La Vuelta Ciclista a Espana 2024 – Stage 4 Preview

Mountains. Is it give-away-the-jersey stage? The first mountain top finish often is.

Route

Hilly start and a hellish finish. Pico Villuercas is extremely difficult.

Starting and finishing in Spain. A journey south east.

Climbs

The opening climbs are not the hardest in the World. Nonetheless, this is where the breakaway forms.

Finale

I just want to mention the surface, it does look horrid. VeloViewer is also finding it difficult to tell the surface after the steep part, I’m not certain it is tarmac.

The most irregular climb in the World. Everything from 0%-18%. With 3000m at 12.7%, I do expect attacks. The steep segment is around 13-14 minutes for the best (Bardet, Kuss, Vine in 2021).

Weather

Warm, sunny and a tailwind.

Contenders

Primoz Roglic – usually, he is a stage hunter. If I do recall correctly, he just rarely takes the jersey on the first couple of stages unless there is a time trial. This has of course been with his former team, I’d argue the new one may look at things differently. On a muro such as this, we all know his low cadence technique is one of the best in the world. He has such a fantastic seated power.

Sepp Kuss – he goes well on double-digits. He recently won on Lagunas de Neila in Vuelta a Burgos, which in some ways can be compared to the climb today. We’ve seen Kuss do well on climbs such as Angrilu too. I’d think he goes well today.

Adam Yates – if memory serves me well, then he is the best option (with McNulty likely) today. A. Yates is very good on double digits, one of the best in the World.

Joao Almeida – another rider who has won on Lagunas de Neila. I just doubt he will go to well today. He is a diesel.

Mattias Skjelmose – it should be one of those days where he maybe can hold on to the GC favorites. Mattias has proven a few times that he is an excellent puncheur.

Mikel Landa – It is a good climb for Landa. It will be very difficult to drop him, but we all know he rarely wins because of his poor sprint.

Michael Woods – breakaway hope #1

Lennart van Eetvelt – breakaway hope #2

Florian Lipowitz – breakaway hope #3

Max Poole – breakaway hope #4

Who will win?

A breakaway win for Michael Woods.