Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2020: Stage 7 (Vitoria-Gasteiz > Villanueva de Valdegovia, 159,7 km)

[sir fly]

Vitoria-Gasteiz
It has been over 60 years since a La Vuelta stage first departed from Vitoria-Gasteiz. These avenues, though modernised, have remained almost intact over the decades. The excellent preservation work that has been carried out in its iconic medieval city centre has made Vitoria-Gasteiz a must-see destination for history lovers. Its history is also linked to cycling, as its cobblestone streets are the birthplace of Igor González de Galeano, La Vuelta podium (1999), who also wore the yellow jersey i the Tour de France for an entire week, in 2002.

Villanueva de Valdegovia
Villanueva de Valdegovía is a small rural Basque town with a very particular feature that attracts the attention of all who visit it: the Varona Tower. This historical complex, made up of a palace and a defensive tower, is considered the best-preserved medieval fortress in the Álava territory. Following the passing through of the World Tour peloton in 2018, during the Tour of the Basque Country, its tower is now getting ready to leap to the grand stage with La Vuelta.

On Orduña

 

[Amazinmets87]

Anyone have a profile on the lump after the Orduna?

 

[Fernandez]

This stage looks very good.

 

[Amazinmets87]

This stage looks very good.

Not expecting much from GC. Of course that doesn't preclude a good stage.

 

[Cannavaro]

Anyone have a profile on the lump after the Orduna?

I do not have a profile, but if you look at topographic maps, it is around 2.4 km with 3%. Could be a little steeper at the beginning.

 

[Lequack]

Should be nice weather, but windy, up to 30-40 kmh/h.

 

[will-10]

With that climb and the wind I think we'll see GC action. This race is looking less likely to finish by the day, they won't leave any chances on the table.

 

[search]

With that climb and the wind I think we'll see GC action. This race is looking less likely to finish by the day, they won't leave any chances on the table.

could more be the opposite because of the wind today, as it's a strong headwind on the final climb (and descent)

 

[johnymax]

could more be the opposite because of the wind today, as it's a strong headwind on the final climb (and descent)

Then we could see echalons in the terrain between the climbs. It should be a cross-tail wind there.

 

[Red Rick]

This wouldn't be great in the Tour (or this Giro for that matter) but it should be fun.

 

[Bolder]

I think we'll see some GC action. The Orduña climb surely will see a few riders gapped -- looks like the meat of the climb is 6 km at around 8 percent.

 

[ice&fire]

This is just like S. Miguel de Aralar on a smaller scale. GC men drop most of the rest but get together to the finish. Is that what you call GC action?

 

[Eclipse]

We'll see something imo, the race has been too open until now.

Movistar should try send Soler up the road again at least which will probably force some kind of action as teams can't keep letting him just roll off the front.

Behind that there's a whole bunch of riders who clearly think they can get back into this too if no team is taking real control of the race, so wouldn't be at all surprised to see riders like Henao, Martin, Gaudu etc trying to skip clear again which could drag a few others out to play.

Then riders like Grosschartner and Chaves will take an opportunity on the final climb if the legs feel good as they might be given enough space to get clear if the others were to look at each other.

And lastly Carapaz continually shows that if his legs feel good he will attack so I'd not be shocked if he decided to see whether he can make Roglic work today before something more decisive tomorrow.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Philosopher Martin will probably give it a go once more to secure a 11th place finish in the GC.

 

[search]

Philosopher Martin will probably give it a go once more to secure a 11th place finish in the GC.

he said he is going for stages and (potentially) the mountain jersey, and enjoys this new role, not having to care about GC

 

[johnymax]

Zero positives on Covid19 apparently. Fantastic news if true!

Edit:
Yes it is...

Joint Unipublic-UCI statement concerning the testing campaign carried out on the first rest day of la Vuelta 2020

www.uci.org

 

[Eclipse]

he said he is going for stages and (potentially) the mountain jersey, and enjoys this new role, not having to care about GC

Exactly what a man hell bent on scratching his way back to 11th would say to fly under the radar ¬_¬

 

[railxmig]

A lot of the race will have a side wind. Wonder if some echelons may form in between the climbs. In Movistar shoes i would try to put someone a bit bigger like Erviti or/and Oliveira (even if Soler himself is quite high) to be there on the flat run-in to the finish which will have a headwind and attack with Soler on Orduña and see what happens. If someone like Roglič has trouble and there's help from other 2ndary GC teams like Bora or Michelton then go deep to the finish as the time splits between the groups should be significant. The main problem is that the next stage ends on a hard climb and there's plenty of oppurtunity (Angrilu) to shake up the game. This stage should have been a part of the 3rd week tricky tests that Vuelta does every two years.

 

[Lequack]

Roglic again with his weird color combinations

 

[Forever The Best]

Nice stage. Hopefully some action on Orduna.

 

[Eclipse]

Roglic again with his weird color combinations

Brazil's finest.

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Sounds like Cavagna's gone off yet again and nobody has actually gone with so he's a bit lonely lol

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Good break gone now inc Kuss

 

[Lequack]

There is a lot of wind but nothing is yet happening.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Break not settled yet, there’s a sizeable group trying to bridge

 

[Billie]

Big 2nd group
Froomy will have to work today

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Break not settled yet, there’s a sizeable group trying to bridge

Yes, and G. Martin is in it