Vuelta a Andalucía 2022 – Overall Preview

By @EchelonsHub

We return to racing in Spain for the week, a packed calendar is always present early in the season and next up is the Vuelta a Andalucia, a regularly hilly and mountainous race which doesn’t escape the tradition this year.

The Route

Opening stage, looks relatively hard on map but if a breakaway doesn’t take it then it’s all to play in the final sharp hilltop finish in Iznájar, exactly the same as in 2020.

Stage two is perhaps the one where the biggest gaps are set to be made, at least when it comes to a sprint for the line. An hilltop finish at Alcalá La Real will set some differences as we see some gruesome gradients close to the finish line.

The third stage is perhaps the one where you may expect a sprint, however with the startlist we have here that isn’t so likely, it’s a breakaway day likely when looking at it.

A rather weird stage but an interesting one, starting off with the very complicated Alto del Purche. What happens from there on depends on what happens here, the gradients are very hard and there may be a raid. A day for a breakaway, a day that explodes from the start, an attack in the final kilometers and a sprint finish are all possible.

The final stage which should see some opportunities to make back some seconds in the sprint for the line in the small Andalucian town of Chiclana de Segura.

Weather for the Week

Sunny sky and high (for February) temperatures everyday likely, not a surprise why so many choose to come race in the Spanish mediterranean coast early in the season.

GC Contenders

In Andalucia we are in for a tough week. No sprinter section here, we dwell solely and straight into the climbers who are the riders licking their lips at the stages ahead. Many riders come here to get form thinking of the spring which must be taken into account. Even with no true mountain stage on the menu, the climbers will be the men to look at here.

In teams with multiple options we have a clear contender who has came over with a field of climbers looking to test their legs which is Bahrain, coming in with Mikel Landa, Damiano Caruso, Jack Haig and Wout Poels who are contenders realistically and can complement each other very well if the form is there, as the route is very prone to attacks. This is the advantage of some of these teams, they include for example Astana who come in with Miguel Angel Lopez and Alexey Lutsenko who have both looked very good these past few days, both on the attack at the Vuelta a Murcia and Jaen Paraiso Interior respectively. Then you have INEOS who come in with Tao Geoghegan Hart and Carlos Rodriguez who were already highlighted at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, and finally BORA – hansgrohe who have Emanuel Buchmann and the comeback kid Lennard Kamna who’s looked very good in the recent Jaen Paraiso Interior classic.

As for those who come in as sole team leaders, likely, they also have their cards to throw and they come as the likes of Simon Yates and Ivan Sosa for example, pure climbers who would benefit from a harder route, more punchy riders like Simon Clarke and Mikkel Honoré who can benefit from an easier race, decided in the explosive efforts. Honoré’s teammate Mauri Vansevenant is also a big card to consider, and Ben O’Connor is my last wildcard for the GC here in Spain.

Prediction Time

⭐⭐⭐Lutsenko, S.Yates

⭐⭐Landa, Haig, MA.Lopez, C.Rodriguez, Buchmann, S.Clarke

⭐Poels, Caruso, Hart, Kamna, Honoré, Vansevenant, O’Connor

It’s a very tough ask to predict this race. It’s made for puncheurs who can climb, but the field is stacked with climbers with no name popping out. I think we’ll have some great racing, the most logic name to suggest in my opinion is Alexey Lutsenko but in reality at least 10 riders can realistically win the general classification.

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