Ubeda > Cazorla 159km A classic Vuelta stage, which is an easy day with a hard climb at the end. After Thursday’s crazy tactics, AG2R are in the red jersey, but after giving up so much time to Ben O’Connor, is this a day where some will try to test him? The break will hope the bunch take it easy and they can go for another win, we’ll have to wait and see how the GC group approach this one.

Archidona > Córdoba 180km Out of the frying pan, into the fire of Córdoba. After today’s incredible events, Ben O’Connor leads the race by almost 5 minutes. The big teams played poker, and they all lost, with AG2R running away with all the money. Stage 7 and it’s one which can end in a couple of different ways. The last time we were here, Magnus Cort won a reduced sprint, this is the scenario Van Aert would like to play out, but Alto del 14% will decide all that.

Jerez de la Frontera > Yunquera 186km Welcome to the first round of Vuelta breakaway bonanza. If the break doesn’t win, I’ll buy everyone a beer. Now, now, it wasn’t my fault that no one ended up taking me up on my last offer.

Fuente del Maestre > Sevilla 177km Roglič is in red, Wout is in green, Tiberi is in white, and it should be a day for the sprinters. The race heads to Seville, one of the hottest cities in Europe. After baking in today’s sunshine, the riders will have to endure another incredibly warm day, don’t expect the pace to be very high throughout the day.

Plasencia > Pico Villuercas 170km Goodbye sprints, hello climbs. It’s the first chance to see who’s not going to win the Vuelta, there’s always a couple of big names who go pop very early in this race. This is the first game of break versus peloton, who will win the round 1? For the GC riders to win, someone will need to chase, which of the big teams want to take the jersey early in the race?

Lousã > Castelo Branco 191km The second opportunity for the fast men, this looks like an easy day in the saddle for the peloton. There might be 2745m of climbing, but this is a day where the bunch will roll along, catch the break, and set up a sprint finish. 

Cascais > Ourem 194km After an exciting start to the race, day 2 sees the bunch head north, staying near to the coast for most of the day. 2795m of climbing isn’t easy, but with only four opportunities for a sprint, that’s what I think we’ll get, but teams need to be switched on in the opening kilometres as it’s quite lumpy. 

Le Grand-Bornand > Alpe d’Huez 150km The big day in the fight for the yellow jersey with ascents of Col du Glandon and Alpe d’Huez. After today’s breakaway win by Justine Ghekiere, she moves up into the top 10, and Vollering managed to take 4 seconds back on Niewiadoma. The Pole leads Pieterse by 27s, but all eyes are on Vollering who is 1:15 to yellow. A gap like that can easily be made up in this stage, last year, Vollering put 1:58 into Niewiadoma on the Tourmalet.

Lisboa > Oeiras 11.9km ITT The race begins with an ITT just outside Lisbon. Given the beautiful location, the organisers have done well to find an incredibly boring stretch of road for the TT, it’s basically on a dual carriageway, it looks very dull. 11.9km is long enough for relatively big gaps, GC riders need to be on it from the start.

Champagnole > Le Grand-Bornand 166km The first of two big mountain stages. The hardest climb of the day is the first one, Col de la Croix de la Sierra, but with almost 3000m of elevation gain, this is a very demanding day in the saddle.