Vuelta a España 2024 stage 12 preview - Back to the mountains at Manzaneda with fourth summit finish

GRANADA SPAIN AUGUST 25 LR Felix Gall of Austria and Ben OConnor of Australia and Team Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Red Leader Jersey compete during the La Vuelta 79th Tour of Spain 2024 Stage 9 a 1785km stage from Motril to Granada UCIWT on August 25 2024 in Granada Spain Photo by Dario BelingheriGetty Images
Felix Gall paces Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale teammate and race leader Ben O'Connor on a climb to Granada at the Vuelta a España (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

Four days after the epic battle of Sierra Nevada in the 2024 Vuelta a España and over 1,000 kilometres further north in the Iberian peninsula, the Spanish Grand Tour heads back into the mountains on Thursday, in the first of four stages that could mark yet another series of turning points in this year’s topsy-turvy race.

Race leader Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) has defined Friday and Sunday of the second week as the two most important, and on paper at least he’s probably right. In terms of terrain, Thursday’s stage 12 is by far the most straightforward, being just 137km long and containing just one, relatively uncomplicated classified ascent, the category 1 Manzaneda summit finish climb. 

Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.

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