After the shock of the abandonment of Pogacar, today the queen’s first stage of La Vuelta without the king
Still in shock after the fall and abandonment of Pogacar during the eighth stage, today it is the turn of the first truly decisive day of The Return. A 188-kilometer stage with up to six scoring mountain passes and more than 5,200 meters of accumulated elevation gain.
A stage in which it is most likely that you will ride very fast and in which there may be a battle from the first meter, since the first port (Tárbena, 2nd) It ends at kilometer point 36.
A day in which we will have to be attentive to the behavior of the peloton, especially what the staging of the strongest teams and the best classified riders will be, without the presence of Tadej Pogacar in the race.
The stage will be decided in the long climb to the last pass of the day, Alto de Aitana, 22 kilometers
A priori it could be expected that it would be the Felix Gall’s Decathlon team the one who will try to control the race, but without Pogacar this privilege and this responsibility would have to fall in the legs of Movistar Team and Enric Mas, without forgetting the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe by Primoz Roglic.
Without Pogacar, the top six are separated by just over two minutes, a slim margin when there are many stages ahead. Today is one of those days in which no one can hide and that can take its toll, even more so taking into account the outcome in the Alto de Aitana22 long and endless kilometers, at an average percentage of 5.8%, after which Enric Mas He will try to continue leading the general standings before the first day of rest, more deserved than ever.
