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*Vuelta a España - Stage 3* Monday 24th August
Stage 3 » Mijas › Málaga (164.6k)
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This looks like one for the sprinters, with the categorised climbs coming early enough in the race that they should pose no problems. The race starts at Le Cala de Mijas, a small coastal town almost exactly halfway between Marbella and Malaga. Le Cala is famous for its restaurants and golf courses and is a very popular tourist destination on the Costa del Sol, nestled between the mountains of the Sierra de Mijas Natural Park and the Med. The route takes the riders inland and they start the first climb after only 8km, the Cat 3 Alto de Mijas, which is a sharp but mercifully short climb.
After Alto de Mijas the peloton will drop back out of the hills towards the coast and Malaga. They pass through the City and back inland toward the first serious test of this year's Vuelta, the Cat 1 Puerto del Leon. This is 16km at 5% average. It is a fairly steady climb, although it does have about 400km at 15% after about 10km. Luckily there is a section where riders can recover immediately after this as the gradient drops back down to about 2%. This climb is far too far from the end of the stage for attacks to be successfully launched from this climb. With 80km still to go, they will take this climb fairly slowly and no-one should be dropped here. Following the climb they head back towards the coast and when they hit the town of Torre Del Mar they turn back towards Malaga, heading all the way in on the coast road.
About 12km from the finish the riders hit an uncategorised lump. It rises then there is a short descent before some more sharp ramps, a small bit of flat and a descent. The peak is at 10km from the finish, and as most of the sprinters that are lining up are reasonable climbers this section shouldn’t exclude anyone from the finale. The finish itself in Malaga is straightforward, but there are two sections that will require maximum concentration, and positioning will be important for anyone with designs on the stage. There is a right/left chicane at 3km, and then just before the flamme rouge there is a 270degree right hander that brings the riders onto Alameda Principal. This road turns into Paseo Del Parque with 350m left, and this finishing straight is 7.3m wide. Nacer Bouhanni is the fastest man in the Vuelta Peloton, and his Cofidis train is starting to work. However, John Degenkolb has 9 Vuelta stages to his name, his Giant team are bound to put him in a fantastic position and with the late corners he could win today.
Stage 3 » Mijas › Málaga (164.6k)
Map
Profile
This looks like one for the sprinters, with the categorised climbs coming early enough in the race that they should pose no problems. The race starts at Le Cala de Mijas, a small coastal town almost exactly halfway between Marbella and Malaga. Le Cala is famous for its restaurants and golf courses and is a very popular tourist destination on the Costa del Sol, nestled between the mountains of the Sierra de Mijas Natural Park and the Med. The route takes the riders inland and they start the first climb after only 8km, the Cat 3 Alto de Mijas, which is a sharp but mercifully short climb.
After Alto de Mijas the peloton will drop back out of the hills towards the coast and Malaga. They pass through the City and back inland toward the first serious test of this year's Vuelta, the Cat 1 Puerto del Leon. This is 16km at 5% average. It is a fairly steady climb, although it does have about 400km at 15% after about 10km. Luckily there is a section where riders can recover immediately after this as the gradient drops back down to about 2%. This climb is far too far from the end of the stage for attacks to be successfully launched from this climb. With 80km still to go, they will take this climb fairly slowly and no-one should be dropped here. Following the climb they head back towards the coast and when they hit the town of Torre Del Mar they turn back towards Malaga, heading all the way in on the coast road.
About 12km from the finish the riders hit an uncategorised lump. It rises then there is a short descent before some more sharp ramps, a small bit of flat and a descent. The peak is at 10km from the finish, and as most of the sprinters that are lining up are reasonable climbers this section shouldn’t exclude anyone from the finale. The finish itself in Malaga is straightforward, but there are two sections that will require maximum concentration, and positioning will be important for anyone with designs on the stage. There is a right/left chicane at 3km, and then just before the flamme rouge there is a 270degree right hander that brings the riders onto Alameda Principal. This road turns into Paseo Del Parque with 350m left, and this finishing straight is 7.3m wide. Nacer Bouhanni is the fastest man in the Vuelta Peloton, and his Cofidis train is starting to work. However, John Degenkolb has 9 Vuelta stages to his name, his Giant team are bound to put him in a fantastic position and with the late corners he could win today.
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Piss. Wrong title. Stage 3 = Monday 24th.
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