Alicante and pro-pelotons, that’s a solid combination. Last year’s Vuelta finished at the nearby Balcón de Alicante (Michael Storer victory), while the Tour of Valencia finished in the town itself a couple of months earlier. Which was bingo for Arnaud Démare. Three year ago, both La Vuelta and the Tour of Valencia finshed in the town, resulting in victories for Sam Bennett and Matteo Trentin, respectively.
No sprinter will look forward to the action ahead when clipping into his pedals in sprint paradise Alicante. The 2rd stage of the Tour of Valencia is tailor made for climbers. The route travels over four intermediate passes before finishing on a climb with 3 kilometres of ‘camino de tierra’ – or, unpaved surface.
Following 55 kilometres on the flat the riders tackle the Coll de Rates (14.8 kilometres at 4.1%), which is followed by climbs to Fageca (4 kilometres at 3.7%) and Benifalim (11.3 kilometres at 4.4%) before the Puerto de Tibi (3.9 kilometres at 6,6%) will be the penultimate uphill test. The riders then decend towards the grande finale.
The finale follows the route of last year’s Vuelta stage to the Balcón de Alicante. With almost 10 kilometres remaining the riders move through the village of Tibi to continue to the foot of the Balcón de Alicante climb. In fact, the first 3 kilometres are the same, but then a righthander takes them onto 1.7 kilometres of dust road before the last kilometre is back on tarmac. The finish is located near ‘Las Antenas del Maigmó’.
The finish climb is 5.5 kilometres long and averages 10.2%.
Ride the route yourself? Download GPX stage 3.
Another interesting read: results 3rd stage 2022 Tour of Valencia.
Tour of Valencia 20222 stage 3: route, profile, tweets
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