2018 Vuelta a Andalucía
Male Team 14 - 18 Feb

Vuelta a Andalucía

711 Kilometers 5 Stages
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Participants list

  1. Andrey Amador
  2. Jorge Arcas
  3. Carlos Barbero
  4. Héctor Carretero
  5. Imanol Erviti
  6. Mikel Landa
  7. Marc Soler
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TV

The Ruta del Sol will be broadcast live by Eurosport 2. Stage timetables have initially been announced to be the same for all five (3.30pm to 5pm Euro time), which makes wonder if stages three and five -as was the case in 2017- will be shown with a slight delay from live and instead shown 'correctly' on Eurosport Player.
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Timetable

There are slight variations on the expected finish time for the stages. Here's the scheduled, in Central European Time (the first time belongs to the neutral start; the second one is the expected finish at 'medium' average speed, as shown in the roadbook): 1 / Mijas - Granada: 11.10am - 4.42pm 2 / Otura - Alto de las Allanadas: 12.55pm - 4.41pm 3 / Mancha Real - Herrera: 11.55am - 4.09pm 4 / Sevilla - Alcalá de los Gazules: 11.40am - 4.37pm 5 / Barbate (ITT): 1pm - 3.40pm (expected)
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Bonus

There are no bonuses at either intermediate sprints or finishes in this race, as it's been the case for the last few years. Countback of positions (on stages one to four) and thousandths of second (after the final TT) will decide in case of ties.
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Social Media

The race has got an official Twitter handle, @VCANDALUCIA, and uses the hashtag #64RdS. Over at our account, @Movistar_Team, we will be bringing you daily, up-to-the-minute content on our guys' performances.
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Score

The Abarca Sports organisation has won the overall classification of the Ruta del Sol nine times. Five of them have been achieved by the same rider: Alejandro Valverde, unstoppable from 2012 to 2017 with the only absence of 2015. The other four were claimed by Julián Gorospe (1984 and 1993), Roberto Lezaun (who did so in his first-ever professional race, in 1991) and Pablo Lastras (2008).

Stages

Analysis

01
Mijas - Granada (197.6km)
14 February
  1. 01 Thomas Boudat Direct Energie 5h21'39''
  2. 02 Sacha Modolo EF – Drapac m.t.
  3. 03 Clement Venturini AG2R La Mondiale m.t.
  4. 06 Carlos Barbero Movistar Team m.t.
  5. 25 Marc Soler Movistar Team m.t.
  6. 40 Mikel Landa Movistar Team m.t.
  7. 45 Andrey Amador Movistar Team m.t.
  8. 67 Imanol Erviti Movistar Team m.t.
  9. 76 Jorge Arcas Movistar Team m.t.
  10. 77 Héctor Carretero Movistar Team m.t.
02
Otura - Alto de las Allanadas (140km)
15 February
  1. 01 Wout Poels Team Sky 3h38'04
  2. 02 Luis León Sánchez Astana Pro Team + 2''
  3. 03 Tim Wellens Lotto Soudal m.t.
  4. 04 Mikel Landa Movistar Team + 4''
  5. 06 Marc Soler Movistar Team + 17''
  6. 13 Andrey Amador Movistar Team + 48''
  7. 53 Héctor Carretero Movistar Team + 4'14''
  8. 64 Jorge Arcas Movistar Team + 5'54''
  9. 79 Imanol Erviti Movistar Team + 7'59''
  10. 127 Carlos Barbero Movistar Team + 18'58''
03
Mancha Real - Herrera (166.1km)
16 February
  1. 01 Sacha Modolo EF – Drapac 3h48'17''
  2. 02 Carlos Barbero Movistar Team m.t.
  3. 03 Nelson Andrés Soto Caja Rural m.t.
  4. 24 Marc Soler Movistar Team m.t.
  5. 36 Imanol Erviti Movistar Team m.t.
  6. 49 Mikel Landa Movistar Team m.t.
  7. 75 Jorge Arcas Movistar Team m.t.
  8. 84 Andrey Amador Movistar Team m.t.
  9. 89 Héctor Carretero Movistar Team m.t.
04
Sevilla - Alcalá de los Gazules (194.7km)
17 February
  1. 01 Tim Wellens Lotto Soudal 4h36'23''
  2. 02 Mikel Landa Movistar Team + 5''
  3. 03 Jakob Fuglsang Astana Pro Team + 12''
  4. 06 Marc Soler Movistar Team + 17''
  5. 33 Andrey Amador Movistar Team + 1'13''
  6. 51 Jorge Arcas Movistar Team + 1'51''
  7. 63 Imanol Erviti Movistar Team + 3'39''
  8. 75 Héctor Carretero Movistar Team + 12'40''
  9. 80 Carlos Barbero Movistar Team + 14'13''
05
Barbate (CRI) (14.2km)
18 February
  1. 01 David de la Cruz Team Sky 17'11''
  2. 02 Andrey Amador Movistar Team + 6'
  3. 03 Stef Clement LottoNLJumbo + 7''
  4. 05 Marc Soler Movistar Team + 9''
  5. 16 Imanol Erviti Movistar Team + 42''
  6. 18 Mikel Landa Movistar Team + 49"
  7. 30 Jorge Arcas Movistar Team + 1'11''
  8. 37 Héctor Carretero Movistar Team + 1'20''
  9. 79 Carlos Barbero Movistar Team + 1'56''

Analysis

The 64th edition of the Vuelta a Andalucía – Ruta del Sol will not have its phenomenal recordman present –Alejandro Valverde claimed his fifth GC success and reached 100 pro victories here in 2017-, yet will mark a special moment for the Telefónica-backed squad as Mikel Landa debuts in Blue colours. The Basque climber and his team-mates will again face a difficult course, with no less than three days where GC riders will have to give it their all.

As in last year’s race, the Ruta del Sol will get to Granada at the end of stage one (Wednesday 14th), with five more little climbs surrounding the finish this time – even though the Alto de la Malahá (Cat-3) will be located just 19km from the end. Stage two (Thursday 15th), quite shorter (140km), will take the race to the Alto de las Allanadas (La Guardia de Jaén), a brutal, 2.5km hill with slopes averaging over 13%.

Following a pretty flat route on stage three towards Herrera (Friday 16th), the biggest change in this year’s route will show up: a hill-top finish, never used before in a pro race, at Alcalá de los Gazules (Saturday 17th), over cobblestones at most sections and with 2km featuring gradients that exceed 14%. The central section of this stage will not be easy, either: the passage through the Sierra de Grazalema will include the ascents of Las Palomas (Cat-1) and El Boyar (Cat-3). The Ruta del Sol will finish with a 14km individual time trial (Sunday 18th), with ups-and-downs, in and around Barbate.