Stage 20: Moralzarzal – Puerto de Navacerrada
Date: Saturday, September 10, 2022
Distance: 181km
Stage timing: 12:45-17:30 CET
Stage type: Mountain
This is a stage where the climbs just keep coming and if there are any chances to be taken, it is now or never. It’s the final day in the mountains before the race reaches a celebratory stage in Madrid, so the time for holding anything in reserve is over. What’s more the Sierra’s of Madrid have a history of surprise rewrites of the GC script, from Isidro Nozal’s loss of the Vuelta to Roberto Heras in 2003, to Robert Millar being overwhelmed by the ‘Spanish Armada’ in 1985 and Fabio Aru’s 2015 attack to snatch the lead from Tom Dumoulin on the second last day.
The 181km stage from Moralzarzal packs in three category one climbs and two category two ascents as well for good measure, taking the vertical ascent total to 3,843m. The day of climbing, which began pretty much from the start line with a slow rise to the north, truly kicks into gear on the Puerto de Navacerrada. The climb at 34km into the stage delivers an average gradient of 6.8% over 10.3km, with a maximum gradient of 13% just a little over the halfway mark. It’s bound to put the pressure on early but the descent and slight reprieve as the course loops back to the south toward the category two Puerto de Navafria at 92.8km may allow some to regroup.
However once the Puerto de Canencia, also a category two, makes its presence felt at 126.8km the dwindling kilometre count and quick succession of climbs is likely to keep the pressure explosively high. The second of the category one climbs, the Puerto de la Morcuera at 143.7km, eases in to a gradient of 6.9% over 9.4km and once that is over it is almost straight into the final climb of the day, and indeed the race. The Puerto de Cotos – 10.3km at 6.9% – tops out just seven kilometres from the finish of this crucial stage to deliver a relatively flat run in to the line.
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