Roar Guru
Join us for live coverage of Stage 9 of the Vuelta a Espana from 8:25pm AEST, with comments added regularly throughout the stage.
With the 2012 Olympics now finished, it’s kind of nice that today’s stage finishes outside the Barcelona Olympic stadium and with a view out to the harbour. What won’t be nice for the riders is the 194kms it will take to get there from Andorra after yesterday’s harder stage and before their rest day where they’ll transfer across the country.
With around a kilometre of uphill finish coming after a Category 3 climb up Montjuich and the earlier Category 3 climb of the Alto de la Collada de Clara 65kms into the stage,don’t expect sprinter’s teams to chase a breakaway. Perhaps they’ll gobble up any sprint points left over at the 96km and 162km marks.
With nothing to excite the General Classification riders, don’t expect their teams to organise a chase either. While time may be pegged back on the 61kms – (or arguably 90kms) of rolling downhill/flat before the next lump, this stage should see a breakaway stay away and the General Classification unshaken.
Please join us from around 8.45pm AEST, your comments, questions, and opinions are very welcome.