The beginning of the end.
After 19 stages, the inevitable happens and we get a true unipuerto MTF. This is not necessarily a bad thing - unipuerto MTFs tend to genuinely deliver this late in the race - and it's not like Moncalvillo has much in the way of good passes in its vicinity anyway.
Most of the stage is in La Rioja, quite close to the previous day's route, with a brief loop into Burgos to take in the day's other KOM, the easy Alto de Pradilla.
And then, the MTF. It has been used once before, in an enjoyable 2020 stage, but perhaps the best comparison is the Alpe di Mera MTF from the 2021 Giro. Both climbs are extremely similar by the numbers, both stages have very little climbing before the MTF, and both come on stage 19 before a big mountain stage and a closing TT. And that Giro stage was a good one too, with Simon Yates attacking from the bottom and hanging on to take the stage.
Back to the present, where we are looking at the final 12.1k of the profile below, for an average of 7.4%. The actually-hard part is 7.8k at 9.3%, more than enough for a proper battle. Will this be the first stage to be won from the GC group since stage 8 or can that streak last all the way to Madrid?
After 19 stages, the inevitable happens and we get a true unipuerto MTF. This is not necessarily a bad thing - unipuerto MTFs tend to genuinely deliver this late in the race - and it's not like Moncalvillo has much in the way of good passes in its vicinity anyway.
Most of the stage is in La Rioja, quite close to the previous day's route, with a brief loop into Burgos to take in the day's other KOM, the easy Alto de Pradilla.
And then, the MTF. It has been used once before, in an enjoyable 2020 stage, but perhaps the best comparison is the Alpe di Mera MTF from the 2021 Giro. Both climbs are extremely similar by the numbers, both stages have very little climbing before the MTF, and both come on stage 19 before a big mountain stage and a closing TT. And that Giro stage was a good one too, with Simon Yates attacking from the bottom and hanging on to take the stage.
Back to the present, where we are looking at the final 12.1k of the profile below, for an average of 7.4%. The actually-hard part is 7.8k at 9.3%, more than enough for a proper battle. Will this be the first stage to be won from the GC group since stage 8 or can that streak last all the way to Madrid?
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