Vuelta shock news

[rich p]

I've heard an, as yet, unconfirmed report that some of the stages in this years Tour of Spain will take place in Spain.

Watch this space and I'll try to get an update soon

 

[Speicher]

I have recently been informed that it is not going to the Orkneys next.

 

[Crackle]

Until you posted that, I hadn't looked at the route. 1400km drive to the next stage for the support vehicles.

 

[Skip Madness]

I have recently been informed that it is not going to the Orkneys next.

Wasn't there (very preliminary) talk about a possible Vuelta start in Scotland a few years ago?

 

[Flying_Monkey]

The Vuelta is rather taking the piss. It is one thing to have an opening stage somewhere else, and to go in and out of the country you are supposed to be touring but having practically the whole opening week in another country is a bit ridiculous. I have almost lost interest already...

 

[claver58]

"The rain in Spain stays mainly in the Netherlands" - altogether now ....The rain in......

 

[Skip Madness]

The Vuelta is rather taking the piss. It is one thing to have an opening stage somewhere else, and to go in and out of the country you are supposed to be touring but having practically the whole opening week in another country is a bit ridiculous. I have almost lost interest already...

Of course the Giro did the same thing in Belgium a few years ago with similar results.

They really need to incorporate Galicia into the Vuelta more often. When it started there in 2007 the crowds were massive, Tour de France-style big. I remember hearing talk that the Puerto de Ancares (Spain's own Mortirolo) has been slated for use in the near future, which bodes well.

If I were to propose a few ideas to make the Vuelta much better, they would be:

1) Shorter stages. I have extolled the virtues of this principle before, shorter stages mean more attacking racing and would be more attractive to top-drawer riders than riding 170km a day for three weeks at the end of the season. Make the averages 120-140km. Don't try to compete on the same level as the Giro and Tour because it won't work, use the time of year to the advantage of carving out a totally different event. They could still include the odd 220km monster, but equally they could pepper two or three sub-100km stages here and there, too. It would also necessitate fewer dull drags through anonymous semi-arid landscapes. Which leads me on to...

2) Choose more visually pleasing routes for both road and time-trial stages, less of this autovía nonsense we have become accustomed to. Spain is an amazingly diverse country with so much to show off, it can't be that hard.

3) Pretend the Pyrenees don't exist. Arcalís, Cerler and Pla de Beret should be banished to the history books. No-one turns up for these stages because hardly anyone lives there, and besides - those climbs are crap compared to those found elsewhere in the country. If they insist on heading in that vague direction, use Rassos de Peguera, Pal or the Col de Pradell instead. The fact is, between the Cantabrian chain, the Madrid Sierra, the Sierra Nevada and everywhere else, the rest of the country has got the mountains covered, as this year's route evidences (even without Asturias!)

4) As I said before, go to Galicia much more often.

5) Without over-doing it, use Angliru more frequently and market it for all it is worth. It's a massive deal and draws the kind of media attention the race needs.

6) Don't move the race back to April! Don't do it!