The fearsome Pandera
From olive-oil city Jaén, the route crosses two second-category warm-up climbs before the Sierra de la Pandera, one of the steepest and most feared finishes in all of Spain.
A climbers' feast, with heat as a bitter aftertaste
Deep in Andalusia in early September, temperatures can be brutal — an extra opponent on a stage that already ranks among the toughest of this Vuelta on paper.