Vuelta 2018 Favourites stage 10: Fast finishers showdown

The Vuelta a España's 10th stage runs mostly on the flat to Bermillo de Sayago, close to the Spain-Portugal border. A canyon is the the biggest obstacle in the route. Expect the race to come down to a bunch sprint. (Slideshow route/profile)

Following a race on even to gently undulating ground the riders reach the bottom of the canyon with around 30 kilometres remaining. To climb out of it they face 4.9 kilometres with an average gradient of 5.3% and then 7 kilometres at 2.2%. These are the only uphills on the route from Salamanca to Bermillo de Sayago. For the rest, the course is all day hovering around an altitude of 800 metres.

Yes, the 10th stage offers a red carpet race for the sprinters.

Elia Viviani won the first sprint of this Vuelta in the 3rd stage. Following a race with some 2,500 vertical metres, the Italian Champion outgunned Giacomo Nizzolo and Peter Sagan. In the 6th stage Nacer Bouhanni outgunned Danny van Poppel and Elia Viviani.

Favourites 10th stage 2018 Vuelta a España

*** Peter Sagan, Elia Viviani, Matteo Trentin
** Danny van Poppel, Nacer Bouhanni, Giacomo Nizzolo, Simone Consonni
* Ryan Gibbons, Tosh Van der Sande, Max Walscheid, Michael Schwarzmann