Vuelta a España stage 14 preview - More major mountains in Asturias

Key Information

• Date: Saturday 6, September
• Start: 13:30 (CET)
• Expected Finish: 17:13 (CET)
• Stage type: Mountain
• Stage length: 135.9km
• Elevation gain: 3,805m

Stage 14 begins in Aviles and the opening 60km consists of rolling terrain, until the foot of the category 3, L’Alto Tenebreo, which is 5.8km at 6.5%.

It’s the shortest climb of the day, and based on his performances so far, Mads Pedersen may feature in the breakaway to extend his points classification lead at the intermediate sprint in Entragu with 46km remaining.

The tide of the stage will change here, however, as the riders quickly begin the first of two category 1 climbs. The Puerto de San Llaurienzu is the shorter of the two climbs at 10.1km, but it is steep, averaging 8.5%. It’s a gradual start, which skews the average gradient, because a majority of the second half is above 10%.

La Farrapona returns to the Vuelta as a stage finish for the fourth time. Rein Taaramäe claimed the stage honours on the first visit in 2011. Alberto Contador landed a knockout performance in the Red Jersey over Chris Froome in 2014, whilst David Gaudu ousted Marc Soler from the breakaway in 2020, the last appearance.

The climb is more gradual than the San Llaurienzu, with a steady start before a difficult section, a third in, which reaches 12%. Following this, the climb plateaus for a while before the consistent second half, where the gradient ranges between 7-10% until the summit, where the stage will be decided.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) may not have been on his best day as he indicated post-race on stage 13, but he still remains in control of this bike race, his front wheel glued to the back of Almeida’s on the brutal gradients, and refusing to let go. The trend of the red jersey not winning on the Angliru may have also continued, but Vingegaard and Visma would have taken today’s result, considering the Dane explained he didn’t feel at his best. Could stage 14 present an opportunity to make the statement most were expecting on the Angliru?

A big positive for Vingegaard is the performance of former Vuelta winner Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike), who ended fourth on the stage and looks at his excellent best, which, as we’ve seen many times in the past, is a major boost for whoever is the GC leader at Visma | Lease a Bike. As a result of his performance, Kuss has moved up to 10th in the GC, whilst Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) also remains an important rider, with a solid performance on Friday, and sitting one place back in 11th overall.

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) claimed his first-ever Vuelta stage and demonstrated that he is up for the fight for red. The relentlessness of Almeida was a sight to behold, riding the majority of the Angliru on the front, and nobody, even Vingegaard, was able to attack the Portuguese rider. This will have given Almeida big confidence that he could be the rider to find a crack in the armour of the seemingly infallible Vingegaard. As Almeida showed, his ability to find a rhythm better than most is a big asset, and that will serve him well when he tries to put Vingegaard under pressure once more, which could come on Saturday now only 46 seconds behind the Dane.

Stage 13 was a major test of Tom Pidcock's (Q36.5) fortitude as a GC racer at this Vuelta, and finishing Friday still on the podium, having only lost over one minute on the stage to the top 2, is, as he described himself, a pretty good outcome. It was a performance of grit and determination that saw Pidcock finish 7th on the stage, and remain on the third step of the podium. Pidcock may be more comfortable on stage 14’s finish, but as is the case with most at this stage of a Grand Tour, a key factor will be how well he has recovered after the brutal effort of Friday. 

Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) had been teasing a performance of high class at the start of the second week with positive signs, and the former Giro winner delivered an excellent performance on Friday. 3rd on the stage, and up to 4th in the GC, the Australian will have his eyes firmly set on Pidcock's podium place, and will aim to take more time on the Brit on another stage that suits him. 

Additionally, Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), who leads the youth classification, also had a great day in Asturias and remains in the hunt for the general classification podium. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe have a big advantage of multiple cards to play in the battle for the podium, and that could be a significant factor over the coming days, including on Saturday.

Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was at home on the brutal gradients of the Angliru, and the Austrian performed well as expected, just within a minute of the stage winner in 5th. Gall occupies the same position in the GC and may look to go long range in Saturday’s finale, similarly to his performances at the Tour de France in July.

Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) proved he is made to climb, and is continuing a breakthrough Vuelta. The 23-year-old American jumped into the top 10 overall, sitting 7th, and with another tough mountain stage tomorrow, will try to make hay while the sun shines.

Giulio Ciccone's (Lidl-Trek) chances of a podium finish are fading, as is his red-hot form from August, although the Italian still performed well on stage 13 and sits in 8th overall, still on track for his first-ever Grand Tour top 10. At 4:54, is he far enough back yet to be a bit more aggressive and granted a bit of freedom by the likes of Vingegaard and Almeida? It remains to be seen, but Ciccone is still chugging along nicely.

Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) still remains in the top 10 after a strong performance, whilst Egan Bernal’s (Ineos Grenadiers) podium ambitions look to have evaporated. The silver lining could be more freedom to attack, now 12th at 8:01, but that’s if the Colombian champion can find the resources to do so. Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep) remains under the radar, still within 10 minutes behind the Red Jersey, in 13th overall.

After a big battle between the GC contenders on the Angliru, there will be hope among the stage hunters that the breakaway will be afforded the opportunity to build up a big enough advantage in the early portion of the day to take the stage win.

If the GC teams are content to let the stage win go, and conserve energy for the finale, there will be riders who 'saved' themselves on Friday's brutal stage 13, as much as is physically and mentally possible on a brutal route of that nature. 

It may be repetitive to say, but UAE Team Emirates-XRG are the favourites for such a scenario, with Jay Vine and Juan Ayuso taking two wins apiece. Of course, Almeida showed he is in exceptional shape and is giving the fight to Vingegaard, and could do with the support perhaps, but we have seen that this isn't necessarily the way that UAE always operate, and some will argue that it has worked well so far, with six stage wins out of thirteen stages.

UAE have won on all three occasions that Vine has entered the day's main breakaway, and with his last expedition on stage 10, there's a good chance the Aussie will have earmarked this as another possible target. The same can be said for the enigmatic Ayuso, who is also at a 100% success rate from breakaways, so if either is in tomorrow's main move, the odds will be in their favour.

Other riders to watch out for include: David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Santiago Buitrago and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), Javier Romo and Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Lorenzo Fortunato, Harold Tejada, and Wout Poels (XDS Astana), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL), and Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost).

Vuelta a España stage 14 favourites 

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jonas Vingegaard
⭐️⭐️ João Almieda, Jai Hindley, Juan Ayuso, Jay Vine
⭐️ Felix Gall, Tom Pidcock, Giulio Pellizzari, Matthew Riccitello, Javier Romo, Santiago Buitrago, David Gaudu, Mikel Landa, Lorenzo Fortunato

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