The time trial and three high-altitude finishes in Andalusia take center stage in La Vuelta

The climbs to Peñas Blancas, Sierra de la Pandera and Nevada mark the second week of the Spanish round

MADRID, 29 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The second week of La Vuelta 2022 starts this Tuesday with a time trial -the second and last of the round- that the runners will face after the rest day from Elche, to then head for Andalusia where there will be land for everyone with days marked by the ascent to Sierra Nevada and the Alto de Peñas Blancas.

The cycling caravan arrives in the Levantine area after the last Asturian stages, where the Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) opened the distance against the men in the general classification. Thus, they will try to follow in their footsteps in the fight for the red jersey in a week without high mountains, but with high finishes that will give life to a Vuelta still to be decided.

This Tuesday, to begin with, the peloton will face the 31-kilometre individual time trial for specialists between Elche and Alicante. A key day for the favorites for the podium in Madrid, especially for the Spaniards Enric Mas (Movistar Team), Juan Ayuso (UAE) and Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS), but also for the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), who did not showed weakness in the first week.

After passing through the region of Murcia, the peloton will arrive in Andalusia, which for the first time in the history of the Vuelta will see the race pass through its eight provinces. Stage 11 will start in Alhama to Cabo de Gata, with 193 kilometers in a day without scoring difficulties and that anticipates a massive arrival, although the final wind in the Almeria town could take center stage.

Without rest, once settled in the south, the twelfth day will experience one of the few high finishes of the second week of the race. The platoon will leave from Salobreña and will cross the province of Malaga from one end to the other, finishing in Alto de Peñas Blancas. An outcome in a port that will add four kilometers, reaching a length of more than 20, with an average gradient of 6.5 percent and continuous sections above 11.

The accumulated fatigue could punish the sprinters on Thursday. A flat stage for the explosive riders to put their teams to work on the final arrival in Montilla, after 168.4 kilometers from Ronda.

The climbs will return the next day where the applicants will have to overcome the finish line in the Sierra de la Pandera, which has already shown its hardness on other occasions. A stage with narrow roads, rough asphalt and a demanding finish in the last 9 kilometers, with an average gradient close to 7.5 percent and constant sections bordering on 12.

And with hardly any rest, the end will come in Sierra Nevada, in Alto de la Hoya de la Mora, in a day that will accumulate more than 4,000 meters of altitude difference. The runners must also climb the demanding first category Alto del Purche just before ascending the special category level, almost 20 kilometers at 8 percent on average.