The 2017 Vuelta a Espana route has been revealed and will feature nine summit finishes, including an ascent of the Angliru on the penultimate stage.
The official presentation takes place this evening (Thursday) in Madrid, but the route appeared in advance in the Spanish media.
The final route, including race distances and confirmed intermediate points is still open to speculation, but the stage start and finish locations have been leaked giving an idea of where the Spanish Grand Tour will go.
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
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 nine summit finishes look to be evenly spread throughout the three week Grand Tour, with three per week. The first comes on stage five up to the Hermitage of Santa Lucia.
The next two summit finishes come back-to-back on stages eight and nine with climbs of Xorret de Cati and Cumbre del Sol.
The first rest day follows this double header, 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 recommence 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 clopes 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 could 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 route: stage-by-stage
Stage one: Nimes (Fra) – Nimes (Fra) (TTT)
Stage two: Nimes (Fra) – Gruissan (Fra)
Stage three: Prades (Fra) – Andorra La Vella (And)
Stage four: Escaldes (And) – Tarragona (Esp)
Stage five: Benicassim – Ermita Santa Lucia (summit finish)
Stage six: Villareal – Sagunto
Stage seven: Lliria – Cuenca
Stage eight: Hellin – Xorret de Cati (summit finish)
Stage nine: Orihuela – Cumbre del Sol (summit finish)
Rest day
Stage 10: Caravaca – Le Pozo (Alhama)
Stage 11: Lorca – Calar Alto (summit finish)
Stage 12: Motril – Antequera
Stage 13: Coin – Tomares
Stage 14: Ecija – La Pandera (summit finish)
Stage 15: Alcala la Real – Sierra Nevada (summit finish)
Rest/transition day
Stage 16: Los Arcos – Logrono (ITT)
Stage 17: Viladiego – Los Machucos (summit finish)
Stage 18: Suances – Santo Toribio de Liebana (summit finish)
Stage 19: Parque de Redes – Gijon
Stage 20: Corvera – Angliru (summit finish)
Stage 21: Arroyomolinos – Madrid