The 2017 Vuelta a Espana route has been confirmed and will feature eight summit finishes, including an ascent of the Angliru on the penultimate stage.
The route, which appeared in advance in the Spanish media, was confirmed at the official presentation.
The stage start and finish locations that were leaked gave an accurate idea of where the Spanish Grand Tour will go, including the summit finish atop the Alto de l'Angliru on Stage 20.
The 2017 Vuelta a Espana startlist has not been fully confirmed, but some riders have already stated that they will be taking part.
With his fourth Tour de France title in the bag, Chris Froome (Team Sky) will take the start of the 2017 Vuelta a Espana as he seeks a win in Spain.
He's previously come fourth once and second three times at the Vuelta, and a different approach to this season could seem him peak in September to take the Tour-Vuelta double.
Giro d'Italia winner Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) has ruled himself out of the race, so the showdown between those two will have to wait for another race, perhaps the 2018 Tour de France.
Vuelta a Espana 2017: Key information
Dates: Saturday 19th August to Sunday 10th September
Grand Départ: Nimes, France
Finale: Madrid, Spain
Countries visited: France, Andorra, Spain
UK television coverage: ITV4, Eurosport
Vuelta a Espana 2017: Route
The 2017 Vuelta a Espana will start in Nimes, France with a team time trial on Saturday 19th August.
The following three stage starts will also be outside of Spain, with a southerly transitional stage from Nimes to Gruissan, a ride from Prades over the border into Spain before finishing in Andorra, where stage four will begin.
The inclusion of Andorra and the passage through the Pyrenees looks set to make the first week of the route of the 2017 Vuelta a Espana one for the climbers and could shake-up the overall general classification early on.
The Vuelta route was expected to have nine summit finishes, evenly spread throughout the three week Grand Tour with three per week, but the end of stage eight is comes after a two kilometre descent off the Alto Xorret de Cati.
The first summit finish comes on stage five up to the Hermitage of Santa Lucia after 173.4km. The next two summit finish comes on stage nine with the climb up the Cumbre del Sol.
If Vincenzo Nibali, or a rider of similar descending ability, opts to ride the 2017 Vuelta a Espana then the climb into fast descent at the end of stage eight could see him in the leader's jersey during the first rest day.
This first rest day follows the double header of mountainous days, so expect to see the GC contenders coming to the front on the final slopes of stage nine as they look to go into the rest day with the lead.
The race makes its way around the east and south of Spain from stage five to 15 before the second rest day allows the riders to relocate to the north to restart battle on stage 16.
Before that, though, there are the next three summit finishes to contend with. Stage 11 takes riders up to Calar Alto and stages 14 and 15 are another back-to-back pairing of summit finishes.
Stage 14 finishes atop La Pandera before stage 15 could see the leader’s jersey change hands on the slopes of Sierra Nevada.
Different riders cope differently with rest days, and with a time trial immediately after on stage 16 some of those who have already expended too much energy in the first two weeks could be found out.
What’s more, the time trial marks the start of a brutal week as it is followed by consecutive summit finishes on stage 17 to Los Machucos and on stage 18 to Santo Torbio de Liebana.
There could be a slight lull in hostilities on stage 19 before the Angliru looms large on stage 20.
The race may have been wrapped up long before this stage, but any rider within two minutes of the lead could still challenge for the overall as the testing slopes of this famous climb can crack even the most accomplished Grand Tour riders.
Whoever’s in the overall lead at the end of stage 20 will win the 2017 Vuelta a Espana as the race performs its ceremonial finish into Madrid.
The final stage will offer something to any sprinters who managed to nurse themselves through that very testing final week.
Vuelta a Espana 2017 route: stage-by-stage
Stage 1: Nimes (Fra) – Nimes (Fra), 13.8km (TTT)
Stage report: BMC Racing win opening TTT; Rohan Dennis in red
Stage 2: Nimes (Fra) – Gruissan (Fra), 201km
Stage report: Yves Lampaert goes solo to take victory on Stage 2
Video highlights: Yves Lampaert and Quick-Step Floors present a masterclass in the crosswinds to win Stage 2
Stage 3: Prades (Fra) – Andorra La Vella (And), 158.5km
Stage report: Vincenzo Nibali wins Stage 3; Chris Froome goes into red
Video highlights: Vincenzo Nibali takes a bite from his opponents; Chris Froome goes into red on Stage 3
Stage 4: Escaldes (And) – Tarragona (Esp), 193km
Stage report: Matteo Trentin wins Stage 4 sprint after uneventful day
Video highlights: Matteo Trentin sprints to victory
Stage 5: Benicassim – Ermita Santa Lucia, Alcossebre (summit finish), 173.4km
Stage report: Alexey Lutsenko wins a rolling Stage 5
Video highlights: Lutsenko goes solo to win; Froome takes time
Stage 6: Villareal – Sagunt, 198km
Stage report: Tomasz Marczynski takes the victory from break on Stage 6
Stage 7: Lliria – Cuenca, 205.2km
Stage report: Matej Mohoric wins Stage 7 from breakaway
Stage 8: Hellin – Xorret de Cati, 184km
Stage report: Alaphilippe wins Stage 8 while Froome extends GC lead
Stage 9: Orihuela – Cumbre del Sol (summit finish), 176.3km
Stage preview: A return to the Alto de Puig Llorenca on Stage 9
Stage report: Chris Froome takes revenge on Stage 9 on the Cumbre del Sol
Rest day
Stage 10: Caravaca – ElPozo (Alhama), 171km
Stage report: Matteo Trentin outfoxes his rivals to take Stage 10
Stage 11: Lorca – Calar Alto (summit finish), 188km
Stage 12: Motril – Antequera, 161.4km
Stage 13: Coin – Tomares, 197km
Stage 14: Ecija – Sierra De La Pandera (summit finish), 185,5km
Stage 15: Alcala la Real – Sierra Nevada (summit finish), 127km
Stage Preview: Stage 15 goes to altitude in the Sierra Nevada Mountains
Rest/transition day
Stage 16: Circuito de Navarra – Logrono (ITT), 42km
Stage 17: Viladiego – Los Machucos (summit finish), 180km
Stage preview: Stage 17 of the Vuelta a Espana to include Alto de los Machucos 'monster climb' with 28% ramp
Stage 18: Suances – Santo Toribio de Liebana (summit finish), 168.5km
Stage 19: Parque de Redes – Gijon, 153km
Stage 20: Corvera – Alto de l'Angliru (summit finish), 119.2km
Stage Preview: Stage 21: Arroyomolinos – Madrid, 101.9km
Head through to the next page for the 2017 Vuelta a Espana startlist and live TV guide
Vuelta a Espana 2017: Start list
WorldTour teams and riders
Confirmed line-up, but changes are possible up until the start of the race
AG2R La Mondiale (FRA)
Romain Bardet (FRA)
Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA)
Alexis Gougeard (FRA)
Clement Chevrier (FRA)
Nico Denz (GER)
Samuel Dumoulin (FRA)
Alexandre Geniez (FRA)
Hugo Houle (CAN)
Matteo Montaguti (ITA)
Astana (KAZ)
Fabio Aru (ITA)
Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP)
Miguel Angel Lopez (COL)
Pello Bilbao (ESP)
Sergei Chernetckii (RUS)
Nikita Stalnov (KAZ)
Jesper Hansen (DEN)
Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ)
Laurens De Vreese (KAZ)
Bahrain-Merida (BHR)
Vincenzo Nibali (ITA)
Javier Moreno (ESP)
Valerio Agnoli (ITA)
Maunele Boaro (ITA)
Ivan Cortina (ESP)
Antonio Nibali (ITA)
Domen Novak (SLO)
Franco Pellizotti (ITA)
Giovanni Visconti (ITA)
BMC Racing (USA)
Nicolas Roche (IRL)
Damiano Caruso (ITA)
Tejay Van Garderen (USA)
Alessandro De Marchi (ITA)
Rohan Dennis (AUS)
Kilian Frankiny (SWI)
Francisco Ventoso (ESP)
Daniel Oss (ITA)
Loïc Vliegen (BEL)
[Samuel Sanchez (ESP)]
Bora-Hansgrohe (GER)
Rafal Majka (POL)
Cesare Benedetti (ITA)
Emanuel Buchmann (GER)
Michael Kolar (SVK)
Patrick Konrad (AUT)
Christoph Pfingsten (GER)
PAwel Poljanski (POL)
Andreas Scghllinger (GER)
Michael Schwarzmann (GER)
Cannondale-Drapac (USA)
Brendan Canty (AUS)
Simon Clarke (AUS)
William Clarke (AUS)
Joe Dombrowski (USA)
Thomas Scully (NZL)
Toms Skujins (LAT)
Tom Van Asbroeck (BEL)
Davide Villella (ITA)
Michael Woods (CAN)
Dimension Data (RSA)
Igor Anton (ESP)
Merhawi Kudus (ERI)
Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA)
Youcef Reguigui (ALG)
Serge Pauwels (BEL)
Omar Fraile (ESP)
Lachlan Morton (AUS)
Ben King (USA)
Nick Dougall (RSA)
FDJ (FRA)
Arnaud Courteille (FRA)
Marc Fournier (FRA)
Daniel Hoelgaard (NOR)
Johan Le Bon (FRA)
Tobias Ludvigsson (SWE)
Jeremy Maison (FRA)
Lorrenzo Manzin (FRA)
Odd Christian Eiking (NOR)
Anthony Roux (FRA)
Katusha-Alpecin (SUI)
Ilnur Zakarin (RUS)
Matvey Mamykin (RUS)
Maxim Belkov (RUS)
Sven Erik Bystrom (NOR)
Jose Goncalves (POR)
Marco Haller (AUS)
Paul Kochetkov (RUS)
Alberto Losada (SPA)
Jhonathan Restrepo (COL)
LottoNL-Jumbo (NED)
Steven Kruijswijk (NED)
George Bennett (NZL)
Stef Clement (NED)
Bert-Jan Lindeman (NED)
Juan Jose Lobato (ESP)
Antwan Tolhoek (NED)
Koen Bouwman (NED)
Floris De Tier (BEL)
Daan Olivier (NED)
Lotto Soudal (BEL)
Adam Hansen (AUS)
Tomasz Marczynski (POL)
Thomas De Gendt (BEL)
Sander Armee (BEL)
Bart De Clercq (BEL)
Jens Debusschere (BEL)
Remy Mertz (BEL)
Maxime Monfort (BEL)
Jelle Wallays (BEL)
Movistar (ESP)
Marc Soler (ESP)
Jorge Arcas (ESP)
Ruben Ferandez (ESP)
Daniel Moreno (ESP)
Carlos Betancur (COL)
Antonio Pedrero (ESP)
Jose Joaquin Rojas (ESP)
Richard Carapaz (ECU)
Nelson Oliveira (POR)
Orica-Scott (AUS)
Esteban Chaves (COL)
Simon Yates (GBR)
Adam Yates (GBR)
Sam Bewley (NZL)
Magnus Cort Nielsen (DEN)
Jack Haig (AUS)
Christopher Juul-Jensen (DEN)
Svein Tuft (CAN)
Carlos Verona (ESP)
Quick-Step Floors (BEL)
Bob Jungels (LUX)
David De La Cruz (ESP)
Julian Alaphillippe (FRA)
Eros Capecchi (ITA)
Tim Declerq (BEL)
Enric Mas (ESP)
Niki Terpstra (NED)
Matteo Trentin (ITA)
Yves Lampaert (BEL)
Team Sky (GBR)
Chris Froome (GBR)
Wout Poels (NED)
Diego Rosa (ITA)
Mikel Nieve (ESP)
Gianni Moscon (ITA)
Christian Knees (GER)
David Lopez (ESP)
Salvatore Puccio (ITA)
Ian Stannard (GBR)
Team Sunweb (GER)
Wilco Kelderman (NED)
Sam Oomen (NED)
Johannes Frohlinger (GER)
Soren Kragh Andersen (DEN)
Chad Haga (USA)
Chris Hamilton (USA)
Lennard Hofstede (NED)
Lennard Kamna (GER)
Warren Barguil (FRA)
Trek-Segafredo (USA)
Alberto Contador (ESP)
Edward Theuns (BEL)
Jarlison Pantano (COL)
Jesus Hernandez (ESP)
John Degenkolb (GER)
Julian Bernard (FRA)
Koen De Kort (NED)
Markel Irizar (ESP)
Peter Stetina (USA)
UAE Team Emirates (UAE)
Darwin Atapuma (COL)
Jan Polanc (SLO)
Rui Costa (POR)
Federico Zurlo (ITA)
Przemylaw Niemiec (POL)
Matej Mohoric (SOL)
Sacha Modolo (ITA)
Louis Meintjes (RSA)
Anass Ait El Abdia (MOR)
Wildcard teams and riders
Aqua Blue Sport (IRL)
Adam Blythe (GBR)
Larry Warbasse (USA)
Mark Christian (GBR)
Stefan Denifl (AUT)
Aaron Gate (NZL)
Lasse Norman Hansen (DEN)
Michel Kreder (NED)
Lars Petter Nordhaug (NOR)
Peter Koning (NED)
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA (ESP)
Jaime Roson (ESP)
Hector Saez (ESP)
Nick Schultz (AUS)
Guillermo Mas (ESP)
David Arroyo (ESP)
Sergio Pardilla (ESP)
Rafael Reis (POR)
Diego Rubio (ESP)
Fabricio Ferrari (URG)
Cofidis (FRA)
Daniel Navarro (ESP)
Luis Angel Mate (ESP)
Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA)
Anthony Perez (FRA)
Stephane Rossetto (FRA)
Anthony Turgis (FRA)
Jimmy Turgis (FRA)
Kenneth Vanbilsen (BEL)
Jonas Van Genecthen (BEL)
Manzana Postobon (COL)
Aldemar Reyes (COL)
Hernan Aguirre (COL)
Bernardo Suaza (COL)
Felipe Juan Osorio (COL)
Fernando Orjuela (COL)
Hernando Bohorquez (COL)
Jetse Bol (NED)
Ricardo Vilela (POR)
Juan Sebastian Molano (COL)
Vuelta a Espana 2017: Live TV guide
The 2017 Vuelta a Espana will be shown on Eurosport and a highlights programme will be aired by ITV4
Stage 1: Saturday 19th August
1615-1930 Stage 1 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2030-2200 Stage 1 highlights, Eurosport 1
Stage 1 highlights, ITV4
Stage 2: Sunday 20th August
1345-1700 Stage 2 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2000-2130 Stage 2 highlights, Eurosport 1
Stage 2 highlights, ITV4
Stage 3: Monday 21st August
1200-1700 Stage 3 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2000-2130 Stage 3 highlights, Eurosport 1
Stage 3 highlights, ITV4
Stage 4: Tuesday 22nd August
1345-1700 Stage 4 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2000-2130 Stage 4 highlights, Eurosport 1
Stage 4 highlights, ITV4
Stage 5: Wednesday 23rd August
1345-1700 Stage 5 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2000-2130 Stage 5 highlights, Eurosport 1
Stage 5 highlights, ITV4
Stage 6: Thursday 24th August
1345-1700 Stage 6 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2000-2130 Stage 6 highlights, Eurosport 1
Stage 6 highlights, ITV4
Stage 7: Friday 25th August
1345-1700 Stage 7 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2000-2130 Stage 7 highlights, Eurosport 1
Stage 7 highlights, ITV4
Stage 8: Saturday 26th August
1400-1700 Stage 8 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2000-2130 Stage 8 highlights, Eurosport 1
Stage 8 highlights, ITV4
Stage 9: Sunday 27th August
1400-1700 Stage 9 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2000-2130 Stage 9 highlights, Eurosport 1
Stage 9 highlights, ITV4
Rest Day: Monday 28th August
Stage 10: Tuesday 29th August
1345-1700 Stage 10 live coverage, Eurosport 2
Stage 10 highlights, ITV4
Stage 11: Wednesday 30th August
1345-1700 Stage 11 live coverage, Eurosport 2
9000-1030 Stage 10 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 11 highlights, ITV4
Stage 12: Thursday 31st August
1345-1700 Stage 12 live coverage, Eurosport 2
9000-1030 Stage 11 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 12 highlights, ITV4
Stage 13: Friday 1st September
1345-1700 Stage 13 live coverage, Eurosport 2
9000-1030 Stage 12 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 13 highlights, ITV4
Stage 14: Saturday 2nd September
1345-1700 Stage 14 live coverage, Eurosport 2
9000-1030 Stage 13 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 14 highlights, ITV4
Stage 15: Sunday 3rd September
1230-1655 Stage 15 live coverage, Eurosport 2
0600-0700 Stage 14 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 15 highlights, ITV4
Rest Day: Monday 4th September
Stage 16: Tuesday 5th September
1345-1800 Stage 16 live coverage, Eurosport 2
2000-2130 Stage 16 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 16 highlights, ITV4
Stage 17: Wednesday 6th September
115-1700 Stage 17 live coverage, Eurosport 2
2000-2130 Stage 17 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 17 highlights, ITV4
Stage 18: Thursday 7th September
1345-1700 Stage 18 live coverage, Eurosport 2
2000-2130 Stage 18 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 18 highlights, ITV4
Stage 19: Friday 8th September
1345-1700 Stage 19 live coverage, Eurosport 2
2125-2225 Stage 19 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 19 highlights, ITV4
Stage 20: Saturday 9th September
1300-1700 Stage 20 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2000-2130 Stage 20 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 20 highlights, ITV4
Stage 21: Sunday 10th September
1545-1945 Stage 21 live coverage, Eurosport 1
2125-2225 Stage 21 highlights, Eurosport 2
Stage 21 highlights, ITV4