Vuelta a Espana 2017 route confirmed

Cyclist magazine

12 Jan 2017

The route of the 2017 Vuelta a Espana has been revealed at the official presentation

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, has now been 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 the penultimate stage.

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 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.