Stage 18: Trujillo – Alto de Piornal
Date: Thursday, September 8, 2022
Distance: 192km
Stage timing: 12:10-17:30 CET
Stage type: Mountain
The final week steadily intensifies with a double ascent of the Alto de Piornal at the end of stage 18.
The route continues to make its way up through the rugged terrain of Extremadura, heading through the characteristic town of Plasencia before taking in the day’s main difficulties. The Alto de la Desperá is the warm-up act, a short category-2 climb that nevertheless stings the legs at an average gradient of nearly 10%.
From there, it’s 30km to the foot of the Piornal, scaled first from its eastern flank before a looping descent to take on the western side, which acts as the eighth of the nine uphill finishes on the Vuelta route. Both sides of the hill are rated as category-1 ascents and remarkably, both are given the same length (13.5km) and average gradient (5%) in the official race road book.
Those aren’t statistics that will strike fear into anyone but this deep into a Grand Tour they do still open the door for a number of possibilities.
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