The first 60 kilometres are mountainous, so climbing legs are obligatory in the breakaway. The riders crest Alto de Sela d’Entorcisa (9.9 kilometres at 3.9%), Alto de Garganta (10.3 kilometres at 5.6%) and Alto de Barbeitos (11.8 kilometres at 3.8%) before continuing on more undulating terrain with some shorter uphill kicks.
At kilometre 100 the route descends to the flat second part of the route. Just one climb left – the 4.4 kilometres at 4% ascent to Oural – and that’s it.
As it will be hard for the sprint teams to control the breakaway in the mountainous first part of the race, the breakaway riders are expected to have so much leeway that one of them will be victorious.
A breakaway sprint is a possibility, or else a late attack. The climb to Oural could be a good place to strike before continuing solo to the line. Like Matej Mohoric in the 19th stage of the Tour de France. The distance from Oural to the finish in Monforte de Lemos is approximately 30 kilometres.
Favourites 19th stage 2021 Vuelta a España
*** Matteo Trentin, Jan Tratnik, Clément Venturini
** Quinn Simmons, Josef Cerny, Florian Sénéchal, Tom Pidcock
* Lilian Calmejane, Andreas Kron, Nathan van Hooydonck, Luka Mezgec
Another interesting read: route 19th stage of the 2021 Vuelta.