Preview - Vuelta a Espana 2022 stage 16

Stage 16 is a tricky day at the Vuelta a Espana, with one of it’s flattest stages in it’s grand majority, and a stinging finale that will not be to the liking of many. It will be the first day of the final week which will kick off quite explosively.

The start in Sanlucar de Barrameda is rather flat, one of the easiest starts of the race actually, and throughout the first 175 kilometers there will be little to note, with all the action set to be packed in the finale into Tomares, on the outskirts of Sevilla. Inside the final 15 kilometers there will be a sharp hilltop, but it’s expected to see the fireworks go off only later.

It is a very hard finale to manage and one which should be very open. A little pitch of 600 meters at 8% will have it’s finale with only just over a kilometers to go, which will then lead to a short string of technical streets the riders will have to navigate into the final ramp.

The uphill drag to the line in Tomares will not be gruesome, however the riders will enter it already near or in the red. The gradients will pitch up to 4% at the line, on what will be a difficult urban circuit.

CyclingUpToDate prediction:
**** Mads Pedersen
*** Bryan Coquard, Pascal Ackermann
** Fred Wright, Danny van Poppel, Kaden Groves
* Quentin Pacher, Mike Teunissen, Daryl Impey, Alejandro Valverde