The Vuelta a España’s fourth summit finish on stage 7 on Friday is the first big opportunity for the sparks to fly amongst the general classification contenders in the race.
So far the Vuelta’s final climbs, at El Caminito del Rey, Vejer and Cazorla, have been too short to permit more than skirmishing and the differences between most of the big contenders have been measured in seconds rather than minutes. But the Alto de Capileira climb, coming at the end of a long stage with nearly 3,000 metres of vertical climbing, is another story altogether and is likely to see the first all-out offensives amongst the top names.
Rated first category, the Alto de Capileira has never featured before in the Vuelta’s history and is found in a part of Spain rarely visited by the race – the southern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range known as the Alpujarras. A popular tourist area and also home to a large number of non-Spaniards seeking ‘alternative’ lifestyles, the Alpujarras’ main broad valley is dotted with tiny whitewashed houses and villages that cling to impossibly steep-sided slopes. The townships are connected by narrow, perpetually switchbacking mountain roads that wriggle their way up along the Sierra Nevada’s southern flanks past vast patches of higo chumbos – a local wild fruit that looks like a cactus – and the odd herd of nimble footed mountain goats.
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Capileira’s key challenge is its length rather than its steepness. Nearly 19 kilometres long, with an average gradient of five per cent, it is a real grind of an ascent with 945 metres of vertical climbing on dusty, but well surfaced roads.
The first part of the 191 kilometre stage, due south from Jodar and through Granada to the foot of the climb, is undulating rather than overly difficult. Some descents, such as that after the third-category climb of Blancares at kilometre 87 – the only other classified climb of the day – are twisting and dangerous. But the most likely scenario is that the peloton will reach the foot of the Alto de Capileira with almost all the top riders present and ready to swing into action.
“It’s not a climb where we’ll see who’s going to win the Vuelta, but for sure we’ll find out who’s not going to win it,” Cannondale-Garmin’s sports director Johnny Weltz tells Cyclingnews.
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