Vuelta a Espana Stage 4: Baza - Sierra Nevada 170.2 km

[just some guy]

With the 1st Key mountain top Finish coming very early, there maybe more Questions than answers re riders form and tactics.

Do the big name want to take the Red Jersey now and put their teams under pressure this early on in La Vuelta?

How much time will the climber such as Anton, Rodríguez need to gain in this climb?

How will the Italians Scarponi and defending champion Nibali ride the stage as they can ITT better than Anton and Rodríguez ?

What of the wounded of the Tour Wiggins and VDB2 - who brought their racing legs ? - Wiggins has had a nightmare so far can he turn it around or will he officially become the man of 09 and never to be seen again at the pointy end of a GT ?

And what of Geox ? too many Questions no answers so far this season.

Could be one for a break away , hot day, big weather swings from heat to cold and rain.

Profile of Sierra Nevada climb

Starting at 770 m for a distance of 30 km with a finishing height of 2513 m the Sierra Nevada climb will sort the contenders from the pretenders.

Weather will also play a large factor in today's stage.

Will be a hard day at the office.

ps those waiting for a Hitch intro he has marked stage 15 and 19 in his calendar.

 

[cineteq]

Can't wait!!

 

[roundabout]

Wait, is the last km (last 2 even) really that flat?

15 people with minimal gaps if any.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

VDB practically lived on this mountain the past few years...

@roundabout: these are the last km's of today (monday)'s stage...

 

[roundabout]

Well the scale on the left for the last 3km is a bit confusing.

*goes to read the last km description*

 

[just some guy]

VDB practically lived on this mountain the past few years...

@roundabout: these are the last km's of today (monday)'s stage...

Not according to the height markings ????????

here is mondays

tuesdays

monday 250 m above sea level

tuesday 2112m above sea level

again ??? as the profile changed a bit on the website

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Scarponi for the win!

 

[Lanark]

The Vuelta site has a profile of the final climb, but they couldn't have made it more useless if they tried:

23km at 5.7%. An easy climb, not a lot of difficult stuff going into the climb, everyone still fresh because it's so early in the race, I'm expecting really small differences.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Can't wait!!

Ya, but too bad it's on a freakin workday!

 

[jens_attacks]

man i have to said it,can't lie,wiggins will win this and he will put lots of guys in the red.
unfortunately this is not a climb for purito,they will go at 26-27 km/h,he might lose some time here.
and of course i wait since pena cabarga 2010 from another kash attack.
geox will try something too.i hope we won't see a plateau de beille yet again.

 

[Jamsque]

man i have to said it,can't lie,wiggins will win this and he will put lots of guys in the red.
unfortunately this is not a climb for purito,they will go at 26-27 km/h,he might lose some time here.
and of course i wait since pena cabarga 2010 from another kash attack.
geox will try something too.i hope we won't see a plateau de beille yet again.

This is a climb that suits Wiggins but I doubt he'll win, he doesn't have much racing in his legs and his form is questionable. I'll be happy if he can hang on.

 

[Winterfold]

Good stage for high tempo climbers - if I was Wiggo/Menchov/Nibali I would put some hurt on and make the midgets suffer and get them worried.

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

This is a climb that suits Wiggins but I doubt he'll win, he doesn't have much racing in his legs and his form is questionable. I'll be happy if he can hang on.

Yes it's a climb that should suit him but I cannot see any way that he can win. He might stay with the leaders but he doesn't have a kick to win a sprint so he'll have to attack from 1km or so. Unfortunately, Wiggins doesn't do attacking.

 

[jens_attacks]

well you don't have to read much into it,it's just one of my crazy predictions i'm no cycling expert

i forgot the smiley face

 

[Winterfold]

well you don't have to read much into it,it's just one of my crazy predictions i'm no cycling expert

i forgot the smiley face

While GTs are low on overall TT kilometers then if he wants to win a GT he will win have to win a non TT stage at some point and his best chance IMO will come from grinding people off his wheel on a 5% rouleur climb*.

So not a bad prediction of what *needs* to happen.

Whether it will or not, is another thing.

Nibbles, Wiggo and Menchov should team up where they can and inflict serious misery on the likes of Rodrigues - they will be made to suffer on the steep slopes so should make the grimpeurs hurt when they can.

*(His other option is going from a long way out on a flat stage but that would mean catching HTC and Spartacus napping and not many seconds to gained)

 

[hrotha]

Good stage for high tempo climbers - if I was Wiggo/Menchov/Nibali I would put some hurt on and make the midgets suffer and get them worried.

Nibali is not better on low gradients than on steep gradients. He's just kind of inconsistent in the mountains.
edit: which I suppose isn't exactly what you said, but hey.

 

[roundabout]

I think regardless of the gradienrs Nibali would prefer a steady pace most of all.

 

[taiwan]

Last Vuelta stage here was won by Moncoutie, followed by Mosquera, Valverde, Gesink and Basso, as a reminder. I seem to remember that the first two had attacked, and then Valverde won a sprint. Rodriguez FTW, if not a non-threatening climber like Le Mevel.

 

[Winterfold]

I think regardless of the gradienrs Nibali would prefer a steady pace most of all.

yer

psychologically it will be good for him to have Wiggins around as it will be another other rider who should ignore stop start riding and matching loony accelerations and just ride their own pace up the mountains. If they can share the load then it will help limit their losses.

 

[luckyboy]

Last Vuelta stage here was won by Moncoutie, followed by Mosquera, Valverde, Gesink and Basso, as a reminder. I seem to remember that the first two had attacked, and then Valverde won a sprint. Rodriguez FTW, if not a non-threatening climber like Le Mevel.

Preferably Moncoutie again.

 

[dlwssonic]

Mathias Frank to attack early on the climb and win.

 

[icefire]

Last Vuelta stage here was won by Moncoutie, followed by Mosquera, Valverde, Gesink and Basso, as a reminder. I seem to remember that the first two had attacked, and then Valverde won a sprint. Rodriguez FTW, if not a non-threatening climber like Le Mevel.

Tomorrow's climb only has 6 kms in common with that 2009 stage. They go through the easiest of all sides and the finish is 6kms before (400m below) and it is almost flat

 

[just some guy]

As I said in the intro weather will be the big factor, after today could be biggest if it is hot.

Peloton could get smashed

 

[jens_attacks]

i hope it's very hot.if they will race it hard(and i suppose sky will fly up the hill),there might be some very big differences.

 

[jobiwan]

Brajkovic has been looking good. If he wants to top 5 he needs to do well here.
Anton and JRod need to start looking for time.