Today the riders have to cover a stage of just over 200 kilometres, between Córdoba and Sierra de Cazorla. The caravan heads to the east over a hilly course, after a passage over the top of the Alto de Baeza, the riders will finish on Sierra de Cazorla (3rd category), a climb of 3.3 kilometres with a gradient of 6.3%. The temperatures in the south of Spain are about 40 degrees Celsius. 

“Unfortunately I lost 1’42” on the last climb on Tuesday because of a mechanical problem. A rider hit my rear wheel, which didn’t turn as it should afterwards. I decided not to wait for the team car because it was too far behind at the bottom of the climb," Maxime Monfort said. "It’s not easy to accept this setback, but we have to continue and the condition feels good.

"Today the heat will be an important factor again, we are in the hottest region of Europe. There is hardly any shadow along the way, the sun is burning the entire time, I drink about three water bottles an hour.

“It won’t be easy for escapees to survive, this stage is something for explosive riders like Rodríguez and Valverde. Tomorrow we will do a longer climb at the end, the first time this week we have a summit finish on a first category climb. I aim for a good GC and I might anticipate in one of the stages by joining a breakaway.”