2023 Vuelta a España Stage 3 Live Coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of Stage 3 of the 2023 Vuelta a España! Our live profile and commentary are below, followed by a preview of the technical aspects of the route.
Course Preview
Stage 3 of La Vuelta takes the riders from Sùria to the Arinsal ski resort in Andorra. The stage is very mountainous, so the stage winner will be a climber. The climb to the line is 6.9 kilometres long and the average gradient sits at 8.2%, while the race totals 158.5 kilometres.
Andorra was created by Charlemagne in 803 to keep the Muslim Moors of Spain from advancing into Christian France. The surrounding mountains were quite helpful in that respect.
Those mountains usually play an important role when a cycling race finishes in Andorra. The last time that La Vuelta was here, in 2017, the race exploded on the last climb, the short but steep Alto de la Comella. It came down to a sprint of a select group in Andorra le Vella, and Vincenzo Nibali turned out on top.
Two years ago a Tour de France stage ended in Andorra la Vella as well. That day, Sepp Kuss soloed to victory from the breakaway.
The route of La Vuelta’s 3rd stage is lumpy until the riders reach the border. Once they enter Andorra there are 51 kilometres and two hard climbs remaining. The first one is the Coll d’Ordino, an ascent of 8.9 kilometres with an average gradient of 5.1%. Time bonuses of 3, 2 and 1 seconds are awarded to the first three riders at the summit.
A 13 kilometres descent precedes the finish climb. As soon as the riders hit the valley floor, the road goes up again. The climb to the line is 8.3 kilometres long and averaging 7.7%.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds.
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