Just a day after snagging the dub on Thursday in the TT at La Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, Swiss ace Stefan K\u00fcng is out of the Spanish Grand Tour.<\/p>\n
K\u00fcng ended his Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a after 18 stages, choosing to save his legs for the rest of his season.<\/p>\n
Stage 19 of La Vuelta<\/p>\n
The Tudor rider delivered a big result on Thursday, winning the individual time trial, but was absent from the start line for Friday\u2019s Stage 19. It\u2019s probs a good choice to skip Stage 19, because just like Saturday, it\u2019s a leg-breaker.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s race goes from V\u00e9lez-M\u00e1laga to Pe\u00f1as Blancas above Estepona, with 205.1 km of climbing before the summit finish. Enric Mas starts with a decent lead over Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d, but the Slovenian will be looking to chip away. The final climb averages 6.7 per cent, with brutal early gradients.<\/p>\n
Stage 20 is also brutal, with a particularly nasty summit finish \u2014 8.4 km which averages almost 10 per cent.<\/p>\n
K\u00fcng\u2019s next major target is the world championships in Montreal, where the Swiss rider will try and finally get his rainbow jersey in the ITT. He\u2019s won before in the relay, but that\u2019s a jersey you can only wear to the coffeeshop. The 32-year-old has been agonizingly close \u2014 in 2022, he was just three seconds behind.<\/p>\n
Speaking of Montreal, the pros that aren\u2019t at the Vuelta are racing here in Canada on Friday and Sunday.<\/p>\n
Today, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec goes down, and Sunday, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al. Canadian Cycling Magazine is on the scene and churning out all sorts of content for you<\/a>! Check out our site and our Instagram<\/a>. Plus, a week later everybody is coming for the worlds in Montreal. Juniors men and women, under-23 men and women, and elite men and women. It\u2019s going to be an awesome week of racing.<\/p>\n