Profiles. From the 31st of January to the 4th of February Spain hosts another high-level race. Throughout these five days, the peloton will tackle the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana.
The five stages feature opportunities for the sprinters, climbers, classics specialists and virtually everything inbetween. The riders travel to southern Spain for the good weather, but also find good stages to test their early-season form quite nicely.
The opening stage of the race is a hilly one and features a finale in Castellón de la Plana. Three categorized climbs on the day and the most important one summits with 17.4 kilometers to go. It is 7.7 kilometers at 5.1% and will shed sprinters from the field. Furthermore it provides opportunities for attacks - as does the following descent.
The second day of racing does not look too different, however it will be more favourable towards the sprinters. The 162 kilometers have a hilltop close to the finale which is 5 kilometers at 4% - a similar ascent to the Poggio di Sanremo. The climb is not too hard, but it ends with less than 10 kilometers to go and then leads to a very technical descent that ends with only 2 kilometers to go.
Stage 3 of the Spanish race is finally one for the pure sprinters. The only opportunity. It is not a completely flat day, however the second half should be comfortable for all riders under normal circumstances. The arrival at Orihuela should see a regular bunch sprint.
A difficult day and perhaps the queen stage. Stage 4 ends at the Vall d'Ebo, a location very familiar to the pro peloton who has training camps around this area. 3600 meters of climbing, an ascent of 5.7 kilometers at 9.3% (with much tougher ramps) ends with 16 kilometers to go. There is no descent following, but instead rolling terrain. The riders do go down slightly but then find a hilltop finish of 1.9 kilometers at 7.4% which will create decisive differences if they weren't already beforehand.
In 2023 this stage proved to be an absolute success and the race organizers have brought it back. The 92-kilometer final day has a brutal first half that features a climb of 5 kilometers at 9.3%. The overall classification contenders should be on the attack here. The second half of the stage then has some downhill and is then pan-flat into Valencia, with interesting dynamics at play.
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