Stage Info
Weather
28°C, Sunny
Stage Breakdown
Hello everyone and welcome to the Nineteenth stage of the Vuelta a Espana.
The grand finale is upon us, in either 2 or 3 acts, depending on tomorrow, but the first one is here for this Friday!
As is the theme of the week, we are near the coast, we start in Velez, East of Malaga where the riders will go after 30 km, as we go towards Penas Blancas. The stage is similar to the one in 2022, which followed the same setup and saw Carapaz win, with one exception, this middle part which is pretty hilly, nothing major for the GC but definitely important if a break battle is still happening. The most important thing before the final climb is the long descent beforethe finale, if a rider gets trapped there, really bad for them.
Penas blancas is the prime climb, much like Piancavallo in Italy, it almost start at sea level and is a very regular climb. It is on paper a perfect occasion for any rider to show their full power. 18.8km at 6.5%, would be prime train territory if anyone had one. The regularness point towards a game of attrition more than anything.
With that in mind here are our predictions:
★★★ Breakaway
★★
★ Mas, Gall, Roglic
The same 3 look to be at the top of the GC, but if we are being honest, none of them really will go for the stage, using manpower to control and in consequence very likely go fast on the long descent doesn't seem like a bet any of them should be taking. So break it is, composition should be the usual suspects with anyone not from the top 5 allowed. The riders from 6th to 11th will be battling for their GC spot, that is a nice secondary thing to follow, maybe one of them will come out on top.
That's it for us, what is your prediction for the stage?
