This ProSeries race takes place on the scorched by the sun plateaus around the city of Burgos in Castile.
This year, it doesn't look like there will much space for sprinters on this punchy race, the GC of which goes to a climber. The first stage is the traditional hectic finish in Burgos (sprinters-punchers have a chance there together with punchers-climbers), and the last one the traditional mountain finish at the lakes of Neila.
The official website is very thorough, and the technical guide even more: for example, for stage #1, it contains over 100 photos of the various curves, crossings and even of the manholes covers and cracks in the road!! ๐ ๐
Riders
This is Gaudu's comeback to actual (?) competition. Since May, he's only started the National Championship in June, and the San Sebastian classic on Saturday, for 2 DNF... Let's see if he can put out this week something that justifies a bit of his salary...
There are quite a number of rather high profile contenders! F. Gall (๐ฆ๐น Decathlon), J. Vine (๐ฆ๐บ UAE) if he can survive the usually stressing finishes of the first days without crashing, G. Ciccone (๐ฎ๐น Lidl-Trek), Pellizzari (๐ฎ๐น Bora), M. Rondel (๐ซ๐ท Tudor).
As outsiders, P. Sivakov (๐ท๐บ๐ซ๐ท UAE) already won the race, A. Eulalio (๐ต๐น Bahrain) will try to find his crazy Giro legs, J. Nordhagen๐ณ๐ด and B. Tulett๐ฌ๐ง will defend Visma's chances, L. Bisiaux (๐ซ๐ท France) will supplement Gall, and M. Beloki (๐ช๐ธ EF) has just won the (much, much weaker) Tour de l'Ain.
Stages
Stage 1
165 km, D+ 1500m
The traditional punchy finish on the castle hill in Burgos, after the flattest stage.
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Stage 2
177 km, D+ 2300 m
A finish for long punchers on this murito.
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(yeah, I know, the less important climb got a larger picture ๐)
Stage 3
183 km, D+ 3200 m
This stage and its almost-on-top-finish will very likely start sorting GC favourites. They won't be able to hide on this difficult Puerto del Escudo (a new one on this race, but it was apparently ridden a few times on the Vuelta).
Stage 4
178 km, D+ 1900 m
Can sprinters make it through this one in a front group? Otherwise, it looks like a good chance for breakaways, between 2 mountain stages.
The 'climbs' are not terrible at all today:
Finnish profile: 
Stage 5 (last)
137 km, D+ 2900 m
The usual decisive finish on top.
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Stage 5 (last)
And here we go: Gaudu (๐ซ๐ท FDJ) withdrew after 25 km. A bridge too high? 3 races in 3 months for 3 DNF. ๐
Widar (๐ง๐ช Lotto) and Tuckwell (๐ฆ๐บ Bora) didn't start today, I don't know why. They were 9^th^ and 12^th^ in GC. That more annoying for Lotto whose next rider is 42^nd^, because Bora still has its leader Pellizzari๐ฎ๐น (6^th^ and getting better).
In the breakaway, the FDJ rider (the young Daumas๐ซ๐ท I think; edit: it was in fact Rochas๐ซ๐ท, which is more embarrassing) was the first completely dropped after an attack... Sivakov (๐ซ๐ท UAE) joined (or was the breakaway already dead by then?) the front perhaps some 25 km from the line, as he did two days ago, but he was caught rather early in the final climb.
The 3 guys who were already on the podium with a bit of margin over the others were the strongest today again, but as they were doing stop-and-go all along the second half of the climb (and Gall (๐ฆ๐น Decathlon), being only 6 seconds ahead of the other 2, had no interest in arriving for stage win because of time bonuses), they didn't win. they let go Pellizzari (๐ฎ๐น Bora) at some point. Gall๐ฆ๐น always struggles with attacks, but always comes back after a short while.
Rondel (๐ซ๐ท Tudor) and E. Mas (๐ช๐ธ Movistar) were strong again, just less strong than the top boys. they both have been very regular on this race, and end up 6^th^ and 5^th^ in GC, overtaken by Pellizzari๐ฎ๐น. That reflects their race very well.
L. Bisiaux (๐ซ๐ท Dรฉcathlon) limited damage after exhausting himself pulling the peloton in the fist part of the climb (I always doubt the usefulness of those actions, when the leader doesn't do anything with them). He almost lost the Youth jersey to M. Beloki (๐ช๐ธ EF), though.
Vine (๐ฆ๐บ UAE) had crashed one more time 10 km after the race started. Contrarily to the other two guys who crashed at the same time, he didn't withdraw immediately, but he didn't finish either. Actually 4 UAE riders didn't finish today!
Yesterday, I wrote that:
Neither of them was good today, they come 18^th^ and 22^th^ today. Therefore, in spite of the withdrawals, Berthet (๐ซ๐ท FDJ) is kicked out of the top-10. That's a grand total of 20 UCI points in 5 days for GFDJ, 10 for Cofidis, and 0 for Total.
(edit: Meehan๐ฎ๐ช crashed just after the start of race, and it took him over 30 km to get back into the peloton. this explains pretty well that he wasn't in a shape during the finish!)
Apart from Decathlon, French cycling is close to death. FDJ is the only team among these 3 which is present in Poland, and after 6 days, they haven't scored a single UCI point there and their first rider is 7 minutes behind in GC. Cavagna may score points in the last stage as it is an ITT, though.