The Vuelta a España peloton faces a daunting triple whammy of ultra-difficult ascents in Europe’s most southerly mountain range, the Sierra Nevada, on Sunday on a stage which Nicolas Roche (BMC) calls “the hardest of the entire race.”
Although the Angliru has some ultra-steep ramps and is widely rated as Spain’s most difficult single climb, the unusual format of the stage, with two first category and one Hors Categorie climbs crammed into the final 70 kilometres, all on different approach roads to the Sierra Nevada ski station, intensify what is already a very difficult stage.
On the plus side, all three ascents, the Alto de Hazallanas, the Alto del Purche (also known locally as the Alto de Monachil) and the final climb to Sierra Nevada are all very familiar to most of the bunch, partly because they form different segments of routes up to the ski station. Many of the riders in the Vuelta will have been altitude training in the Sierra Nevada resort, just below the finish, at some point during their careers, or may have been up the climbs in several different recent races.
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Hazallanas was most recently the scene of a spectacular victory through the snow in the 2014 Vuelta a Andalucia for Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) ahead of Chris Froome (Team Sky). Monachil/El Purche was on the Vuelta a Andalucia route this year and was the scene of a memorable battle between Contador and Alejandro Valverde, who went on to take the stage. Monachil/El Purche was also where Cadel Evans saw his best chance of winning the Vuelta go up in smoke in 2009 following a painfully slow bike change by the neutral service vehicle.
“We last did Hazallanas in the Vuelta in 2013, when [stage and overall winner] Chris Horner kicked our butts, and that climb is difficult enough” Nicolas Roche tells Cyclingnews.
“It’s a really, really hard stage overall. I did a recon of the whole stage in April when I was training at altitude in Sierra Nevada, and went up Hazallanas a few times, it’s brutal. It’s a pity it’s not the finishing climb because it’s an amazing ascent, and in 2014, in the Vuelta a Andalucia, and in 2013 in the Vuelta a España, where I think I got sixth, it’s always produced some great racing.
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