The Vuelta a España gets back underway Tuesday with a stage that could be difficult to predict. And, yes, sadly without Tadej Pogačar. The world champion crashed out of the Vuelta on Saturday–his first time he’s ever had to abandon a Grand Tour, and Movistar’s Enric Mas inherited the leader’s jersey. He just underwent surgery for his busted clavicle–it went well, apparently, but there are all sorts of questions about his season. Will he be able to defend his rainbow jersey in less than a month? Seems… hard. But who knows.

Stage 10

Anyway, back to the guys that are still in the race.

There are almost 3,000 metres of climbing between Alcaraz and Elche de la Sierra, but none of the major climbs is steep enough to make this an obvious day for the overall contenders.

That could open the door for the breakaway, although Wout van Aert will have other ideas. The Team Visma – Lease a Bike rider starts the day in the green jersey with 124 points and could be interested in another haul from the intermediate and finishing sprints.

The climbing begins almost immediately, with the road rising towards Puerto de las Cruses before the riders tackle Puerto de Peralejo, which averages 4.3 per cent over 5.2 kilometres. A longer ascent towards Aýna follows before a twisting, constantly undulating section takes the race into the final 50 kilometres.

The Puerto de Socovos

The decisive climb is likely to be Puerto de Socovos. At 9.7 km long but averaging only 3.5 per cent, it is unlikely to cause major gaps among the favourites. The summit comes with 21.4 kmremaining, followed by a gradual descent and a final 1.7-km rise at 5.5 per cent.

The last 4.5 km are mostly false flat, making this a potentially tricky finish. A strong escape could stay away, while a punchy rider from the peloton may also fancy their chances.

Enric Mas remains in the red jersey after his impressive showing on Alto de Aitana, but this looks more like a day for the opportunists than the GC favourites. Still, without Pogi, we definitely have a ball game on our hands. Primož Roglič and Felix Gall are just over a minute behind, and that’s the sort of time that can evaporate on a climb if they are having a good day, or Mas having a bad one.

You can watch the action on FloBikes.com, and as always, Canadian Cycling Magazine will have a report after.