Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2022, stage 19: Talavera de la Reina - Talavera de la Reina, 138.3 km

[Armchair Cyclist]

It is announced in the race rules though

article 8, part 1

https://storage-aso.lequipe.fr/ASO/cycling_vue/download-specific-regulations.pdf

2.6.027 is the 3km rule

Navacerrada with the false flat after Cotos is a weird case for me though

They are operating outside the rules of the sport if they do not allow the 3km rule there.

In the case of a duly noted incident in the last three kilometres of a road race stage, the rider or riders affected shall be credited with the time of the rider or riders in whose company they were...This article shall not apply where the finish is at the top of a hill-climb.

No space given there for 'at the discretion of the race organisers'. Not a hill-top finish, it is a rule.
I look forward to the legal battle if there is a delay causing incident in the last 3 km tomorrow.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The final needed a 1km climb at around 5% in the last 6 or 7kms to allow for a late breakaway to shake up the race.

Annoyingly, there actually is a similar option to give you something akin to that. When I did a re-route of the Vuelta in the route speculation thread (using all of the same starts and finishes as the Vuelta but changing some orders etc.), this was my equivalent of this stage:

Sure, you can argue there's no need for Centenera and Pedro Bernardo based on what Unipublic wanted out of this stage - changes I'd made elsewhere were part of why I beefed this one up - but Segurilla there is 2,8km at 6% but mostly consistent, so although it's longer than you are suggesting it's also further from the finish to balance that.

 

[Netserk]

oh give it a break.

when you put a hard stage before another hard stage, the GCers conserve energy anyway. better to have this type of stage that will sap energy and make tomorrow even more volatile.

yesterday was likely the most exciting stage of the entire Vuelta. tomorrow could be even better.

or do you really prefer an MTF with 18% gradients in the last 2 kms so that GCers dare absolutely nothing until that point? At which time one of them roglafies everyone else by a few seconds and a bonus. Woot! Woot! Sooooo exciting! Never seen that before! (drenched in sarcasm)

yesterday was the best type of racing. tomorrow likely will be even better.

Or alternatively, they could have had a classic Ávila stage today.

 

[StryderHells]

Superman top 10 there? What was he doing

It’s the Vuelta, weird stuff happens.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I still don't get why Pedersen isn't going to Worlds, he has an actual shot at winning it with these legs. Yeah i know it's in Australia but still.

There are lots of good reas..... wait.

 

[hrotha]

a plate of paella (okay probably wrong region, so what ever fit for Madrid)

Bottle of tap water

 

[RedheadDane]

Bottle of tap water

You can't drink water with a knife and a fork...

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Just finished my first longer stage watch of this years Vuelta edition, i.e. with 110k to go. And sorry haven't skimmed last half of the thread, so probably already mentioned here.
Whan an underwhelming experience as a viewer.
The few opportunities on seriously spoiling the Trek-train were all missed and even strangely helped by Bahrain.
They must've had confidence that they could take control of the sprint. If that'd been the case I think Wright might even had got it right.

Edit: OK, got to give Trek at least some credit for focusing on keeping the chain taut...

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

He deserves nothing - if he thinks he can outsprint Pedersen then he hasn’t be paying attention this Vuelta

Lol. So everyone should just ride in behind Mads?

 

[CyclistAbi]

Watched the final sprint. Congratulations to Mads Pedersen. Too bad Bennet isn't in this race anymore. It would be rather nice to follow a battle in between them for green. Carapaz in polka dots looks rather fun too.

 

[RedheadDane]

Lol. So everyone should just ride in behind Mads?

I think he's saying quite the opposite; that people should try and attack earlier, since beating Mads in a sprint seems hard work these days.
Bit like what Scotson tried.