Date: Saturday 13 September
Distance: 166km
Start location: Robledo de Chavela
Finish location: Bola del Mundo
Start time: 13:00 CEST
Finish time: 17:17 CEST
Most of the time, the summit of Bola del Mundo is a quiet, remote location undisturbed by visitors. Situated in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, further up from the
Navacerrada Pass summit, there’s little sign of human habitation here save for a few
antennas, built here to broadcast television and radio to the surrounding areas. All that will change today, however, when swarms of spectators and the circus of the Vuelta a España will flock to its slopes for what will be the climatic showdown of this year’s race.
Not everyone is happy about the race coming here. Activists from a group called Ecologists in Action protested against it on the basis of the event’s damaging effect on the local eco-system lamenting that promises from the organisers to prevent waste and limit the amount of traffic were not kept from the last visit here in 2012. As fears about climate change intensify, and the many environmental problems of hosting bike races become more into focus, issues like this look set to become more and more of a talking point in the sport.
The remoteness of Bola del Mundo is part of what makes it such a uniquely difficult climb, that will challenge the riders in ways they haven’t been throughout the whole race. The road to the summit is a rough concrete track lasting 3km, rarely used and not designed with the comfort of those who travel up it in mind. And the gradients are horrendously steep, averaging over 12%, with ramps of up to 20%.
History suggests that whoever is in the red jersey will be put under serious pressure. When the Vuelta first visited Bola del Mundo 15 years ago, for the penultimate stage of the 2010 edition, Ezequiel Mosquera attacked and distanced overall leader Vincenzo Nibali, at one point gaining almost half of the 50 seconds he needed to take the red jersey from him. But Nibali dug in heroically, clawing him back in the final kilometre of the climb to seal overall victory. Two years later the red jersey was again dropped, this time with Alberto Contador wearing it, but he too managed to keep rival Joaquim Rodriguez on enough of a leash, limiting his losses to a non-fatal 44 seconds to defend his lead.
Once again, as it was on both those occasions, Bola del Mundo will be the final mountain
tackled of the penultimate stage of the Vuelta, and the stage is set for a dramatic climax to the GC race, made all the more epic by the mountains that come before it. The total
elevation gain of 4,226m is more than at any stage, starting with a succession of category three and two climbs during the first half, then intensifying with the first ascent of category one Puerto de Navacerrada. The riders will then tackle that same climb via a different, longer side, before taking on the final track to Bola del Mundo that could yet flip the race for the red jersey on its head.
Contenders
The red jersey battle between Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) comes down to this stage. After the individual time trial on Thursday, the Portuguese rider has the momentum over the race leader cutting Vingegaard's lead down by 10 seconds. However, Visma were canny and claimed four bonus seconds on Almeida at the intermediate sprint of stage 19, so the gap between the top two is 0:44.
The other podium contenders include Tom Pidcock, who is enjoying a GC resurgence at his new team Q36.5 Procycling Team. The Briton will be trying to hold of Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), who starts the day 0:39 behind, but will believe he has a good opportunity to leapfrog his rival. Hindley is part of a two-pronged GC challenge with his teammate Giulio Pellizzari showing impressive resolve to win his first professional race on top of the Alto de El Morredero.
The other GC challengers include Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Sepp Kuss (Visma), Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech).
Stage 20 is the last opportunity for UAE Team Emirates-XRG to usurp Vingegaard. If Juan Ayuso, Jay Vine, and Marc Soler ride for Almeida — which is not guaranteed to happen — they could feature late into the stage.
Likewise Matteo Jorgenson (Visma) alongwith Kuss will be important allies for the red jersey.
Other riders who could seize the opportunity from the breakaway include Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), stage 16 winner Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), Kevin Vermaerke (Team Picnic PostNL), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), or stage 16's second-place finisher Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step).
Prediction
We believe UAE Team Emirates-XRG will take the race to Visma and João Almeida will win the stage.
