Date: Sunday 31 August
Distance: 196km
Start location: Alfaro
Finish location: Valdezcaray
Start time: 12:20 CEST
Finish time: 17:16 CEST
The residents of Alfaro might not quite be so impressed by the sight of the peloton as those from other towns might be. Every year, they’re treated to the sight of a flock of storks who migrate here to nest in the San Miguel Collegiate Church. While they don’t, as popular mythology would have it, carry newborn humans in bundles with their beaks, their expansive wingspans in coordinated flight resembles a kind of airborne peloton.
The distance covered today doesn’t compare with the huge cross-continent migrations undertaken by that flock of birds each year, but, at just shy of 200km, it is one of the longest of this year’s race. From Alfaro the riders travel westwards to Valdezcaray, through the Rioja Oriental subdivision of the popular winemaking region of Rioja. Compared with the more continental climate to the north, here feels much more Mediterranean, with hot weather and little rainfall. The wines grown here are consequently made from the Garnacha grape that flourishes in such conditions, and makes for darker coloured, more alcoholic wines; and in terms of the racing, could make this a taxing, arduous day in the saddle if the sun is shining.
While the weather here could pose a challenge, the terrain less so, the road undulating throughout the day but featuring no categorised climb — at least, not until the finish. The stage will climax with an ascent to the Valdezcaray ski resort, a location that saw plenty of GC action and big name winners during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, including Pedro Delgado on a key day in his overall 1989 triumph.
But the climb isn’t quite as selective as its illustrious winners might suggest. It’s quite long, lasting 13.2km, but only averages 5%, and never ramps up to anything especially steep. Delgado’s win came, as most others here did, in a mountain time trial; when it’s been raced at the end of a road stage, there haven’t been gaps between the favourites. Sean Kelly won from a group sprint in 1988, and, in a 2020 interview with Cycling Weekly reflecting on his overall victory that year, described it as “a power man’s climb. It’s not a steep one, and then in the final, it does ease off…it flattens out to the finish.” And the same was the case when the Vuelta a España returned in 2012, when 23 riders finished together in the GC group behind a breakaway from which Simon Clarke was victorious.
Contenders
Stage nine could be day for a battle amongst the overall contenders, with the summit finish perfectly suited to explosive climbers. Overall favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) may look to stamp his authority on the race here, using the punchy gradients to gain time ahead of the first rest day. His rivals will be watching closely — particularly the UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader João Almeida and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), who are riding with confidence and are well-suited to this terrain.
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Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), another punchy climber, will relish this finale. Watch for potential ambushes from riders like Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) — all of whom have the punch to attack if the big names start looking at each other too much.
Vingegaard's teammates Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss are also likely to be up there if the peloton takes the stage win. Likewise Jay Vine and Juan Ayuso of UAE have already won mountain stages at the race.
Should a breakaway survive, it’s likely to include stage-hunting specialists like Carlos Verona and Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar Team), and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team) — all capable of holding off a charging peloton on a tricky finale like this.
Prediction
We think Giulio Ciccone will win the stage from the peloton
