If the conditions stay like this on the Angliru there won't be much of a podium ceremony, if any, at the end of today's stage. It's blowing a gale up there, the visibility has been pretty much zero and the rain has been coming down hard.

Vuelta Angliru summit finish is windy and wet

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The wind and rain has battered the final summit finish climb of Vuelta, the HC Angliru.

And while the wet conditions had cleared up for the riders at the time of writing, with about 60km remaining in today’s stage, the weather is rougher when the road goes up.

The Angliru is one of the legendary mountains of pro cycling. And even in favourable conditions it’s punishing in the extreme.

Temperatures were low at the summit finish - just above 5 Celsius as the riders raced towards it.

If the kind of wind and rain that has been pounding the Vuelta Angliru summit finish today persists until the riders arrive, the finale will be absolutely savage.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) is leading the race. He has 1:37 on Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida). And Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) is in 3rd, at 2:17.

Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) was in the breakaway at the time of writing. However, Astana was chasing it down.

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The team wanted Miguel Angel Lopez to take enough climbers points to win that classification.

Irrespective of the weather, the general classification is relatively tight. And there are still riders looking to move up in the top 10 or to break into it.

A great battle looks in store.

Your podium atop the Angliru for today's decisive stage of the Vuelta. With view down mountain behind pic.twitter.com/AhlKOBdcXD

— tomfordyce (@tomfordyce) September 9, 2017