Bilbao > Bilbao 158km I mentioned in my overall preview that I thought the opening 10 stages were shit and I think I was right, thank God the real racing starts now. We head to the Basque Country for a potentially epic stage, expect to see some of the main GC riders launching a few grenades.

Parque de la Naturaleza Sendaviva > El Ferial Larra Belagua 169km The second week of the Vuelta is where the shit’s going to hit the fan, it’s got several challenging stages and by Sunday the winner of the red jersey will likely be known. This finish was used in 2023, Remco Evenepoel won the from break by a huge margin and the GC group arrived together with 11 men in it. Will something similar happen this year?

Alfaro > Estación de Esquí de Valdezcaray 198km Another breakaway stage, that’s what happens when you use “soft” climbs at the end of the day. It’s great news for breakaway riders, but bad news if you like watching the GC men smash each other to pieces fighting for a win. It’s the day before the first rest day, usually that means GC riders are willing to go full, but this climb just isn’t hard enough.

Plouay > Plouay 262km There’s been a significant change to this year’s route, the central section of the race is totally different to last year. In terms of difficulty, the race now has 4800m of climbing, which is around 700m extra compared to previous editions. To put this into context, it’s got the most climbing of any one-day race this year, apart from the world championships road race. Looking at stage races, only three stages have more climbing than this, two from the Tour and one from the Giro, it really is a very hard day in the saddle. Any...

Monzón Templario > Zaragoza 164km The 3rd sprint stage of the opening week. Philipsen won the opening stage, Turner took the spoils on stage 4, who will be victorious in Zaragoza?

Andorra la Vella > Cerler 188km Two days in a row where the climbing starts almost from the gun, breakaway riders will be happy. Today, the win went the way of the breakaway, Jay Vine was first across the line and took the stage, Torstein Træen was 2nd and is now in the red jersey, what a moment for the Norwegian. There are just 3 stages in the race with over 4000m of climbing, this is one of them, so I’m hoping for a big day in terms of the GC, but I’m not sure it will be.

Olot > Pal 171km Andorra, here we come. Stage 6 and the race heads back into the mountains with a tough looking stage which finishes in Pal. Alberto Contador won a stage of Catalunya here back in 2011, there are lots of riders who would love to win on “home” roads, there’s going to be plenty of friends and family lining the roads on the final climb.

Figueres > Figueres 24km TTT A big day in the fight for the red jersey with a 24km team time trial. Any time riders can gain on their rivals could be very important come Madrid. 

Susa > Voiron 207km Well then, welcome back, David Gaudu. It was so good to see him win today, a reminder of just how good he can be. Stage 4 is longest stage of the race. The day starts in Italy and finishes in France, Wout Van Aert won a Dauphiné stage in Voiron back in 2019. On paper, it looks like a breakaway day, but with a long way to go after the final climb, there’s hope for the chasing peloton. It’s an early start for the riders, as they are jumping on a plane to Catalunya on Tuesday...

San Maurizio Canavese > Ceres 135km The final stage in Italy, just 135km which makes it the shortest stage in the race, apart from the processional stage in Madrid. After Vingegaard’s win today, he’s now in the race lead and it was a great way for him to start the race. Stage 3 shouldn’t be one for the GC riders, but it’s still going to be an interesting day.