Image 1 of 2
Stage 17: Sauveterre-de-Béarn to Larra-Belagua
Date: September 13
Distance: 124.5km
Stage type: Mountain
The rugged, verdant terrain of Asturias has long provided some of the Vuelta’s most indelible climbs, but few have made as pressing an impact on the psyche of the race as the fearsome Altu de l’Angliru, which first featured back in 1999, when the late José Maria Jimenez overcame the vertiginous slopes and the gloom to claim victory.
Gilberto Simoni, Roberto Heras and Alberto Contador have been among the winners over the years, while Hugh Carthy won on the race’s last visit in 2020. The 24% slopes will inevitably force a selection and even though the low speeds mean that the time gaps are not always as big as one might anticipate, the Angliru offers up drama like nowhere else.
The short stage 17 promises to be an explosive one, with three demanding climbs crammed into the final 56km of the day. First up is the Alto de la Colladiella, followed by the Alto del Cordal. After a short and sharp descent, the road climbs again – viciously – up the Angliru (12.4km at 9.8%). The statistics barely tell the story. The gradient stays steadily at 8% on the lower slopes before ramping solidly into double digits for the final 6km, with several pitches in excess of 20%. Officially, the Angliru is a special category climb. In reality, it’s in a category entirely of its own.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…