Now THAT is a cool idea, the download. Very cool.
Stage 20: Santa Cruz de Tenerife - Estación Teleférico del Teide, 194km
Climbs:
Puerto Izaña (cat.E) 41,0km @ 4,6%
Icod El Alto (cat.3) 8,4km @ 3,5%
Alto de Erjos (cat.1) 20,1km @ 5,4%
Estación Teleférico del Teide (Cima Fuente) 51,5km @ 4,5%
Yes, the most brutal has been saved until last... a stage with some 120km of climbing (well, sort of. Plenty of downhills and flats inside the climbs)! This one is probably even more brutal than my monster Tour queen stage, though that had more, and steeper, climbs and was 60km longer. Lots of suffering to be done in this one.
Luckily, several teams are close to their training camps
and their doctors, so they should know the climbs well.
This will probably be one that the TV stations will want to see as much as possible of, partly for tourism purposes, and also partly because the stage should be carnage from the off. Even the neutral zone is climbing! In fact, the neutral zone roughly corresponds to the first 6km of
this, the Santa Cruz side of El Teide. The official km0 is close to
San Cristóbal de la Laguna, Tenerife's second city, and then it's not long until we're
climbing up into the distance.
The early parts of the climb aren't especially steep, with only one kilometre at 8,7% being any great threat, and being balanced out by a few false flat kilometres. The first respite for the riders from their relentless ascending comes after 25km of racing, shortly after the Mirador de Ortuño, from which they get their first glimpse
of the stage's destination. The road is
nice and wide, with
sometimes dramatic scenery, more so the further up we go. After Ortuño, there is a short descent then a few steeper kilometres - around 7-8% - en route to the
Mirador Ayosa, before another couple of short descents to punctuate the endless uphill grind. But the
climbing continues... until eventually, the riders reach the
astronomical observatory at the
Puerto Izaña, which will give out maximum mountain points as a special category climb, because really, it should.
On their
descent towards El Portillo, the riders will come to the junction where the TF-24 meets the TF-21. If they turn left, they will know that they come, albeit through more uphill, to the Teleférico del Teide. But unfortunately for them, I'm simply not that kind, so they're turning right, and descending back down to the coast on the northwestern side of the island. At least
the tarmac is nice. Scenery's still
pretty good, too. The riders' descent takes them to the edge of
Los Realejos, whereupon they turn left to take on the very shallow, easy
drag of a climb up to
Icod el Alto.
Descending from this takes us to another well-known Tenerife town,
Icod de los Vinos. This
popular holiday destination also serves as the base for the third climb of the day, the long but not overly complex
Alto de Erjos. Starting on the outskirts of Icod in Garachico, there are only a couple of steeper sections in this long, gradual climb, with its steepest kilometre only being around 7,4%. Nevertheless, the climb has
plenty of attraction all its own, and its own
vistas to recommend. And in any other stage or any other race, 20km at more than 5% is a big deal, but here it's just a warmup climb, cresting with 75km to go when we reach the summit just after
the village from which it takes its name.
From here, it is descent to the coast, and then a short, flat coastal run until
Playa de San Juan. And then, it begins... the Cima Fuente, as I've decided to (nick)name the Vuelta's highest point, to differentiate it from the other special category climbs, though I'm sure, especially given that it's in Tenerife, it will find an S placed on the end in folklore to change it from the name of a legendary Spanish climber to the name of an infamous Spanish gynæcologist. The race will end with a lot, a lot of suffering, and it will end with
this. 51 kilometres at an average of 4,5%. Except it isn't really that; as you can see there's about 10km of downhill and flat in there. There is a lot of 6-7% in the early running, then it evens out to a fair amount at around 5% to enable the grinders to hold on. As the road enters the
Parque Natural de la Corona Forestal, the roads start to
hit hardagain. The scenery's still
dramatic, but the gradients start to give the riders even less time to appreciate it, with a few kilometres averaging 7,5% including the climb's steepest moments at 12%, following the entry into the park. Several more kilometres at 6-7% follow until the riders reach the temporary respite of
El Retamar. Crossing the summit at El Retamar, the riders will have ascended for some 37km at an average of 5,8%. And yet, there is absolutely nothing available for them for crossing that line. Nada. Unless I'm really ridiculous and place the intermediate sprint there. No puntable - because it's still part of the extending climb up to El Teleférico del Teide.
As the riders pass this point, however, the lack of mountain points available (surely the heads of state are leading the race by this point, and probably solo and/or in small groups!) is tempered by the
sweet respite of a short downhill to break up the suffering. The next 8km are downhill and/or flat untile Los Roques, before the road
kicks up one final time, for the last 6,5km. These last few kilometres are only at 5,3%, and would be a 3rd category climb elsewhere in the race, but after 37 kilometres of climbing up to El Retamar and at over 2000m of altitude, they are very much Aprica after Mortirolo. What's more, after finally leaving the main road to take the road up to the Teleférico, we actually finish on the steepest part of the who climb, with the last 500m being at an average of 9% and maxing out at 12%! The
views from
here are
something to
behold too!
One thing's for sure... time gaps on this one could be absolutely enormous. This one will be brutal. It's going to be attritional, no doubt about that. But given the sheer size of the climb, punishment is going to be meted out in huge, mindblowing chunks, and suffering is going to be enormous.
After the stage, it's a bus ride down to Santa Cruz ready for the airport once again - the main problem with these pesky transfers down to Las Canarias.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife:
El Teleférico del Teide:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram