Who doesn't love riding in Spain? The race have a number of living legends to it's tally including newly crowned world Champion, Silvio Herklotz (2018) and the runner-up, Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier who won the most recent version. Last seasons Giro winner, Rein Taaramäe won the race inbetween in 2019. Most time winners are legendary Andy Schleck, who have the race tied with former rider Francisco Mancebo - both having won the race twice. A long list of potential Grand Tour winners including the aforementioned, will have a chance at leveling the record however. Adding to the list is Angel Madrazo, Justo Tenorio and Aleksandr Pluchkin and to a lesser degree José Alarcon and Robert Gesink. Will we see any of those giving it a go? I'm sure we will!
Last season the race saw Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier run away with the crown ahead of local hero Justo Tenorio and russian Timofey Kritskiy.
This years edition will start in the small town of Rota in the province of Cádiz in the Andalusian region, and as traditions states, will finish in the capital, Madrid.
Week 1: Flat and timetrial
In the small beautiful coastcity of Rota the riders will set out for the first stage of the race. A relatively uneventful stage finishing in the citadel city of Alcalá de Guadaíra close to Seville. The stage is inviting the sprinters of the race to an early stagewin even crowning the efforts by taking the leaders jersey aswell. The finish is slightly uphill and could favor the stronger sprinters. Watch out for the long sprint, as it may cost you in the end!
Stage 2 starts in Mairena del Alcor and will finish in the town of Córdoba. The stage is intended for the sprinters, but how many will survive the difficult climbs towards the end? We are likely going to see another sprint finish, but no necessarily the same names. Also I wouldn't rule out a breakaway as the final decent isn't that far of the finish line.
Stage 3 going from Baeza to Albacete is a more regular stage. The bumps on the way to the line are classical spanish roads, and despite it going slightly up and down for most of the days, most sprinters should be able to defend themselve until the end.
Stage 4 is a circuit around Logroño, and a perfect way for the GC riders and puncheurs to gather energy for the next stage. The stage should definately be easy to control, and makes for another sprint finish.
Stage 5 from Belorado to Obregón, however could go either way. The long flat run-in towards the first climb of the day will make it difficult to bring the best suited breakaway riders into the front group, and similarly there is a fairly flat finish albeit ending in an uphill scenario. If you want to take this from the breakaway you need to be well-rounded and fast to make the early selection, otherwise it could well be a finish between the fastest puncheurs and GC riders.
Stage 6 will make use of the flat roads around Salamanca to implement a very long individual timetrial, consisting of 42 flat kilometers. This is a true powerroute, and will definately fancy the best specialists. We are likely to see two battles here. One for the stagewin, and another for the leaders jersey as stage 5 have likely made enough of a selection to keep most of the timetriallists at bay.
Stage 7 ending in Pontevedra will conclude the first week with another classic spanish sprint stage with the semidifficult climbs up ahead. The stage could be suited for some of the powerriders that didn't go flat out during the timetrial though.
Week 2: Slow start... Then Angliru?!
Stage 8 is more of the same, allowing the sprinters one final dash before heading into the more heavy stuff. The stage will finish in Haro and it's difficult to see any other option than the teams working together for a sprint finish.
Stage 9 from Faustino to Peña Cabarga will give the punchy climbers a chance to unsettle the GC. The stage is going slightly uphill in a tiring runop to the first climb of the day, before finishing in 3 steep climbs. At 213km this is the longest - and easily toughest stage of the race at this point. I would expect the GC riders fighting for the stage, but it may not be hard enough to rule out the puncheurs either. As the stage is long the endurance will need to be well spent.
Stage 10 is the first classical mountain stage as we move from Gijon into Asturias with the finish on Alto de l'Angliru! The climb is historical with the average gradients of 10,1% maxing at incredible 24%. The climb just get's tougher and tougher until it flattens just a little bit in the very final part. This is a short stage of just 138km that could see many victims falling short of the calculated time. This is the stage where you can initiate your win, or fall way short.
Stage 11 around the Malaga coast lines and hills is a well deserved breather, but as a GC contender you can't afford to sleep through the one. On paper it's a perfect breakaway stage, but the puncheurs will likely want to attack this stage at a later state. Some of the GC riders that have lost time will also look to recover and play this one aggressively.
Stage 12 from Malaga to the iconic Sierra Nevada region is tailormade for the GC riders. We can expect to see some breakaway riders getting a lot of leeway from the start, but will it be enough to fend off the GC riders once they come flying up the final climb? I doubt it.
Stage 13 is a clasical transition stage between Murcia and Benidorm and will offer a very nice and short day in the saddle. The sprinters (Whoever might remain) will try to make the most from this, but the short stages after a difficult climb isn't necessarily given as a sprint stage despite being pan flat.
Stage 14 concludes the 2nd week heading towards Valencia on a more classical spanish flat stage. It will be the last chance for the sprinters before Madrid. Can they keep it together?
Week 3: Fresh legs or die!
Stage 15 - Let's get on with it! The final week is not for the fainthearted as we kick of in Lérida and move directly into Andorra where the 220km long stage will end at Cortels d'Encamp which is roughly 9km long averaging at 8%. However the stage include another 3-4 difficult climbs and sharp downhills make this stage very difficult.
Stage 16 stays in Andorra, more specifically in Andorra la Vella. The stage is a mountainous TT of 35,6km. This could take the peep out of most people, let alone after such a difficult stage. We can expect the climbers to defend themselves well on this route as it doesn't hold a single flat km.
Stage 17 will be the last of Andorra, as we head out from Andorra le Vella towards the monumental Vallter 2000. The catalan pyrenees is well known for it's sharp skihills, and today we are crossing 4 summits on just 135km. Whatever remaining sprinters will not be looking kindly at this route, that's a given!
Stage 18 - Ahh atleast we can rest. I mean. Wait, what? From Camprodon over 5 summits before heading directly into the final ascent of Ax 3 Domains. This is just ridiculous! 160km of pure up and down. The recuperation from the riders need to be in stellar mode to survive this. We have been through so much that I can't decide which stage is the Queen Stage. This could well be it. At this state there will be many competent climbers that lost time, and this could be a well deserved breakaway win.
Stage 19 start in the Basque capital of Bilbao, before heading towards Vitoria in a very regular breakaway stage. I doubt the sprinters have enough to survive the bumps at this rate - if there are still some left, that is.
Stage 20 starts in Segovia and moves all the way to Bola del Mundo in a 170km long stage to clarify whatever needing to be cleared before heading to Madrid. Yet again a solid 5 summit mountainstage finishing on the solitude of the Bola del Mundo that shares quite some resemblances to iconic Mont Ventoux.
Stage 21 and it is all over! From Cercedilla into the cheering crowds in Madrid and it all ends in the sprint. Who is still here? Who have anything left in the tank? No one knows, but whoever wins this have showed remarkable endurance.
9 Flat (One uphill finish)
4 Hill (One hill top finish)
2 TT (42km flat, 26km MTT)
6 Mountain (6 mountain top finish)
A great GT for sprinters, with quite a lot of relatively easy flat stages. With 0 mountain stages the first week, and 2 the second week, the sprinters and breakaway specialists must be happy with the design. They'll definitely get a lot of opportunities here, I think.
The start of the final week is absolutely brutal, with 4 consecutive key GC stages, either with a MTF or the MTT. Looking forward to see the other GTs, to start speculations on who goes where of the big GC riders
That tough third week doesnt really hit my taste but it is good that one of the GT offers a route like this after last years routes were sometimes not selective enough in the final week.
