PREVIEW | Vuelta a Andalucia 2025 stage 1 - Can climbers like Mas and Quintana disrupt ambitions of classics riders on the opening day?

From the 19th to the 23rd of February we have one of the most important Spanish stage-races of the season. This will be the Vuelta a Andalucia, taking place in a warm part of the country, always with a mix of explosive stages that traditionally attract the climbers and classics riders a lot. We preview stage 1.

The first stage of the race is a very threatening one. With no race leader, the uphill start will be hard to control and for a day without clear contenders, chaos can quickly settle. There are climbs of different distances and gradientns, but the final half presents three that are difficult. 6.7Km at 7.2% with 62Km to go; 1.9Km at 8.1% with 41Km to go; and 3.3Km at 7.1% with 20Km to go.

Between them all, barely a meter of flat road, it's always uphill or downhill and it's simply very hard to have an organized chase. Even if anything comes together, we will still have an uphill sprint in Cueva de Nerja at 6%.

*** Tim Wellens, Tom Pidcock, Maxim van Gils
** Pavel Sivakov, Jordan Labrosse, Enric Mas, Ruben Guerreiro
* Igor Arrieta, Marc Soler, Clément Berthet, Nairo Quintana, Alan Hatherly, Paul Double, Omar Fraile, Axel Laurance, Damien Howson, Steff Cras, Tobias Johannessen

Pick: Macim van Gils

How: Small group sprint.