In stage 3 of La Vuelta the peloton has an easy start with 100km rather flat roads. But closer to the finish, the course gets harder. With only 58 km to go the riders still have to overcome three mountains. The finish of the day is located on the top of the last one called El Mirador de Ézaro. This climb is only 1.8km long, but has a gradient 13.8% and a maximum percentage of 29%!
Sander Armée (Lotto Soudal) gives a preview.
"I'm happy to be in the Vuelta because Grand Tours have been pretty good to me so far. I already noticed that I can survive three weeks of cycling without having too many bad days. In the second or third week I am still able to help our leaders in the mountains. I'm not someone to keep Tosh Van der Sande in the right position for the sprint, but in the mountains I can follow a while and help the best climbers of the team.
"I expect that the favourites will be the ones to animate the finale and the last climb. The favourites for the GC will want to win on this steep climb and already make some time difference. On the climbs before the finale I think that a lot of people will be dropped and it will only be a slim peloton that reaches the foot of the last climb. The climbs aren't very hard, but hard enough to make a difference.
"For the team it's important that Bart De Clercq and Maxime Monfort are in a good position and need to help them where we can. They may not be specialists in short steep climbs, but they are in good shape and have to make sure that they don't lose too much time. So if we get them to start the last climb at the front of the group, it's 'easier' for them to finish closer to the favourites and then they won't risk of losing too much time."
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