La Vuelta 2023, Stage 9 (Cartagena - Cruz de Caravaca), course, route, profile, animation

“Sunday, 3 September Stage 9 of the Vuelta takes the peloton from Cartagena on the Mediterranean to Caravaca de la Cruz, 185 kilometres away in the mountains of Murcia. The finale is an extremely irregular 8.2 kilometre climb. Cartagena literally means ’new city’. But Cartagena is not that new, as the city was founded by the Carthaginians in the third century BC. While the Carthaginians explored new territories by sea, the peloton does so by land. After leaving Cartagena, the riders leave the sea behind and head towards Murcia. The stage is by no means flat, but at kilometre 48 the only mountain classification before the finish begins. The Puerto Casas de Marina la Perdiz is an 11.5 kilometre climb with an average gradient of 4.9%. This could be the start of an impressive mountain stage if the riders didn’t have to wait until the end before they had to face another real climb. The intermediate kilometres are uphill and downhill, but not enough to count for the mountains jersey. On paper, stage 9 of the Vuelta looks very inviting for attackers. If breakaways actually get through, the less strong climbers among them will struggle on the final climb. At 8.2 kilometres and 5.5%, it still seems quite manageable, but that’s just appearances, because it’s a brute climb that flies in all directions. Parts of the descent are steep at 15 %. The steepest section uphill is 20 % and the last kilometre 9.5 %.“ ( & Routes ’n’ Maps ’n’ Flags) Creating cycling stage animations requires a lot of work and computing power. You are welcome to support me with a donation: