Eusebio Unzue has echoed Joaquim Rodriguez’s statement about the Vuelta stage in Andorra, describing it as the toughest stage of any Grand Tour that he has ever seen.
"Firstly there’s six classified climbs, and that adds up to 5,200 metres of climbing. That’s a lot more than in most of the major Alpine or Pyrenean stages of the Tour or Giro, which tend to come to 4,500 metres at most,” Unzue told Cyclingnews. “But it’s the shortness, too, of the stage, 138 kilometres, which will make it really hard. There’s no time to recover between the climbs at all. There’s not a single metre of flat, it’s constantly going up and down, all day long. 65 to 70 kilometres of climbing. It’s so hard, in fact, it could well decide the Vuelta overall.”
In fact, Unzue says this stage can single handedly decide the Vuelta, which he says no other stage can do unless mechanicals hamper a rider.
“It could sink any of the favourites. In recent years we’ve always had the big mountain stage right at the end of the race. The earlier stages have been very tactical, just a few seconds lost here and there. This time round it’s very different, this stage, in the middle of the Vuelta, is so demanding.”
He confirmed that both Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana would be at the start line of the race, provided all goes well. Like in 2014, they will co-lead the team.
Like in 2014, the weather looks like it could affect the Vuelta. Unzue says the extreme heat could make an already tough route very difficult indeed.
“The Vuelta, which is hard anyway, will become even more difficult if there’s the usual blazing heat you get in Andalusia. On top of that, we then come up the Mediterranean coastline as far as Castellon, so the hot weather could stay with us all the way through the first half of the race. Riders could be really tired, then, by the time they get to Andorra.”
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