And so it begins. The 2018 Vuelta a Espana’s main GC mountains battle gets underway with a vengeance on Friday, with three successive summit finishes over the weekend, starting with the ultra-steep Camperona, continuing with the almost equally hard and unprecedented Praeres on Saturday, and finishing on Sunday with one of its most emblematic ascents, the Lagos de Covadonga.
In two recent editions, the Vuelta has combined the Camperona and Covadonga in quick succession: in 2014 Ryder Hesejdaal took his last pro win on the Camperona, and Poland’s Przemeslav Niemiec (UAE Team Emirates) took his greatest victory to date on the Lagos the next day.
In 2016, Sergey Lagutin (Gazprom-Rusvelo) ground his way up to another career-defining win on the Camperona, and then, after a much easier uphill stage to the Alto de Naranco [won by Team Sky's David De La Cruz - ed.], 24 hours later a certain Nairo Quintana (Movistar) won on the Lagos de Covadonga ahead of Sky's Chris Froome. Two weeks later, the overall Vuelta win was taken by the Colombian, too, all of which just confirms how big a role the Lagos de Covadonga traditionally plays year after year in the Vuelta a España.
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This time the trilogy of climbing stages in the back end of the Vuelta's second week looks to be even harder than in 2016, given that sandwiched between the Camperona and the Covadonga is a new ascent – the summit finish of Praeres. Just 4km long and situated in the bucolic pasturelands and valleys of Asturias, Praeres has been dubbed the 'mini Angliru' by no less a climbing legend than Pedro Delgado. The Vuelta peloton cannot say, then, that they have not been warned.
Ryder Hesjedal climbs La Camperona in 2014 (Bettini Photo)
La Camperona
First off, though, is La Camperona. One of the mountains that marks the northern edge of the plateau of Castille could not be more different in terms of terrain to both Praeres and Covadonga. At 8.3km, and towering above the former mining town of Sabero, La Camperona is little more than a narrow strip of tarmac winding its way up to the top of a high, bleak mountain pass, where a few hundred metres after the finish, it stops – a true road to nowhere.
Praeres
Lagos de Covadonga
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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/vuelta-a-espanas-triple-whammy-summit-finishes-could-decide-gc-preview
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