Vuelta 2018 stage 13: Candás - La Camperona 174.8km

Inquitus

Vuelta 2018 stage 13: Candás - La Camperona 174.8km start 12.57 CET

At 174.8 kilometres, the 13th stage of the Vuelta a España is entirely played out in the Principality of Asturias. The riders tackle the Puerto de Tarna as an intermediate climb before the race ends at La Camperona, which is a closing climb of 8.8 kilometres at 6.5%. The last 2 kilometres are toughest as these are averaging 15%.

Only twice before La Camperona served as a summit finish in the Vuelta a España, yet its reputation is that of a classic Grand Tour mountain climb. The ascent lies in the centre of Asturias, about 100 kilometres from the wild coast of the Bay of Biscaye.

In 2014, Ryder Hesjedal climbed to victory at La Camperona. Two years ago Sergey Lagutin was the strongest rider of the early break, while Nairo Quintana took the red jersey that day.

Shortly after the start La Vuelta moves through Gijon and at kilometre 10 the riders tackle the first uphill stretches. A perfect place to initiate the breakaway. At kilometre 39 a similar climb is crested. Following the descent a sheer endless false flat runs to the foot of the Puerto de Tarna, which is a 16.8 kilometres climb at 4.9%. The second half is averaging around 6%, so the first half is a lot easier.

The Tarna is crested with almost 70 kilometres remaining. The riders fly down the mountain before the distance to the foot of the closing climb is as good as flat.

La Camperona amounts to 8.8 kilometres and the average gradient is 6.5%. It starts out quietly, yet in the village Olleros de Sabero the first ramps of horror appear. In this part of the ascent the riders face the steepest stretch of 25%, although that’s an exception in this section. Yet, two more kilometres up the mountain, in Sotillos de Sabero, the party really gets going when the riders turn right. The first kilometre rises at 10% and in the last 2.1 kilometres the route kicks it up a notch with an average gradient of 15%. The section from 2.1 kilometres to 800 metres before the line is 17% and then it ‘flattens out’. That is, the ultimate 800 metres on the mountain of horror are averaging 10%.

Let’s be fair, that’s a Wall – the Wall of Camperona. Power management will be the key to success. In 2014 Alejandro Valverde jumped too early as he was eager to take the red jersey and lost time to his opponents.

Puerto de Tarna climb


La Camperona climb


La Camperona climb more details

Inquitus

The top of the final climb is very tough with some super steep ramps, there will certainly be time gaps in the GC today. Quintana says its an exceptionally tough climb which will create gaps. Yates implies he is saving energy and has one eye on the World's, not sure he's going to pass up the chance of winning a Grand Tour if he has the legs for it though. Bertie's thoughts. Live coverage on Eurosport from 14:00

Final Climb on Strava

Bookies Take

Nairo Quintana 8
Simon Yates 9
Miguel Angel Lopez 8
Michael Woods 14
Rafal Majka 18
Omar Fraile 14
Bauke Mollema 22
Wilco Kelderman 25
Alejandro Valverde 22
Dylan Teuns 25
Ilnur Zakarin 33
Richie Porte 28
Rigoberto Uran 28
Sergio Luis Henao 33
Gorka Izagirre 33
Alessandro De Marchi 40
Tiesj Benoot 28
Sepp Kuss 50
Thibaut Pinot 50
Ion Izagirre 50
Pierre Rolland 40
Ben King 66
Floris De Tier 66
George Bennett 66
Laurens De Plus 66
Stephen Cummings 66
Davide Formolo 66
Michal Kwiatkowski 66
Tao Gheoghegan Hart 80
Thomas De Gendt 40
Gianluca Brambilla 66
Tony Gallopin 80
Adam Yates 80
Daniel Moreno 80
Enric Mas Nicolau 80
Jack Haig 80
Nicolas Roche 50
Richard Carapaz 66
Steven Kruijswijk 80
Vincenzo Nibali 80
Merhawi Kudus 50
Bjorg Lambrecht 66
Sergio Pardilla 80
Emanuel Buchmann 100
Fabio Aru 100
Igor Anton 80
Hermann Pernsteiner 100
Dario Cataldo 50
Alexandre Geniez 100
Franco Pellizotti 125
Mark Padun 100
Davide Villella 80
Rudy Molard 125
Sander Armee 125
Louis Meintjes 150
Pello Bilbao 100
Jan Hirt 150
Valerio Conti 125
Luis Angel Mate 150
Jose Goncalves 150
Fabio Felline 200
Pavel Sivakov 250
David de la Cruz 200
Nick Schultz 200
Simon Clarke 250
Eduard Prades 300
Mikel Bizkarra 250
Dries Devenyns 300
Lluis Guillermo Mas Bonet 300
Lukas Postlberger 300
Pieter Serry 200
Rohan Dennis 300
Andrey Amador 400
Jai Hindley 300
Jhonatan Restrepo 400
Mikael Cherel 300
Maxime Monfort 400
Edward Ravasi 150
Ben Gastauer 400
Cristian Rodriguez 400
Nikita Stalnov 400
Jesus Herrada 400
Brent Bookwalter 400
Simon Geschke 150
Hubert Dupont 500
Ian Boswell 300
Jonathan Castroviejo 500
Leo Vincent 500
Nelson Oliveira 500
Pavel Kochetkov 400
Salvatore Puccio 400
Tiago Machado 500
Michael Storer 400
Andrey Zeits 400
Antonio Molina 600
Garikoitz Bravo 600
Jetse Bol 600
Jose Mendes 500
Nicola Conci 500
Victor Campenaerts 600
Jay McCarthy 600
Ivan Garcia Cortina 600
Amanuel Gebreigzabhier 600
Jose Herrada 750
Mikel Iturria 750
Stephane Rossetto 750
Alex Aranburu 750
Mathias Le Turnier 1000

neris

jesus to hold red for another day but maybe his last day in it b4 weekend

Daroxtar

La Vuelta starts today

EC1000

That last climb looks insane - 3km at 20%?

irishrover99

How is Quintana favorite for today.
Surely Yates should be going solely on form.

Inquitus

irishrover99 wrote: »

How is Quintana favorite for today.
Surely Yates should be going solely on form.

Yates got gapped a bit on the high altitude finish the other day, and Quintana and MAL seemed to be climbing very well, there's not much in it mind.

Big group trying to get away 30+ with Sky doing the chasing. No word on time or who is in there yet.

My money is on Kelderman today. I'm probably being a bit optimistic. Love to see Herrada hold on to the red jersey today.

32 in the break and Ben King is in there looking for a 3rd stage perhaps.

Herrada was off the front at one point but dropped back.

Itziger

Just looking at some of the classifications there, Jeez, Thomas de Gendt, 53 minutes down. No wonder he can get into breaks in the mountains. He's been free-wheeling for 10 days.

Galego

EC1000 wrote: »

That last climb looks insane - 3km at 20%?

It is hard but not that hard!!!!
I think it is "just" under 14% average.....it has a 1.5km at 17% in the middle.

buffalo

I haven't caught a lot of live coverage, so I've been skipping the ads so far this Vuelta. Home early today from work and saw that Bora ad - Sagan looks so super creepy, it'd put me off buying one!

Borderfox

Big break today going to be some real fireworks on the last climb and then the peleton will blow apart too

Fletcha weaving on this one, 24% I'd be rolling back down it

MPFGLB

One would think Zakarin ,Majka or Mollema from the break but who knows. Depends on who has saved the most energy as being in break differnt from being in peloton

From the peloton should be tiny Nairo against tiny MAL

fat bloke

Deleted User wrote: »

Fletcha weaving on this one, 24% I'd be rolling back down it

Honestly can't understand a word that lad says. He's got the weirdest combination of cadence, inflection and accent I've ever heard.

neris

Good finish only caught the last 6km but breast to see a wildcard win again

EC1000

It was like watching a slow bicycle race at times there.

Watching Izagirre sit up and wait on his brother was mad, weaving all over the place.

retalivity

the winner not even listed in the odds above, so at least 1000/1!

Boscoirl

the slowest last K i have ever seen

Inquitus

retalivity wrote: »

the winner not even listed in the odds above, so at least 1000/1!

Aye, even Maijka was shocked by it all!

“Actually I’m surprised by this guy because in the end, when he caught me with Teuns, I still had good legs, but this guy when he was coming, he was coming really fast,” Majka said as he warmed down. “This is cycling.”

velo.2010

No contract for next year, apparently.

Glancing at his stats, the only thing of note is that he won the mountain classification in the Tour of the Alps - looks like he got up the road in a break on the final day and scooped some points to overtake Pozzovivo, but still only 34th on the day and 76th overall.

Itziger

retalivity wrote: »

the winner not even listed in the odds above, so at least 1000/1!

So happy I put that tenner on him!!

retalivity

Inquitus wrote: »

Aye, even Maijka was shocked by it all!

The interview video is hilarious -

https://video.eurosport.co.uk/cycling/vuelta-a-espana/2018/rafal-majka-surprised-by-oscar-rodriguez_vid1121956/video.shtml

"Accch, that is cycling!"