Vuelta a España 2024 stage 4 preview - Peloton braces for Pico Villuercas summit finish

CASTELO BRANCO PORTUGAL AUGUST 19 LR Sepp Kuss of The United States and Wout van Aert of Belgium and Team Visma Lease a Bike Red Leader Jersey compete during the La Vuelta 79th Tour of Spain 2024 Stage 3 a 1915km stage from Lousa to Castelo Branco UCIWT on August 19 2024 in Castelo Branco Portugal Photo by Dario BelingheriGetty Images
Visma-Lease a Bike riders Sepp Kuss and Wout van Aert, in the red leader's jersey, on a climb in the Serra da Estrela at the Vuelta a España (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

The Vuelta a España never takes very long to go back to the mountains. Even in the opening, seemingly unchallenging stages in Portugal, the 2024 Vuelta peloton has already faced some relentlessly undulating terrain, capped by a brief incursion, early on stage 3, across one of the country’s toughest mountain ranges, the Serra da Estrela.

However, come stage 4 on the return to Spain, the Vuelta really gets back to climbing business with a vengeance. That’s courtesy of its first summit finish, at the Pico Villuercas in the little-known region of Extremadura.

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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