A mountainous 2012 Vuelta a Espana route has been unveiled, with seven summit finishes and just one hilly individual time trial.
The third and final Grand Tour of the year, undoubtedly a race for climbers, starts with a 16.2km team time trial in Pamplona, home to the running of the bulls, on Saturday August 18.
The whole race takes place in the northern half of Spain with back-to-back summit finishes on stages three and four to provide an early test for general classification contenders. A total of seven mountaintop finales feature, as well as three explosive, uphill finishes.
The race’s single individual time trial comes on stage 11, with a lumpy 40km test from Cambados to Pontevedra.
Three consecutive summit finishes on stages 14,15 and 16 could see the general classification settled ahead of the second rest day, with one final day in the mountains on stage 20 before the final stage into Madrid on Sunday September 9.
The challenging route met the approval of Katusha’s Joaquim Rodríguez, who believes the mountainous profile is perfectly suited to his strengths as one of the sport’s pure climbers.
He said: “It’s a surprising, it’s demanding, it will be a beautiful Vuelta. There are a lot of hard stages,” said Rodriguez. “Everyone knows that I really suffer in time trials, so this Vuelta route is ideal for me. Even the one time trial has a climb, which will help me limit my losses.”
And Miguel Indurain, who won five consecutive Tours de France from 1991 to 1995, admitted the seven summit finishes would have left him “stuffed from the start” had he still been riding.
Indurain added: “It wouldn’t have been possible for me to win this…too many summit finishes and very little time trialling. But this kind of route is exactly what the fans want, and the climbing specialists will have a great chance to win the race.”
Geox-TMC rider Juan Jose Cobo won the 2011 Vuelta ahead of British Team Sky duo Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins.
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2012 Vuelta a Espana route
Stage one – Saturday August 18: Pamplona-Pamplona, team time trial, 14.2 km, flat
Stage two – Sunday August 19: Pamplona-Viana, 140 km, flat
Stage three – Monday August 20: Oion-Arrate (Eibar), 153km, summit finish
Stage four – Tuesday August 21, Baracaldo-Valdezcaray, 155.4 km, summit finish
Stage five – Wednesday August 22, Logroño-Logroño, 172km, flat
Stage six – Thursday August 23, Tarazona-El Fuerte del Rapitán (Jaca), 174.8km, uphill finish
Stage seven – Friday August 24, Huesca-Motorland (Alcañiz), 140km, flat
Stage eight – Saturday August 25, Lleida-Santuario Canolich (Collada de la Gallina), 175km, summit finish
Stage nine – Sunday August 26, Andorra-Barcelona, 194km, hilly
Rest day – Monday August 27, 1,200km transfer Barcelona-Ponteareas
Stage 10 – Tuesday August 28, Ponteareas-Sanxenxo, 144.5km, hilly
Stage 11 – Wednesday August 29, Cambados-Pontevedra, 42km, individual time trial, hilly
Stage 12 – Thursday August 20, Vilagarcía-Mirador de Ezaro (A Coruña), 184.5km, uphill finish
Stage 13 – Friday August 31, Santiago de Compostela-Ferrol, 172.7km, flat
Stage 14 – Saturday September 1, Palas de Rei-Los Ancares, 152km, summit finish
Stage 15 – Sunday September 2, La Robla-Lagos de Covadonga, 186.7km, summit finish
Stage 16 – Monday September 3, Gijón-Cuitu Negro, 185km, summit finish
Rest day – Tuesday September 4
Stage 17 – Wednesday September 5, Santander-Fuente Dé, 177km, uphill finish
Stage 18 – Thursday September 6, Aguilar de Campoo-Valladolid, 186.4km, flat
Stage 19 – Friday September 7, Peñafiel-La Lastrilla, 169km, flat
Stage 20 – Saturday September 8, La Faisanera Golf-Bola del Mundo, 169.5km, summit finish
Stage 21 – Sunday September 9, Cercedilla-Madrid, 111km, flat
