This ProSeries race takes place on the scorched by the sun plateaus around the city of Burgos in Castile.
This year, it doesn’t look like there will much space for sprinters on this punchy race, the GC of which goes to a climber. The first stage is the traditional hectic finish in Burgos (sprinters-punchers have a chance there together with punchers-climbers), and the last one the traditional mountain finish at the lakes of Neila.
The official website is very thorough, and the technical guide even more: for example, for stage #1, it contains over 100 photos of the various curves, crossings and even of the manholes covers and cracks in the road!! 👍 👍
Riders
This is Gaudu’s comeback to actual (?) competition. Since May, he’s only started the National Championship in June, and the San Sebastian classic on Saturday, for 2 DNF… Let’s see if he can put out this week something that justifies a bit of his salary…
There are quite a number of rather high profile contenders! F. Gall (🇦🇹 Decathlon), J. Vine (🇦🇺 UAE) if he can survive the usually stressing finishes of the first days without crashing, G. Ciccone (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek), Pellizzari (🇮🇹 Bora), M. Rondel (🇫🇷 Tudor).
As outsiders, P. Sivakov (🇷🇺🇫🇷 UAE) already won the race, A. Eulalio (🇵🇹 Bahrain) will try to find his crazy Giro legs, J. Nordhagen🇳🇴 and B. Tulett🇬🇧 will defend Visma’s chances, L. Bisiaux (🇫🇷 France) will supplement Gall, and M. Beloki (🇪🇸 EF) has just won the (much, much weaker) Tour de l’Ain.
Stages
Stage 1
165 km, D+ 1500m
The traditional punchy finish on the castle hill in Burgos, after the flattest stage.
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Stage 2
177 km, D+ 2300 m
A finish for long punchers on this murito.
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(yeah, I know, the less important climb got a larger picture 🙂)
Stage 3
183 km, D+ 3200 m
This stage and its almost-on-top-finish will very likely start sorting GC favourites. They won’t be able to hide on this difficult Puerto del Escudo (a new one on this race, but it was apparently ridden a few times on the Vuelta).
Stage 4
178 km, D+ 1900 m
Can sprinters make it through this one in a front group? Otherwise, it looks like a good chance for breakaways, between 2 mountain stages.
The ‘climbs’ are not terrible at all today:
Finnish profile: 
Stage 5 (last)
137 km, D+ 2900 m
The usual decisive finish on top.
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Stage 3
Sivakov (🇷🇺🇫🇷 UAE) and Tronchon (🇫🇷 Decathlon) were among the breakaway today (well, the Franco-Russian had jumped from the peloton later than the others, if I understood right). The Decathlon rider was dropped early, in the Estacas de Trueba, which marked the passage into Cantabria. As well as the fog. 🌫
The breakaway survivors were killed by the transition and its false flats.
In the almost-final climb, J. Vine (🇦🇺 UAE) lost control of his bike after touching / being touched by another rider. He didn’t actually crash on the ground, but still ‘collapsed’ on his bike and feet, and stopped. He couldn’t put his chain back in place, perhaps the derailleur was broken, and it took ages before he could change bike… with Sivakov who had been dropped by the peloton.
Meanwhile, at the front, things were getting faster, and their teammate Torres🇪🇸 attacked. The best ones chased. Onley (🇬🇧 Ineos) made another significant attack. Who was catching whom changed several times until the summit, it was interesting 👍 . I think (I ain’t sure) it was after Onley🇬🇧’s (second?) attack that Ciccone (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek) told Gall🇦🇹 he couldn’t follow any more; he wasn’t lying. The decisive attack was F. Gall (🇦🇹 Decathlon) dropping a cooked Onley🇬🇧. The Austrian maintained a small advantage in the 3 km after the summit over the chaser who had a little bit regrouped with a new configuration again.
The strong men today were, on top of the already quoted Gall🇦🇹, Cicconee🇮🇹 and Onley🇬🇧:
Gaps between those guys weren’t big in the end.
One may add J. Widar (🇧🇪 Lotto), even though he finished with the group behind.
J. Vine🇦🇺 was probably strong too: he finishes barely over 1 minute behind, after standing on the roadside a hell of a long time. Well, actually, he was standing on the middle of the road…
The race is still very open. Today’s gaps weren’t as big as I had perhaps expected it, and they counter-balanced the existing gaps created on the short and long punchy finished of the first 2 stages.
11 riders in 1 minute. Before and after, gaps are rather evenly spread. The current GC podium have the larger margin over their followers, and that’s only 20 seconds!
Tomorrow may turn to be a day off for GC leaders, whose fate will be decided on the traditional last stage.