PREVIEW | Vuelta a Andalucia 2024 - UAE and Bahrain battle for title in five hilly days

Preview. From the 14 to the 18 of February the peloton tackles the Vuelta a Andalucia. Last year Tadej Pogacar took the victory, the Spanish race hosts big names every single year with exciting racing.

The opening day of the race is incredibly tricky. 3700 meters of climbing, however this is not a day that features any big climb. The riders do go from sea level to 1500 meters of altitude slowly mid-stage, but come-down. It is in Cádiar that the stage ends with a downhill finale, however this comes after a 3.3-kilometer ascent at 7.6% that finishes with 2 kilometers to go.

The second day of racing has a tough start right outside Vélez-Málaga, with a few climbs. A 17-kilometer climb will open things up. Midway through the stage we'll have a key climb in the race which is 3 kilometers at 9.8%, which several explosive hilltops right after. The race may break apart here. There is still a long way to go to the finish however, and the hilltop finish into Alcaudete is 8.5 kilometers at 3.5% - not a serious climb, but differences can be made here certainly, and tactics can be crucial.

If there is a day that can end in a sprint, it is the third stage. 164 kilometers into Pozoblanco will have 2200 meters of climbing and has rolling roads all throughout the day. The final third of the stage is not overly hard however. A bunch sprint is certainly possible, however even on this day there is a drag to the line which may open things up.

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The fourth day of racing is another explosive one, this one into Lucena. The main feature of the day is the final circuit. The peloton takes in four laps of a circuit that has a 2.2-kilometer ascent at 6.8%. This ends with only 4 kilometers to go; from there on we've got a very fast non-technical downhill finish.

The race ends at La Línea de la Concepción. The finale is flat, the easiest of the entire race, but the day's first half is very hard. Right from the start we've got a 20-kilometer climb at 5% where the race may break apart completely. Following that, there is a plateau section, and three ascents (5.1Km at 5.1%; 3.6Km at 5% and 7.6Km at 5.9%) where the race may break apart finally. If not, it will be hard to make the differences later on, but it should make for an interesting stage.

Prediction Vuelta a Andalucia 2024 overall classification:

*** Tim Wellens, Santiago Buitrago
** Juan Ayuso, Marc Soler
* Rafal Majka, Damiano Caruso, Jack Haig, Wout Poels, Ruben Guerreiro, Alex Baudin, Felix Gall, Maxim van Gils

Pick: Tim Wellens

Preview written by Rúben Silva.