Bicycle Racing News and Opinion
Saturday, January 10, 2015

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2015 Vuelta A España Route presented

I just posted the map and some statistics about the 2015 Vuelta.

2014 Vuelta winner Alberto Contador with second-place Chris Froome

For 2015, the Vuelta organisers have crafted a route climbers will love. There are nine hill-top finishes with only 39 kilometers of individual time trialing on the Vuelta's penultimate day, plus the stage one 7.4 km team time trial.

During the first week the Vuelta will race in southern Spain. Then comes some very difficult mountain stages. The eleventh stage will be raced entirely withying the borders of Andorra. It will have three category one climbs followed by the "special" (wich means really difficult) category Collada de la Gallina then a second category ascent that preceeds the first-category hill-top finish at Alto Els Cortals d'Encamp. We should have a good handle on who's in the hunt for the final victory by then.

Stage 11's challenging profile.

There's still lots more difficult climbing to follow. Katusha racer and Vuelta third-place finisher in 2010 and 2012 Joaquim Rodriguez said that the sixteenth stage "will go down in history". Rodriguez further said that the 2015 edition "...is a very hard Vuelta, as in recent years. You'll have to be in good condition from start to finish. You will not have a chance to find your form during the race."

Last year the Vuelta finished at Santiago de Compostela but for 2015 the Vuelta will go back to the usual final stage ending in Madrid.

2014 Vuelta winner Alberto Contador will probably not be on the start line for the 2015 edition. Contador is planning on doing the Giro-Tour double instead. However, 2014 second-place finisher Chris Froome might be on the Vuelta's start line in August.

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