La Vuelta never visited Tarancón before. The town with a population of 15,000 inhabitants lies 100 kilometres southeast of Madrid, so in Central Spain.
The route runs in southeasterly direction and moves through Belmonte – famous for its Castle – and the small industrial town of La Roda. No mountains, but long and straight and exposed roads through the sunbaked Spanish interior on the way to Albacete.
Albacete and La Vuelta share a long history. The race started and finished 21 times in the largest city of Castilla–La Mancha. The last time was in 2014, when Nacer Bouhanni outsprinted Michael Matthews and Peter Sagan.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while there are 3, 2 and 1 seconds available at the intermediate sprint.
Another interesting read: results 5th stage.
Vuelta a España 2021 stage 5: route, profiles, more
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