- Sep 20, 2017
- 12,087
- 22,934
- 28,180
Thirteen stages into the race, the riders finally arrive at something that’s harder than a slightly above average cat. 1 climb. That something is one of the most famous MTFs in cycling. While the ultra-steep gradients of Angliru don’t tend to produce quite the gaps they once did, this should still be a very important day in the GC battle.
Map and profile
Start
Good news for the riders: for the second night in a row, the transfer is very short, this time bringing them to Cabezón de la Sal. As you might be able to tell from the name, the town developed around its salt mines, which were already in use in the 9th century and have been exploited to such a degree that there are subsidence issues in some areas. However, the mining was never enough to support more than a small town, until the advent of industrialisation from around 1870 onwards. This did not only greatly increase the scale of the salt mining, but also lead to the establishment of factories in food processing, ceramics, furniture and textile. Deindustrialisation has seen part of these industries, including its historic salt industry, disappear. However, Cabezón’s strong connections to Torrelavega and Santander via the motorway (which it is on) and rail (it is a terminus of the regional network) made it well-situated for commuter traffic, and thus the town has only continued to grow.
(picture by Zarateman at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
The first 10 kilometres of the stage are spent heading northwest to San Vicente de la Barquera, from where the peloton follows the beautiful coast of western Cantabria and then eastern Asturias. Certainly in the early stages, it’s all quite rolling with some hills that could easily have been a cat. 4 had this been the Tour, but even so the climbers will need to work hard to make the breakaway here. The coastal section finally ends in Ribadesella/Ribeseya. From here onwards, the route is very similar to the 2023 Angliru stage that started in this town, with only the first KOM being different (there are two parallel passes, they take the other of the two this time round). However, the start of said KOM is still 75 kilometres away at this point in the stage. Most of the interlying distance consists of heading up the Sella and Piloña valleys. In the town of Nava, right before the riders reach the source of the latter, the road heads away from the flat terrain and up some uncategorised climbs. Up first is the Alto de Pozocordero/Altu de Pozocorderu.
The road then rises a second time to the portal of the El Corbero/El Corvero tunnel, averaging a whopping 3.5% in the 3.9 kilometres of uphill. We are now firmly in the mining region of Asturias, and essentially the remainder of the stage until the summit of Cordal at 21k to go can be classified in its entirety as such. However, there is another climb of similar difficulty before we get there: the Alto de la Mozqueta/Altu La Mozqueta.
The section after its descent hardly needs any introduction. We have the intermediate sprint in La Vega, and after that it’s the same finale as every Angliru stage ever. We enter the town of Pola de Lena/La Pola de Ḷḷena, southeasternmost of the Asturian mining towns, where we hit the familiar slopes of Alto del Cordal/Altu la Segá.
As steep as the slopes of Cordal are towards the summit, it pales in comparison to what is to come. You know the drill, it’s Alto/Altu de l’Angliru, the maximum gradient is 23%, and by that point they’re usually in the clouds. The fastest climbing time is still that of Roberto Heras set in 2000, but Vingegaard and Roglič being just 34 seconds slower despite not going all out on the climb’s most recent outing in 2023 suggests that that record is likely to go.
Finish
L’Angliru is perhaps the most Vuelta of Vuelta mountains: ridiculously steep, in the middle of nowhere and paved solely for the purpose of having the race finish here. It was first introduced in 1999 with Jiménez catching Tonkov at the last, and since then we’ve had some memorable days here: the critical blows by Heras, Contador and Cobo to take stage and jersey in 2002, 2008 and 2011 (as well as David Millar incurring a DSQ in the dumbest way possible in the former), Horner deciding the Vuelta in 2013, Contador’s swansong in 2017, Roglič losing red in 2020, and whatever the *** Visma served up in 2023. This is the anniversary edition, being the tenth time the Vuelta has finished here, and perhaps it says something that I’ve skipped over just one of the previous nine stages when listing all the ones that were truly noteworthy.
(picture by Mikel Ortega at Flickr)
Map and profile
Start
Good news for the riders: for the second night in a row, the transfer is very short, this time bringing them to Cabezón de la Sal. As you might be able to tell from the name, the town developed around its salt mines, which were already in use in the 9th century and have been exploited to such a degree that there are subsidence issues in some areas. However, the mining was never enough to support more than a small town, until the advent of industrialisation from around 1870 onwards. This did not only greatly increase the scale of the salt mining, but also lead to the establishment of factories in food processing, ceramics, furniture and textile. Deindustrialisation has seen part of these industries, including its historic salt industry, disappear. However, Cabezón’s strong connections to Torrelavega and Santander via the motorway (which it is on) and rail (it is a terminus of the regional network) made it well-situated for commuter traffic, and thus the town has only continued to grow.
(picture by Zarateman at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
The first 10 kilometres of the stage are spent heading northwest to San Vicente de la Barquera, from where the peloton follows the beautiful coast of western Cantabria and then eastern Asturias. Certainly in the early stages, it’s all quite rolling with some hills that could easily have been a cat. 4 had this been the Tour, but even so the climbers will need to work hard to make the breakaway here. The coastal section finally ends in Ribadesella/Ribeseya. From here onwards, the route is very similar to the 2023 Angliru stage that started in this town, with only the first KOM being different (there are two parallel passes, they take the other of the two this time round). However, the start of said KOM is still 75 kilometres away at this point in the stage. Most of the interlying distance consists of heading up the Sella and Piloña valleys. In the town of Nava, right before the riders reach the source of the latter, the road heads away from the flat terrain and up some uncategorised climbs. Up first is the Alto de Pozocordero/Altu de Pozocorderu.
The road then rises a second time to the portal of the El Corbero/El Corvero tunnel, averaging a whopping 3.5% in the 3.9 kilometres of uphill. We are now firmly in the mining region of Asturias, and essentially the remainder of the stage until the summit of Cordal at 21k to go can be classified in its entirety as such. However, there is another climb of similar difficulty before we get there: the Alto de la Mozqueta/Altu La Mozqueta.
The section after its descent hardly needs any introduction. We have the intermediate sprint in La Vega, and after that it’s the same finale as every Angliru stage ever. We enter the town of Pola de Lena/La Pola de Ḷḷena, southeasternmost of the Asturian mining towns, where we hit the familiar slopes of Alto del Cordal/Altu la Segá.
As steep as the slopes of Cordal are towards the summit, it pales in comparison to what is to come. You know the drill, it’s Alto/Altu de l’Angliru, the maximum gradient is 23%, and by that point they’re usually in the clouds. The fastest climbing time is still that of Roberto Heras set in 2000, but Vingegaard and Roglič being just 34 seconds slower despite not going all out on the climb’s most recent outing in 2023 suggests that that record is likely to go.
Finish
L’Angliru is perhaps the most Vuelta of Vuelta mountains: ridiculously steep, in the middle of nowhere and paved solely for the purpose of having the race finish here. It was first introduced in 1999 with Jiménez catching Tonkov at the last, and since then we’ve had some memorable days here: the critical blows by Heras, Contador and Cobo to take stage and jersey in 2002, 2008 and 2011 (as well as David Millar incurring a DSQ in the dumbest way possible in the former), Horner deciding the Vuelta in 2013, Contador’s swansong in 2017, Roglič losing red in 2020, and whatever the *** Visma served up in 2023. This is the anniversary edition, being the tenth time the Vuelta has finished here, and perhaps it says something that I’ve skipped over just one of the previous nine stages when listing all the ones that were truly noteworthy.
(picture by Mikel Ortega at Flickr)
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