Vuelta 2019 Route stage 5: L’Eliana

Vuelta 2019 Route stage 5: L’Eliana – Javalambre

Wednesday 28 August - The 5th stage sees the Vuelta a España dive inland to the remote region of Teruel. The summit finish near the Javalambre Observatory is even more remote. Starting in L’Eliana, the route amounts to 170.7 kilometres.

The 5th stage is vintage Vuelta. A number of minor intermediate climbs before the action boils down to a beast of a final climb.

The riders click into their pedals in L’Eliana. Basically, the road goes uphill once the flag is dropped, but at shallow gradients. The riders reach the summit of the Puerto de Alcublas at kilometre 31.7, which is a classified climb of 5.9 kilometres at 4.7%. The Alcublas lies at an elevation of 750 metres and the route continues to climb gradually to over 900 metres above sea level.

The rest of the day goes either up or down, although the slopes are gentle. The Alto Fuente de Rubielos stands out a little with its 5.7% gradient. The 4.8 kilometres ascent is crested with 72 kilometres remaining.

The best is saved for last and it is called the Pico del Buitre, or Peak of the Vulture. The final climb appears 11.1 kilometres before the finish line, while the average gradient sits at 7.8%. Which is really a biased statistic, as the first 3 kilometres go up at approximately 4% and the fifth kilometre even features a short downhill. Most of the ascent is double digit material.

The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while the intermediate sprint (at kilometre 135) comes with 3, 2 and 1 seconds.

Another interesting read: results/race report 5th stage 2019 Vuelta a España.