Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2022, stage 12: Salobreña - Peñas Blancas. Estepona, 192.7k

[Devil's Elbow]

It's time for the kind of mountain stage the Vuelta is so strongly associated with that it's known by its Spanish name (at least on here) - the unipuerto MTF. The race has been to Peñas Blancas once before in 2013, with Leopold König scoring the biggest win of his career. That was the first-ever GT, and first-ever WT win, of what is now Bora-Hansgrohe. This time, the climb has been extended by just over four kilometres to finish at the Mirador Los Reales rather than at the actual pass, making for the second-hardest climb in the race. Breakaway day, Evenepoel win or something more unexpected?

Profile

Map

The route
A trek west along the Mediterranean coast. The first 30 kilometres are reasonably hilly, but as the road hugs the coastline the climbing isn't much harder than the Capi at Sanremo. After this, the road becomes almost completely flat and stays that way until the route heads inland for a bit. Gradually the roads turn uphill for a long, irregular drag up to the uncategorised Puerto de Ojén. The final 12 kilometres of this are shared with the final 12 kilometres of the profile below, but the roads start to rise before that.

After a descent back to the coast, the road becomes flat once more as we follow the highway through a string of resort-laden towns. Eventually, Estepona is reached, there's an intermediate sprint and then the MTF starts immediately after. The average gradient isn't the most imposing, but the irregularity of the first portion and the length combine for a serious climbing challenge.

 

[Red Rick]

Who is gonna pace the climb and with what manpower

 

[Eeslliw]

Who is gonna pace the climb and with what manpower

Remco himself will pace and in last km he will be wondering why is no one behind him.

 

[Ulle97]

Providing Remco has good legs on this climb, I think it's important to ride prudently.
He doesn't need to extend himself any more than his rivals.

It's a case of ticking off the big days and tomorrow is definitely a climb that can cause damage.
Tread carefully Remco!!

 

[sir fly]

Stage hunters must be thrilled.
... as if the race isn't unfolding towards them already.

 

[ashhutch1997]

On a side note, what the hell has happened Leopold König?

 

[Riek s]

first question that will be answered is who will DNS this stage.

Assuming QS isn't affected, i guess it will be up to vervaecke and Wilder to do the first 5km and yoyo back untill 3km before the finish?

I doubt anyone will attack this early to go alone.. so the last 3km will have the most real attacks.

but before that i think Roglic will try to isolate Remco, but unless someone starts pulling it will always come back to a domestique from QS.
The only team that can pull is Ineos, but will they offer up Hart for this? and also will this accomplish anything?

 

[houtdffan]

tomorrow's climb is the classic remco climb. Long and gradual. Perfect for the diesel

 

[Krzysztof_O]

tomorrow's climb is the clasicc remco climb. Long and gradual. Perfect for the diesel

In theory yes but his best performance happened on a super-steep murito, where riding on a wheel had no profits and his brutal tempo dropped everyone.

 

[Kwibus]

On a side note, what the hell has happened Leopold König?

Had to retire due to an ungoing knee injury.

 

[search]

In theory yes but his best performance happened on a super-steep murito, where riding on a wheel had no profits and his brutal tempo dropped everyone.

there's a steep part with 8-9k to go. I'd think he'll go solo from there. No one has any mountain domestiques for an organized chase anyway

 

[Lequack]

I don't know why people expect Remco to lose form, on the basis the Simon Yates once lost form in the Giro a few years ago.

 

[Scarponi]

I don't know why people expect Remco to lose form, on the basis the Simon Yates once lost form in the Giro a few years ago.

Has nothing to do with Yates attacking at every point and more a young rider never going beyond 10 days

 

[Riek s]

Remco might lose significant form. But given his TT yesterday... tomorrow won't be the day of great decline, or at least not because of form.

I don't expect remco attacking on this climb. Maybe counterattack at the end, but doubt he will do a 8km full steam ahead in front of the group.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I don't know why people expect Remco to lose form, on the basis the Simon Yates once lost form in the Giro a few years ago.

Comparing to two is insulting to Evenepoel. They should not even be mentioned in the same breath...

 

[shalgo]

It's Vine time!

 

[Bonimenier]

I don't know why people expect Remco to lose form, on the basis the Simon Yates once lost form in the Giro a few years ago.

It's probably more of a hope than an expectation for most people who say that.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

This looks like a perfect stage for Soler to miss the break on, only to close the 2 minute gap solo.

FDJ will try their signature "send two guys with Pinot in the break" strategy, but Pinot himself will fail again.

The only one who can challenge Vine here is Padun if he has improved another 5% (and Remco, of course, if the break is caught which I doubt it will be though).

 

[Red Rick]

Comparing to two is insulting to Evenepoel. They should not even be mentioned in the same breath...

"Remco you're a better rider than Simon Yates"

"What the *** did you just say to me? "

 

[Riek s]

I don't think Vine needs to be in the escape to have a shot at winning this stage. He can go from far out on the climb since no one will care about him and the GC will look at each other and play tag along the way. Would also be good to see how good he still is, since he kept on the side on stage 9. (not sure if his TT was full gas or not though), but for him it could have been 4 easy days.

 

[Bonimenier]

I don't think Vine needs to be in the escape to have a shot at winning this stage. He can go from far out on the climb since no one will care about him and the GC will look at each other and play tag along the way. Would also be good to see how good he still is, since he kept on the side on stage 9. (not sure if his TT was full gas or not though), but for him it could have been 4 easy days.

The danger in that case is that nobody will try to keep the break close. QS will be more conservative now that they lost Alaphilippe as well and this doesn't look like the stage for other GC teams to put pressure on QS from far out.

 

[Ari]

tomorrow's climb is the clasicc remco climb. Long and gradual. Perfect for the diesel

Seems perfect for Almeida.

 

[Pantani_lives]

They will miss Alaphilippe on this climb. Every mountain stage without time loss would bring Remco one step closer. However if he loses ten or twenty seconds tomorrow the others will know he's vulnerable. Tomorrow will be about defending and testing each other's strength on a long climb.

 

[groogster]

Seems perfect for Almeida.

With the right form yes it would, despite being more than a 30/40 minutes effort where he excels. The problem is that he’s clearly off form atm so don’t expect anything from him besides hanging up there and not losing to much time to the top5.

 

[groogster]

They will miss Alaphilippe on this climb. Every mountain stage without time loss would bring Remco one step closer. However if he loses ten or twenty seconds tomorrow the others will know he's vulnerable. Tomorrow will be about defending and testing each other's strength on a long climb.

I’m expecting some kind of Testing to Evenepoel from Ineos tomorrow.