PREVIEW | Vuelta a Asturias 2024 - Can Isaac Del Toro win his first stage-race as an elite rider?

From the 26th to 28th of April we've got the Vuelta a Asturias on the menu. It is a race frequently used by a few Giro d'Italia contenders, but regardless of their presence, the race always delivers in the mountains. We preview the race ahead.

As we read on CyclingUpToDate, the opening stage of the race features climbing from start to finish and is a very difficult challenge. From Oviedo to Pola de Lena the riders find steep and also some rather long ascents where differences can be made. The last of which is 8.3 kilometers long at almost 6% and only a steep downhill finish is left after it's summit.

Perhaps the day best suited to the sprinters or a breakaway, the second stage features 200 kilometers of racing. It features quite a bit of climbing, but the final 35 kilometers are pan-flat and it is expected that a group will battle it out in a sprint at the end of the day.

Perhaps the queen stage, the riders finally return to Oviedo in the final day of racing and although most of the day is flat, there is a very explosive finale. Two climbs, one of 3.1 kilometers at 9.3% and another of 1Km at 8.9% make the finally very explosive and opens up he possibility for decisive gaps to be opened.

Prediction Vuelta a Asturias 2024 overall classification:

*** Isaac Del Toro, Finn Fisher-Black
** Rafal Majka, Pelayo Sánchez
* António Morgado, Igor Arrieta, António Pedrero, José Manuel Díaz, Eric Fagúndez, Jorfan Jegat

Pick: Isaac Del Toro