Vuelta 2023 Favourites stage 17: Ouch, El Angliru!

foto: Cor VosEl Angliru is a mythical climb and it serves as the finale of a, hopefully, legendary stage. Following two intermediate climbs the riders tackle the Angliru in a race of merely 124.4 kilometres. It's going to hurt, that's for sure. (Slideshow route/profile)

So it is a relatively short race and since the first half is (false) flat, virtually all climbing is crammed together inside 60 kilometres. The Alto Colladiela (7.8 kilometres at 7.1%) is a relatively gentle way to stretch the legs before the Alto de Cordal (5.4 kilometres at 9.4%) gives a first taste of what its all about. The Cordal is a miniature version of the Angliru, half as long but at times almost just as steep.

Of course the race comes down to the Alto El Angliru and to the last 7 kilometres in particular. Steep, steeper, steepest. Riders almost come to a standstill and attacking is virtually impossible with ramps up to 23.5%. In fact, it’s the other way around. Only the strongest climbers survive, while others are elimated one by one. If there ever was a knockout climb, it must be El Angliru.

La Vuelta last visited the Asturian mountain three years ago. Enric Mas, Richard Carapaz and Hugh Carthy were the last men standing inside the final 2 kilometres. The Briton made the decisive move. He distanced his rivals before the Angliru treated him, the ultimate survivor, to the welcoming shallow downhill to the line in the last 400 metres.

Favourites 17th stage 2023 Vuelta a España

*** Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss, Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel
** Wout Poels, Romain Bardet, Santiago Buitrago, Juan Pedro López
* Lennert Van Eetvelt, Michael Storer, Hugh Carthy, Lenny Martinez, Jan Hirt

Another interesting read: route 17th stage 2023 Vuelta.