Uphill finishes are the trademark of La Vuelta in its modern era, since 2010. There are usually between seven and ten of them. This year, there are eight. But there are many more climbers in contention!

As early as on stage 2, the day after the inaugural 8-km individual time trial in Málaga, La Vuelta returns to the Caminito del Rey where Esteban Chaves won a stage classified as an uphill finish in 2015. It’s not the case this year. “This time, the finish line will be located in front of the Visitor Centre and not on the river dam”, explained technical director Kiko Garcia. “Therefore, the race will end a bit further down, after three to four kilometres of an uphill at 4 to 5%. We can expect a group of 50 to 60 riders to contest the stage victory. If he’s on good form, Peter Sagan can give it a try. It also suits riders with the same characteristics as Alejandro Valverde.”

The course of the 73rd La Vuelta has gradual difficulties. The first uphill finish is relatively short but seriously steep at Alcafar on day 4. On stage 9, Dan Martin will return to La Covatilla where he claimed his first Grand Tour victory in 2011. La Vuelta hasn’t passed there since. Three stages (13, 14 and 15) in the Asturias province look very promising. La Camperona, a gruelling nearby summit in the province of León, saw the victories of Ryder Hesjedal in 2014 and Sergey Lagutin in 2016. Les Praeres is an unprecedented finale with gradients up to 20 to 21%. On the other hand, Lagos de Covadonga is very well known. 20 stages of La Vuelta have ended up there since 1983, the latest winner Nairo Quintana being eager to doing it again.

The other novelty of the 2018 La Vuelta is the Balcón de Bizkaia. “It’s just as hard as Les Praeres”, Garcia warns. It’s a recently asphalted road on the Mount Oiz in the Basque country. The final part of the mountainous program is located in Andorra. Stage 19 is flat but set to be concluded at La Rabassa where Alessandro Ballan was the last winner in the history of La Vuelta in 2008, just two weeks before he won the world championship in Verona, Italy. Stage 20 is the big one on the eve of the final parade in Madrid. It features five climbs including three classified in the first category before the hors-category coll de La Gallina due to designated the overall winner of the 73rd La Vuelta. “It’s debatable whether stage 15 or stage 20 is the queen stage”, Garcia analysed. “They’re both very complicated with several difficulties before the uphill finish.”

This route must please Colombian climbers. Quintana, Rigoberto Urán and Miguel Ángel « Superman » López are on their toes, as well as Richard Carapaz, the Ecuadorian revelation of the Giro d’Italia. Vincenzo Nibali, Fabio Aru, Richie Porte, the Yates twins, the Izagirre brothers, Wilco Kelderman, Steven Kruijswijk, Igor Antón, Rafal Majka, Ilnur Zakarin, David De La Cruz, Michal Kwiatkowski, Alejandro Valverde, Pierre Rolland, Michael Woods and Dan Martin are among the established climbers on the provisional start list. New ones are also knocking at the door and it’ll be interesting to follow Sepp Kuss, Jai Hindley, Bjorg Lambrecht, Jack Haig, Herman Pernsteiner, Nic Schultz, Edward Ravasi…

THE EIGHT UPHILL FINISHES
STAGE 4 | Alfacar. Sierra de la Alfaguara
STAGE 9 | La Covatilla
STAGE 13 | Valle de Sabero. La Camperona
STAGE 14 | Les Praeres. Nava
STAGE 15 | Lagos de Covadonga. Centenarios 2018
STAGE 17 | Balcón de Bizkaia
STAGE 19 | Andorra. Naturlandia.
STAGE 20 | Coll de la Gallina. Santuario de Canolich.

Laura Cueto
lcueto@unipublic.es
+34 638 95 95 20

Basques are back, Burgos-BH discovers La Vuelta, Cofidis and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA know the drill: the four teams who were granted wild-cards for La Vuelta 2018 promise offensive cycling as they seek success between Malaga and Madrid.
EUSKADI IS BACK: “THERE ARE NO WORDS”
Five years after the iconic jersey “naranjo” of Euskaltel Euskadi left the peloton, Basques are back at La Vuelta with Euskadi-Murias. “It’s a dream I’ve had since the team was built”, says Jon Ordiozola, who’s led the project since 2015 after participating in cycling’s biggest races as a rider and then a sports director with Euskaltel-Euskadi. “Here, cycling lives in a unique way and a project like Euskadi-Murias was the missing piece to come back to the forefront.”
Not only Euskadi is back at La Vuelta but the festivities are set to reach a climax during stage 17. Starting from Getxo, the peloton will travel through Bilbao on the way to an unprecedented and already dreaded finish at Balcón de Bizkaia. “It’s our queen stage”, Jon Odriozola announces. “It will be hard to get a result because it comes at the end of La Vuelta, our riders lack experience and will be tired, and everyone will be watching us because they know how important this is for us. A stage of La Vuelta in Bilbao, for a team named Euskadi, there are no words”.
In their first season after making the jump to Continental Pro, Euskadi-Murias have claimed six victories so far, with Enrique Sanz winning last week a stage at the Volta a Portugal. At La Vuelta, Jon Odriozola will rely on an “aggressive team fighting for stages. With Jon Aberasturi, I have strong hopes for stages finishing with a sprint. Mikel Bizkarra and Oscar Rodriguez can do good things in the mountain. And Edu Prades and the rest will aim the other stages.”

COFIDIS: BOUHANNI AND “A DYNAMIC SQUAD”
“La Vuelta is part of the identity of Cofidis, who is very involved in Spain”, so Christian Guiberteau wants from his rider “a cohesion and a behavior that will make us actors of the race. And then, the consequence of it, the icing on the cake, will be a stage victory and we’ll do everything to get it. We clearly have te tools to get that win, we have to believe it. But I also know it’s very difficult.”
One of the sports director’s cards will be Nacer Bouhanni. The French sprinter won two stages of La Vuelta in 2014 and hasn’t participated since 2015 (he abandoned during stage 8). “A gastroenteritis prevented Nacer from finishing the Tour of Poland”, Christian Guiberteau explains. “But he’s recovering well and should be in top shape for the start of La Vuelta, with stages that should suit him in the first week.”
“Nacer will have a lead-out man with him, and other teammates will offer additional support on occasions”, the sports director elaborates. “It’s not about having a full train, it’s very complicated at La Vuelta furthermore with climbs always throwing off the sprinters and their teams. La Vuelta is more for sprinters like Trentin (4 stage wins in 2017) than Kittel.”
In addition to Nacer Bouhanni, Christian Guiberteau will rely on a “dynamic squad. Jesús Herrada was very strong at the European championships and he will be very motivated at La Vuelta. There aren’t as many sprinters teams to control the race so it’s interesting to have someone in the breakaway.If it’s a sprint, so be it, but having someone in the break is important because you can also fight for the stage that way”.

CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA : “BE ACTORS ON EVERY TERRAIN”
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA will tackle their seventh participation at La Vuelta in a row with “a young and balanced team”, according to sports director Eugenio Goikoetxea. He’s set a goal for the team from Navarre, used to claiming success through long range attacks (stage victory at Lagos de Covadonga for Antonio Piedra in 2012, King of the Mountain victories for Luis Leon Sanchez in 2014 and Omar Fraile in 2015): “Be actors of the race on every terrain”.
“La Vuelta is the race that gets us inspired all year long”, Eugenio Goikoetxea says. “First we work hard to get the invitation, and then to arrive in the best conditions to offer a good outing. La Vuelta is a dream in itself. Our sponsors are Spanish companies and it is fundamental for us to look for reasons to rejoice every day.”
After David Arroyo’s departure, Sergio Pardilla will be the only rider over 30 years of age. “He will be our leader and captain”, says Eugenio Goikoetxea about the experienced climber, who’s already finished three times inside the top 20 of La Vuelta (15th in 2017, his best result). “We have Nelson Soto for sprints, he is really fast. A rider like Lluis Mas is more a stage hunter on all kind of routes.”

BURGOS-BH: “WE’LL BE AT OUR BEST”
Burgos-BH also participates in La Vuelta in their first year as a Continental Pro team. “It’s our goal of the year”, sports director Jose Cabedo says. He hopes for better luck after a year marred with struggles, most notably the injuries of the two young talents Silvio Herklotz and Matvey Mamykin (the Russian has left the team at the beginning of the month). “We’ve suffered with injuries but since June we’ve been able to work well with the riders who will participate in La Vuelta”, Jose Cabedo explains. “We’ll be at our best.”
“We want to show we have the skills to be there”, he insists. Ahead of La Vuelta, Burgos-BH have signed the Dutch rider Jetse Bol. “He will be our reference”, his sports director establishes. “He’s had a very good La Vuelta last year. He led the virtual standings on two occasions and took part in breakaways that fought for the stage victory.”
Jose Cabedo also counts on riders like Diego Rubio (7th of the Oridizako Klasika) and Pablo Torres to “have our say in the breaks that can make it to the finish”. Finally, the Portugues José Mendes will bring his experience as a finisher of the five grand tours he participated in (22nd of La Vuelta in 2013). “We want to see what he can do in the mountains and if he can bring us a top 20 on general classification in our first Vuelta”, Jose Cabedo says.
Laura Cueto
prensa@unipublic.es
+34 638 95 95 20