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Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2021: Stage 12 (Jaén - Cordoba, 175.0 km)

Another early 2010s first week throwback, in this case the Alto del Catorce por Ciento. The 2011 stage saw Liquigas stage an ambush with Sagan winning the stage and Nibali taking time, while Degenkolb won from a reduced bunch in 2014.

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The stage is slightly different than either of those, though. Instead of climbing only to the usual summit of San Jeronimo, they continue along the ridge road, used in the opposite direction to descend from Catorce por Ciento previously, as in the profile below.

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The climb to Catorce por Ciento is the same as always, but the different descent means the summit is closer to the finish: 18.8 kilometres instead of 27 in 2014 and 23 in 2011.

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The finish drags slightly uphill, like in 2014.

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Is this the Nibali/Sagan descent?

No, as mentioned above:

Instead of climbing only to the usual summit of San Jeronimo, they continue along the ridge road, used in the opposite direction to descend from Catorce por Ciento previously

The climb to Catorce por Ciento is the same as always, but the different descent means the summit is closer to the finish

The descent used now still looks decently technical, though.
 
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This is nevertheless a true icon of old school Vuelta design.

2014 stage 4 (Degenkolb wins sprint of reduced group of circa 60):
vuelta_espana_etapa04_g_2014_unipublic.jpg


2011 stage 6 (the Nibali/Sagan/Lastras/Agnoli descent stage):
vuelta_espana_etapa06_g_2011_unipublic.jpg


2009 stage 15 (Lars Boom wins solo from breakaway, péloton rolls in 25 minutes later):
v09-15-alt.jpg


2008 stage 3 (Tom Boonen wins sprint):
vuelta_espana_et03_G_2008_unipublic.jpg


(2006 had a flat run-in)

2005 stage 2 (Leonardo Bertagnolli wins sprint):
profile2.gif


2003 stage 17 (David Millar wins solo, Óscar Sevilla gains a few seconds):
perfil17.gif


2002 stage 9 (Pablo Lastras wins solo):
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Óscar Freire also won a stage in Córdoba in 2000 but I can't find the profile right now.
 
I know I'm being pedantic, but it just looks so wrong to refer to him as "Nielsen". That would be like talking about how "Nicolau" might be the only one to challenge Roglic.
Now I might be pedantic, but no, that's not really the same. In Denmark you can only have one surname (in this case Nielsen; Cort is a middle name), but in Spain it's custom to have two surnames - one from your father and one from your mother.
 
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Now I might be pedantic, but no, that's not really the same. In Denmark you can only have one surname (in this case Nielsen; Cort is a middle name), but in Spain it's custom to have two surnames - one from your father and one from your mother.

But people always refer to him as "Cort". You wouldn't talk how "Jonas Rasmussen" was second in the Tour, would you?

Otoh, referring to the other Dane left in the race as "Andreas Lorentz" would also be wrong.
 
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But people always refer to him as "Cort". You wouldn't talk how "Jonas Rasmussen" was second in the Tour, would you?

Otoh, referring to the other Dane left in the race as "Andreas Lorentz" would also be wrong.
I get your point, but it goes both ways; You wouldn't refer to Bjarne Riis as Bjarne Lykkegaard, would you? Or Mikkel Honoré as Mikkel Frølich and Jakob Fuglsang as Jakob Diemer either?

Anyway, I think it's fine to refer to him as Cort, I often just prefer to use the surname.