TakeVuelta6 days ago
Stage 11 looks like a formality on paper: 153.8km to Lorca, one categorised climb, flat run-in. Stage 10 was billed the same way and Bastien Tronchon won it off a late attack, with Matthew Brennan finishing 1:20 down despite Visma-Lease a Bike's control.
The Alto de Aledo tops out just 32km from the line, which is close enough to sting a bunch that thinks the hard part is over. Visma-Lease a Bike have every reason to lock this one down for Brennan, since stage 12 goes straight into the mountains at Calar Alto and removes him from sprint contention for a while. But Jordi Meeus has been second and third in the last two bunch finishes, and stage 10 already proved that 'sprint stage' on the Vuelta route sheet is more suggestion than guarantee.
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