Yet more details have now emerged of the 2016 Vuelta a Espana route, with Spanish daily AS reporting that although there will be ten summit finishes - one more than in 2015 - t will be much less mountainous overall with fewer lengthy transfers.
Much of the early segment of cycling's third Grand Tour of the year, running in 2016 from August 20 to September 9, was already public knowledge. As in 2013, the Vuelta will start with a team time trial in Galicia, and it will again be medium-length - 28 kilometres, a similar distance to 2013's total of 27.4 kilometres.
There will be a further five stages in the north-westerly region, one more than in 2013. Two of them end with short but difficult summit finishes at the ultra-steep Mirador de Ezaro on stage three and, the following day, at San Andrés de Teixido. Having left Galicia on stage seven, two much more challenging days in the mountains, to La Camperona in northern Spain on stage eight and the nearby Lagos de Covadonga, one of Spain's most legendary finishes, on stage ten, then round off the first block of racing.
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Following a rest day and a short hop east, yet more stages in northern Spain are planned for Cantabria, the Basque Country and Navarre, culminating with a brief, but punchy, incursion at the end of the second week into the Pyrenees, and perhaps, France. According to AS, the Aubisque could well be another summit finish, but no Pyrenean stages as hard as the Vuelta's ultra-difficult stage in Andorra in 2015 are on the cards.
A second rest day brings the Vuelta south to the region of Valencia for three stages, concluding with a time trial on stage 18 between Xavea and Calpe that is set to be similar in length to the 'chrono' in Burgos in the third week of 2015. A final trek through the mountains of south-east Spain follows before la Vuelta then swings back towards Madrid for a finish in the capital on September 9.
Overall, the Vuelta route, if confirmed, would have a harder first half compared to 2015, but it would then be far easier in the second part. The focus of the second and third weeks, in fact, could largely centre on the final time trial.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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