Preview - Vuelta a Espana 2022 stage 7

The seventh stage of the Vuelta a Espana will be a very interesting day, with a very unusual profile which can see a very open day, where many riders can succeed and several scenarios can succeed. It will be a long day in the saddle, with a rolling first 65 kilometers which won’t be easy to control for anyone looking to have a sprint in the end

This is a hilly stage however with only one meaningful climb. One that is long and relatively steep, but normally not enough for the GC riders to be attacking. The Puerto de San Glorio is 19.5 kilometers long, with 5.8% in average gradient. It is no easy affair, if at the finish it could make differences. However it comes with 63.8 kilometers to go.

**** Mads Pedersen

*** Ethan Hayter, Jake Stewart

** Fred Wright, Kaden Grobes, Daryl Impey

* Robert Stannard, Nikias Arndt, Julian Alaphilippe, Sam Bennett

It will be interesting to see if the riders in the peloton will want to fight for the win, as differences can be made here both in front or at the back, but that would also see more complications to have a strong final 60 kilometers of the stage. The dynamics will be interesting, as there is no true descent after the climb, just a small downhill trend into Cistierna.

Before the intermediate sprint that comes with around 22 kilometers to go there will be a rolling section, but forward it’s a mostly flat affair. The finale in the small town will not be technical, it will cross the town however it doesn’t feature any major turns, with the final straight being 500 meters long.