Sadly for this type of stage the weather has to play ball. Like with some of the Tour's early stages this year, the organisers did what they can. A stage into Albacete is usually sufficient enough to show an attempt to create some intrigue, since it's an area notorious for generating trial-by-echelon racing back in the old days. It's less common nowadays however, for a variety of reasons including the calendar change in the 90s and the increased professionalism, especially as back then most of the strongest domestic teams would be based in the north and be put to the sword by overseas teams from the Netherlands and Belgium, well-versed in this type of racing, taking advantage of the Spanish teams' naïveté. The area does still tend to be windy so it's a safe bet if the organisers are looking for a difficult, high-tempo flat stage, but sadly this time the weather forecast doesn't look like helping them out.