The route climbs from the start on the Coll de Sant Bartomeu, an ascent of 6.6 kilometres with an average gradient of 4.5%. After a short downhill halfway the last 3 kilometres go up at almost 7%. The route then descends to continue on virtual flat terrain.
The Coll d’Estenalles appears after 53 kilometres. Again, not the hardest ascent of La Vuelta – on the contrary. With 12.1 kilometres at 3.9% the length is the most testing part of the climb.
The rest of the route is not flat either, but the main focus after the Coll d’Estenalles will be the finale in Barcelona, which is still more than 100 kilometres away.
The riders enter Barcelona from Molins de Rei in the Llobregat valley and continue to L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. The finale will be on fire where the TTT of day one finished, the Avenida de la Reina Maria Cristina. Shortly the riders tackle the climb to the Montjuïc castle. Ramping up to 19%, the 2.5 kilometres ascent averages 4.6%, while the last 900 metres rise at 9.4% to the intermediate sprint for time bonuses – 3, 2 and 1 seconds.
The riders then fly down a 2 kilometres descent to the flamme rouge before the last kilometre goes up at 4%.
The finale is a replica of 2012, when La Vuelta last visited Barcelona. Philippe Gilbert took the win in a two-up sprint with Joaquim Rodríguez. The rest of the field finished some 10 seconds later.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while the intermediate sprint comes with 6, 4 and 4 seconds.
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Another interesting read: results 2nd stage 2023 Vuelta.
Vuelta a España 2023 stage 2: routes, profiles, more
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