya) rocking up into town, so ahead of some perhaps more dramatic Catalan climbs, I've elected to go for this, a 'best-case-scenario' type of Andorra stage. To be fair to Unipublic, 2013 sees
the best-designed Andorra stage in a long time; certainly an improvement on
2012's anæmic run-in, 2010's
harbinger of Unipublic's things to come, or the 2009 Tour's
abysmal Arcalis stage. A better job was done in 2008, with the
double La Rabassa stage, but the one to which my attention was drawn was the short, but infinitely better than most of the previously-mentioned stages,
1999 stage to Arcalis, and it is to this that I have turned for inspiration.
Now, obviously, I am not a fan of Arcalis, as you probably well know. I have devised a stage instead which uses the other - harder - side of Ordino and then a new climb unknown to racing; however, if this were to be impossible for whatever reason (and if they can finish at Canolich like in 2012 and 2013 it really, really shouldn't), then I would utilise
this alternative stage route, which uses the east side of Ordino descending into La Massana, and since it would typically be Vallnord paying for the stages (which usually end in Arcalis or Pal), finishing at Vallnord Sector Arinsal, which as you can see from
the profile is an infinitely better finish than either of them. However, it's also an easier finish than Els Cortals, hence today's stage, which looks to shake the GC up properly for the first time, is looking to that.
The first 40km are just flat valley roads, before the first climb of the day, the long but relatively uncomplicated west side of the
Port del Cantó. This well known Vuelta (& Volta) climb is
wide and well maintained, and shouldn't pose any great difficulties. The long and gradual descent is mostly very fast, but has some technical sections near the bottom. Then there's an intermediate sprint in
La Seu d'Urgell before a lengthy stretch of uphill false flat where we cross the border from España to Andorra. Almost immediately we hit Sant Julia de Lòria and turn right to hit the climb to La Rabassa. As you can see from
this profile, the steepest stuff here is at the bottom, with some kilometres averaging over 9-10%. We only climb to about kilometre 13 on that profile however, marked at the Coll de la Rabassa with a turning towards Aixirivall, rather than heading all the way, as in 2008, to
Naturlandia La Rabassa, Andorra's only dedicated Nordic skiing facility. From there it's a technical descent back to Sant Julia de Lòria, and back to our uphill false flat that takes us to our second intermediate sprint in
the country's scenic capital. Here, where in the alternative stage we would continue northwards, we turn to the west, through the towns of La Massana and Ordino, and head up to the Coll d'Ordino -
it is the left of these two profiles - though we will be descending the right one from the summit as far as Encamp. This popular climb appears in almost any Andorran stage, since its
lacets and
switchbacks make up one of very few real transitional passes that can be used in Andorra to link climbs. The descent is very technical, though the road surface is enough to satisfy even Bavarianrider, but then the riders must face the final climb.
Given the comparatively low gradients of Cantó and Ordino, I anticipate that this will come down to the final climb, although the lower slopes of La Rabassa are tough they are just too far from the finish. A strong break will no doubt need quite an advantage for this final climb, for this is one of the tougher Andorran summits, a roughly 10km ascent to
Els Cortals d'Encamp. The profile you see there notes it as 15km at 6,8%, but we are only climbing from Encamp, so about 5km can be knocked off the length there, however all of the climb's most difficult stretches remain intact. It announces its intentions early, with the second kilometre averaging 11%, then three more between 9 and 10% mean that the bunch should be shredded by the time they get to the ramps later on. Els Cortals is a small ski station, but located in a tight,
scenic valley, with
tough switchbacks and
views to die for. The Vuelta is go, and hopefully, having sacrificed letting him have a TTT, Javier Guillén will see my plea for designing stages with everything Andorra has to offer us, if the country continues to wish to promote itself through cycle racing (and why not?).
Tremp:
Els Cortals d'Encamp:
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