Vuelta a España stage 9 preview - How will Vingegaard and Visma tackle Valdezcaray?

The final stage before the first rest day sees a summit finish to Valdezcaray, which returns to the Vuelta for the first time since 2012.

Only this stage stands between Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) and reaching the first rest day as the race leader of the Vuelta a España. Will the Norwegian hold on?

Key Information: 

• Date: Sunday, 31 August
• Start: 12:20 (CET)
• Expected finish: 17:16 (CET)
• Stage type: Hilly. Uphill arrival
• Stage length: 195.5km
• Elevation gain: 3,311m

Stage 9 begins in the town of Alfaro, which makes its debut hosting a stage departure of the Vuelta.

Although there is only one categorised climb on stage 9, there is rolling terrain throughout and some uncategorised drags which contribute to the total 3,311 metres of elevation gain across the 195.5km en route to Valdezcaray. This is where the stage should ultimately be decided on the category 1 summit finish that will conclude the opening week of racing.

Valdezcaray hosted its first stage finish at the Vuelta in 1988, where Sean Kelly was the winner in an uphill sprint from a reduced group of riders. Following this, Valdezcaray featured as a stage finish for three consecutive years in individual time trials won by Pedro Delgado (1989), Jean-François Bernard (1990), and Fabio Enrique Parra (1991). 

Aussie veteran Simon Clarke was the last Vuelta stage winner in Valdezcaray, beating Tony Martin in a two-man sprint in 2012.

The climb has been categorised at 13.2km in length and with a relatively modest average gradient of 5% for a category 1 climb. However, like many other climbs in this Vuelta, that doesn’t tell the full story.

The start of the climb is the steepest with gradients quickly reaching between 7-10% inside the opening kilometre. Overall, the first 9km are the hardest, with the gradient mostly steeper than the 5% average for the entire climb

With 3.5km to go, the gradients ease off with a brief plateau before hovering between 2-5% until the flamme rouge.

The final kilometre of the climb is shallow with gradients between 1-3%, meaning that things could become tactical if it comes to a sprint for the stage win. 

Since sprinting to victory on stage 2 in Limone Piemonte, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) has been well established in the general classification, choosing to follow the wheels rather than throw haymakers of his own. 

With two tough weeks remaining, it seems the Dane is anticipating for the most difficult of stages to try and make the key difference. If the stage win is up for grabs here from the peloton, Vingegaard has already illustrated his supreme punch in an uphill finish once and would back himself to do so once more.

The Dane has looked composed throughout, and with the strong support from the American duo of Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike), sits in the shadows of the red jersey, waiting to strike... But will it be tomorrow?

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) have both shown their willingness to attack in the opening week of this Vuelta. Consequently, the duo are currently the closest challengers to the red jersey behind Jonas Vingegaard, and both will be looking to end a positive week one on a high. 

Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished five seconds ahead of the main GC group on stage 7 after a late attack. The Spaniard is always willing to attack and can never be ruled out of a stage win if UAE play the team card and the fellow GC riders remain conservative.

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) tried to follow the trio of Almeida, Ciccone and Vingegaard on the summit finish to Cerler on stage 8, which boded well. The Colombian champion looks to be growing into this Vuelta nicely and will be aiming to keep himself in the mix at the end of week one.

The Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe duo of Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari sit seventh and eighth respectively in GC and remain firmly in the GC picture, alongside Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla), and Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep).

Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) illustrated what he is capable of on the slopes of the Cerler climb on stage 8, holding his own tempo whilst Vingegaard, Ciccone and Almeida surged clear, only to return when the impetus dissipated ahead. Antonio Tiberi and Santiago Buitrago have lost time in the GC, but both are excellent climbers on their day, and it remains to be seen whether they will have a free role or be put to work for Træen.

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) illustrated that he is a rider not to let in a breakaway any time soon, after the 22-year-old delivered a dominant victory on stage 8 to Cerler and would be a tough man to beat if from a group of escapees. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was also influential in Ayuso's victory, a day after taking a win of his own, and the mountains classification leader can't be ruled out of further success.

Marco Frigo (Israel Premier Tech) and Raúl García Pierna finished 2nd and 3rd to Cerler behind Ayuso, and both will be hoping to go one and two steps better at this Vuelta, but both sit within 5 minutes of the race lead, so it depends on whether Bahrain-Victorious will allow them up the road and whether they have recovered from their efforts on Thursday.

Other riders to watch out for the breakaway include: David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Damien Howson (Q36.5), Wout Poels and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Chris Harper and Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla), Bruno Armirail and Johannes Staune-Mittet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Jefferson Cepeda and Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) and Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL), among others. 

Vuelta a España stage 9 favourites

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jonas Vingegaard

⭐️⭐️ Giulio Ciccone, João Almeida, Juan Ayuso, Jay Vine

⭐️ David Gaudu, Pablo Castrillo, Marco Frigo, Antonio Tiberi, Harold Tejada

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