- Start time: 11:55 CEST
- Finish time: 17:15 CEST
- How to watch stage 7 of the Vuelta a España
- Favourites to win the stage: Giulio Ciccone, Matteo Jorgenson, João Almeida, Jai Hindley
The Pyrenees continue to loom large for back-to-back mountaintop finishes in store at the Vuelta a España on stage 7. A 188.3km Friday showdown awaits with four categorised climbs, the 12.1km finale to the Cerler ski resort in the Spanish provence of Huseca.
The start in Andorra la Vella and the finish in Cerler have both hosted the Vuelta a España on multiple occasions, the capital of Andorra hosting the Grand Tour 11 times and Cerler making nine appearances, the first as a finish line in 1987.
From Andorra la Vella the peloton will ride only 8.3km to cross the border back into Spain. Another 7km later the 24.7km ascent to the category 1 opener to Port del Cantó begins. The gradient averages a modest 4.4%, but irregular gradients persist, touching 8% on the bottom third of the climb and then 7% before the final third.
A long descent leads to the valley where the Flamisell and Noguera Pallaresa rivers converge in La Pobla de Segur brings riders to the final 100km, with a pair of category 2 passes - Puerto de la Creu de Perves (5.7km at 6.3%) and Coll de l'Espina (7.1km at 5.5%).
From Castlejón de Sos at the base of l'Espina, the route takes a hard turn in the high Benasque Valley to complete the final 30km, all uphill, and the Cerler climb comprising the last 12.1km. The average gradient is 5.8% the tougher section in the first half.
Following a major mountain stage the day before, look for more GC gaps to form. Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) now leads the overall with a strong display of climbing on Thursday, but former race leader Jonas Vingegaard’s (Visma-Lease a Bike) is only four places behind at 2:33 back, which isn't much for these mountains.
Other climbing talents like João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) are just a handful of seconds further back and in striking distance to disrupt the GC standings.
Climbs
- Port del Cantó (cat.1) 37.9km
- Puerto de la Creu de Perves (cat.2) 107.7km
- Coll de l'Espina (cat.2) 141.5km - time bonus
- Cerler (cat.1) 188km
Sprints
- Benasque, km. 174
