After tonight's shambles, let this Vuelta be reborn into the light.
It's a short bus ride in the morning from the race base in Barcelona down the coast to the city/suburb of Mataró, terminus of the first railway line ever to be constructed in Iberia. After the official start, the road kicks up immediately for the first KOM of this Vuelta, Coll de Sant Bartomeu.
After a trek through the heavily urbanised Vallès, it's time for the next climb, Coll d'Estenalles. They approach from Sabadell, so it's only the final 12.0 kilometres of the profile below (although the road starts to rise gently before that).
The descent takes us to the northernmost point of the stage, just east of Manresa; the way back from here to Barcelona is easier, with only two uncategorised climbs: Colldarboç (profile uploaded externally because it refuses to load otherwise)...
...and Torreblanca, the first 6.3k of the profile below (which I also had to reupload... seriously, the forum software is so bad where images are concerned).
Then, the riders return to Barcelona, for a finale that should be familiar from the 2012 race, the last time the Vuelta visited the city. The final 5.5k are identical to that stage, but the run-in is different and more technical (and hence more dangerous, given that it should be very wet). The finale consists of two key points: first the Alto del Castell de Montjuïc, from the same side as in the Volta a Catalunya...
...before an untechnical descent, and the final drag up to the finish, which is located next to the Olympic stadium.
It's a short bus ride in the morning from the race base in Barcelona down the coast to the city/suburb of Mataró, terminus of the first railway line ever to be constructed in Iberia. After the official start, the road kicks up immediately for the first KOM of this Vuelta, Coll de Sant Bartomeu.
After a trek through the heavily urbanised Vallès, it's time for the next climb, Coll d'Estenalles. They approach from Sabadell, so it's only the final 12.0 kilometres of the profile below (although the road starts to rise gently before that).
The descent takes us to the northernmost point of the stage, just east of Manresa; the way back from here to Barcelona is easier, with only two uncategorised climbs: Colldarboç (profile uploaded externally because it refuses to load otherwise)...
...and Torreblanca, the first 6.3k of the profile below (which I also had to reupload... seriously, the forum software is so bad where images are concerned).
Then, the riders return to Barcelona, for a finale that should be familiar from the 2012 race, the last time the Vuelta visited the city. The final 5.5k are identical to that stage, but the run-in is different and more technical (and hence more dangerous, given that it should be very wet). The finale consists of two key points: first the Alto del Castell de Montjuïc, from the same side as in the Volta a Catalunya...
...before an untechnical descent, and the final drag up to the finish, which is located next to the Olympic stadium.
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