Skip Madness
New Member
Besides the salida from the Netherlands, not a great deal has been known about this route. There was a horrible rumour that the Pyrenean mountain-top finish double of Arcalís and Cerler was going to be used again, but fortunately this has not come to pass.
Aug 29: Stage 01 - Assen Motor Circuit (Netherlands) (4.5 km individual time trial)
Aug 30: Stage 02 - Assen - Emmen (202 km)
Aug 31: Stage 03 - Zutphen - Venlo (184 km)
Sep 01: Stage 04 - Venlo - Liège (Belgium) (223 km)
Sep 02: Rest day
Sep 03: Stage 05 - Tarragona - Vinaroz (174 km)
Sep 04: Stage 06 - Xativa - Xativa (186 km)
Sep 05: Stage 07 - Valencia (30 km individual time trial)
Sep 06: Stage 08 - Alzira - Alto de Aitana (206 km high mountains / mountain-top finish)
Sep 07: Stage 09 - Alcoy - Xorret de Catí (186 km medium mountains / mountain-top finish)
Sep 08: Stage 10 - Alicante - Murcia (162 km)
Sep 09: Stage 11 - Murcia - Caravaca de la Cruz (191 km - medium mountains)
Sep 10: Rest day
Sep 11: Stage 12 - Almería - Alto de Velefique (175 km high mountains / mountain-top finish)
Sep 12: Stage 13 - Berja - Sierra Nevada (175 km high mountains / mountain-top finish)
Sep 13: Stage 14 - Granada - Sierra de la Pandera (157 km high mountains / mountain-top finish)
Sep 14: Stage 15 - Jaén - Córdoba (168 km)
Sep 15: Stage 16 - Córdoba - Puertollano (170 km)
Sep 16: Stage 17 - Ciudad Real - Talavera de la Reina (175 km)
Sep 17: Stage 18 - Talavera de la Reina - Ávila (187 km medium mountains)
Sep 18: Stage 19 - Ávila - Segovia (188 km high mountains)
Sep 19: Stage 20 - Toledo (26 km individual time trial)
Sep 20: Stage 21 - Rivas - Madrid (110 km)
As well as the Netherlands and Belgium in the early stages, stage 03 briefly dips into Germany, too. The Valencia time-trial has been known about for a while - hopefully it will be an interesting city/countryside route and none of the motorway shite that has passed for Vuelta time-trials in recent years. Note the early rest day required for the long transfer, similar to when the Giro started in Belgium a couple of years ago.
The mountain stages are generally well-planned considering that neither the Pyrenees nor Asturias/Cantabrian mountains are on the menu. It is the first time the Aitana and Xorret de Catí have been used since their back-to-back pairing in 2004, and while the former may be likely to produce larger gaps, the latter is one of the most exciting stage finishes the Vuelta offers - short, but super-steep.
The second rest day comes after stage 11, meaning the last ten stages are uninterrupted, and they include the races most difficult legs. First up is the Velefique stage, which has three long and hard first-category climbs (well, technically only two as the Velefique is used twice).
The following stage is the queen of the mountain stages - Sierra Nevada for the 11th occasion (and first since 2004). This stage features the Puerto de la Ragua, graded as first-category although I think it should really be special-category. The climb up to Sierra Nevada is probably the hardest version of this climb ever used, via the Monachil (for which first-category points are available despite it all being part of the same climb). This is much steeper than the usual ascent, and was used in the 2004 mountain time-trial - the difference being that on that occasion they only went up to 2,100 metres. This time they are back up to the usual altitude of 2,500 m.
The next stage finishes on the "Angliru of the South", Sierra de la Pandera. In truth it is much shorter and easier than the Angliru and tends to produce fairly small time gaps, but like Xorret de Catí it is spectacular, and coming when it does this year could make it quite decisive. The stage to Ávila also offers one of the prettiest stage finishes, and the following stage is the last real chance in the mountains, going over the ever-present Navacerrada twice.
Altogether, there are only 60,5 km of time trialling, meaning that it should favour the climbers once more.
I will stick up the mountain stage profiles in a moment.
Aug 29: Stage 01 - Assen Motor Circuit (Netherlands) (4.5 km individual time trial)
Aug 30: Stage 02 - Assen - Emmen (202 km)
Aug 31: Stage 03 - Zutphen - Venlo (184 km)
Sep 01: Stage 04 - Venlo - Liège (Belgium) (223 km)
Sep 02: Rest day
Sep 03: Stage 05 - Tarragona - Vinaroz (174 km)
Sep 04: Stage 06 - Xativa - Xativa (186 km)
Sep 05: Stage 07 - Valencia (30 km individual time trial)
Sep 06: Stage 08 - Alzira - Alto de Aitana (206 km high mountains / mountain-top finish)
Sep 07: Stage 09 - Alcoy - Xorret de Catí (186 km medium mountains / mountain-top finish)
Sep 08: Stage 10 - Alicante - Murcia (162 km)
Sep 09: Stage 11 - Murcia - Caravaca de la Cruz (191 km - medium mountains)
Sep 10: Rest day
Sep 11: Stage 12 - Almería - Alto de Velefique (175 km high mountains / mountain-top finish)
Sep 12: Stage 13 - Berja - Sierra Nevada (175 km high mountains / mountain-top finish)
Sep 13: Stage 14 - Granada - Sierra de la Pandera (157 km high mountains / mountain-top finish)
Sep 14: Stage 15 - Jaén - Córdoba (168 km)
Sep 15: Stage 16 - Córdoba - Puertollano (170 km)
Sep 16: Stage 17 - Ciudad Real - Talavera de la Reina (175 km)
Sep 17: Stage 18 - Talavera de la Reina - Ávila (187 km medium mountains)
Sep 18: Stage 19 - Ávila - Segovia (188 km high mountains)
Sep 19: Stage 20 - Toledo (26 km individual time trial)
Sep 20: Stage 21 - Rivas - Madrid (110 km)
As well as the Netherlands and Belgium in the early stages, stage 03 briefly dips into Germany, too. The Valencia time-trial has been known about for a while - hopefully it will be an interesting city/countryside route and none of the motorway shite that has passed for Vuelta time-trials in recent years. Note the early rest day required for the long transfer, similar to when the Giro started in Belgium a couple of years ago.
The mountain stages are generally well-planned considering that neither the Pyrenees nor Asturias/Cantabrian mountains are on the menu. It is the first time the Aitana and Xorret de Catí have been used since their back-to-back pairing in 2004, and while the former may be likely to produce larger gaps, the latter is one of the most exciting stage finishes the Vuelta offers - short, but super-steep.
The second rest day comes after stage 11, meaning the last ten stages are uninterrupted, and they include the races most difficult legs. First up is the Velefique stage, which has three long and hard first-category climbs (well, technically only two as the Velefique is used twice).
The following stage is the queen of the mountain stages - Sierra Nevada for the 11th occasion (and first since 2004). This stage features the Puerto de la Ragua, graded as first-category although I think it should really be special-category. The climb up to Sierra Nevada is probably the hardest version of this climb ever used, via the Monachil (for which first-category points are available despite it all being part of the same climb). This is much steeper than the usual ascent, and was used in the 2004 mountain time-trial - the difference being that on that occasion they only went up to 2,100 metres. This time they are back up to the usual altitude of 2,500 m.
The next stage finishes on the "Angliru of the South", Sierra de la Pandera. In truth it is much shorter and easier than the Angliru and tends to produce fairly small time gaps, but like Xorret de Catí it is spectacular, and coming when it does this year could make it quite decisive. The stage to Ávila also offers one of the prettiest stage finishes, and the following stage is the last real chance in the mountains, going over the ever-present Navacerrada twice.
Altogether, there are only 60,5 km of time trialling, meaning that it should favour the climbers once more.
I will stick up the mountain stage profiles in a moment.
