Roar Guru
The final day for the general classification contenders features five classified climbs, including a lung-busting 21-kilometre climb to the finish. Join The Roar for live coverage of Stage 20 of La Vuelta a Espana from 10:30pm (AEST).
Having completed a difficult, wind affected time trial yesterday, the riders will be hoping to get through today’s stage inside the inconsistently applied time limit, before heading to the finish of the race around the streets of Madrid tomorrow.
Before they get to Madrid though, they have a brutal 193-kilometre stage to complete, from Benidorm to the Alto de Aitana.
The first climb of the day greets the riders after 18 kilometres. It’s the category two climb of the Coll de Rates – 13 kilometres at only three per cent. The climbs statistics are quite deceiving though, as there is a short descent of around five kilometres included in the categorised part of the climb.
Next up is the eight-kilometre climb of the Alto de Vall de Ebo, which averages five per cent. It is completed at the 60 kilometres point on the day’s stage.
It is then a very short descent, before the riders face lumpy roads and then the Category 2 climb of the Alto de Tollos. At 5.9 per cent for four kilometres, it has the same average gradient to that of the final climb.
The riders then face a long descent of around 25 kilometres before the road starts to rise once again for the long drag up to the intermediate sprint point in the town of Alcoi.
It is then a short descent before the riders come to the early, uncategorised slopes which lead to the penultimate climb of the Puerto de Tudons. Another climb rated inside the five per cent mark, with the climbing being completed for 7.1 kilometres.
30 kilometres separate the summit of the Puerto de Tudons and the start of the final climb, with it all being downhill.
When they come through the 22 kilometres to go mark, they will start the final climb of this year Vuelta, the hors category climb of the Alto de Aitana. At 21 kilometres at 5.9 per cent, the climb is difficult, without being completely savage.
This type of climb will perfectly suit a rider like Froome and he is my favourite for today’s stage. However, can he take back the 81 seconds needed to overhaul race leader Nairo Quintana?
To see if Froome can take a dramatic victory on the final day of racing, join The Roar‘s live coverage from 10:30pm (AEST)