Stage 13: Santiago de Compostela to Ferrol, 172.8km
In anticipation of the next three stages, the GC boys will almost certainly let a break get away and force the sprinters’ teams to chase it down if they want a bunch finish. They’ll just look to stay out of trouble and conserve energy for the mega-weekend ahead. This stage, which goes through the wilds of Galicia, is bumpy but fairly innocuous. It does, however, have a stretch on the coast, which means there could be a split in the peloton. Note to Alejandro Valverde: pay attention to those crosswinds!
There are a few tricky uncategorised climbs to negotiate in the last 15km which could upset the pure sprinters, the last of these just over 5km from the finish. Nonetheless, odds are this will end in a bunch sprint. There are the usual roundabouts and bends to negotiate in the closing kilometres, but the finishing straight is more than 1km long which will give the sprinters’ trains plenty of opportunity to line themselves up. Everyone will no doubt fight over John Degenkolb‘s wheel as they try to prevent him from winning one for the thumb. Securing his wheel is one thing, but actually passing him is quite another, though …
