Vuelta a España 2019 stage 18: Communidad de Madrid. Colmenar Viejo -Becerril de la Sierra > 177.5 km

[Red Rick]

 

[SafeBet]

One thing for sure: Nicolas Edet will be in the break to get his top10 back.

 

[RedheadDane]

Nice and relaxed day in the mountains after today's craziness.

 

[Noddy97]

It's all or nothing for movistar.

 

[Escarabajo]

I for sure know that I have no idea what is going to happen! 😀

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Not too difficult on paper - two climbs, a 23 km loop, and then back over the two climbs in the opposite direction

Let's hope after today's bloodbath that nobody is half an hour behind at the half way stage - otherwise it could get a bit messy

 

[ice&fire]

The start of the first climb follows a different route from the one in the cyclingcols profile, but the last 10km are the same.
After today's madness anything can happen. That also includes "there's still Saturday".

 

[hayneplane]

Lots of long steady gradient climbs tomorrow where a strong team could set an infernal pace.

Gaps are likely to be made where riders start to suffer from accumulated fatigue rather than the actual difficulty of the climbs

 

[RedheadDane]

Echolons on the flat bit on top of the final climb!
You heard it here first, guys. 😎

 

[Anderis]

Not too difficult on paper - two climbs, a 23 km loop, and then back over the two climbs in the opposite direction

This is the stage on which they cooked Dumoulin in 2015 so I wouldn't underestimate it.

 

[ice&fire]

Echolons on the flat bit on top of the final climb!
You heard it here first, guys. 😎

Wouldn't they be best in the flat bit on top of the first climb?

 

[Red Rick]

I don't see Lopez and Pogacar waiting for Saturday. Saturday isn't as hard as tomorrow.

 

[Lequack]

I wonder who worked harder today, Quintana or the others?

 

[RedheadDane]

Wouldn't they be best in the flat bit on top of the first climb?

Too much time for everything to get back together. Or... maybe they could do both!
Or maybe just on the climbs...

 

[topcat]

I don't see Lopez and Pogacar waiting for Saturday. Saturday isn't as hard as tomorrow.

Quintana to win by 2:25

 

[Red Rick]

You might have noticed that every mountain stage I predict the battle for breakaway will be crazy.


The battle for the breakaway will be crazy

 

[ice&fire]

I don't see Lopez and Pogacar waiting for Saturday. Saturday isn't as hard as tomorrow.

Don't be misled by the categorised climbs. I don't recall the exact figures and I can't find where I saw them on PCS a few days ago but Saturday has around 4600m of accumulated climbing and tomorrow there are less than 4000m. According to laflammerouge.com tomorrow's stage has 3689m of climbing and Saturday's 4559m.

 

[ice&fire]

You might have noticed that every mountain stage I predict the battle for breakaway will be crazy.


The battle for the breakaway will be crazy

In 2015 the battle for position in the neutralised start was crazy

 

[Red Rick]

Don't be misled by the categorised climbs. I don't recall the exact figures and I can't find where I saw them on PCS a few days ago but Saturday has around 4600m of accumulated climbing and tomorrow there are less than 4000m. According to laflammerouge.com tomorrow's stage has 3689m of climbing and Saturday's 4559m.

I think most of Saturday is on really shallow gradients though, but I would love more detailed profiles of just about the entire route.

The main climb where something could happen Saturday barely averages 6% with like 1km stretch of over 7%, which is most of the reason I haven't looked forward to that stage with much excitement, because overall I really like the idea of these stages with medium difficulty climbs and no MTF to be the last GC stages.

 

[Red Rick]

In 2015 the battle for position in the neutralised start was crazy

The loop between the Morcuera is also much shorter, which could make the first 2 climbs more important.

 

[Laplaz]

Astana (if they have the legs) will fight for the podium, so I expect something from MAL. Don't know about the others honestly.

 

[LaFlorecita]

The real question is, will The Great One lose his KOMs on Strava on Morcuera and Navacerrada..?!

 

[Koronin]

Before today I didn't expect anything until near the final climb. Due to today I expect things to blow up much, much earlier.

 

[RedheadDane]

In 2015 the battle for position in the neutralised start was crazy

I can just see it; teams battling to get to the sign-in first, so the can line up furthest to the front.

 

[sir fly]

I can just see it; teams battling to get to the sign-in first, so the can line up furthest to the front.

They might even line up before the sign-in opening.