This week's rumours digest:
We start with a negative rumour: no Andorra
La Vuelta a Espanya 2022 no passarà per Andorra. Després de rebre el Tour enguany, les carreteres del país es quedaran l'estiu vinent sense veure el pas d'una gran ronda ciclista.
www.andorradifusio.ad
I guess no Pyrenees at all, but that's my own take.
Possible stage finish at
Piornal, in Extremadura. That's a modest cat2 climb (though uprised to cat1) used in 2004 and 2006 on the way to La Covatilla. They can do
Honduras W followed by Piornal W, and/or add some loops with lesser climbs around Piornal. But those are all 5-6% climbs. Not very impressive. Wait... are these good for Remco?
"Puede que sí, puede que no. Yo apostaría a que sí", dijo Javier Guillén sobre la posibilidad de regresar en 2021. Suena una etapa de montaña en Piornal.
as.com
From Guillen's mouth, stages in Extremadura are almost sure: "maybe yes, maybe not, I'd bet yes".
More from Guillén. He's had his yearly autumn holidays in the Canary Islands. this time in company of Cipollini, to witness and promote an open amateur race in Gran Canaria, praise the island as a cycling paradise and replay his usual yada, yada of taking the Vuelta there,.
Con motivo de la presentación de la Epic Gran Canaria, Cipollini y Guillén hablaron de un posible desembarco en las Canarias.
as.com
To me the associations between cycling and the major Canary Islands are Tenerife = Teide altitude camp; Gran Canaria = Eufemiano's homeland. I wonder why a sprinter like Cipo says he has fond memories of his visits to the second one.
Pico Jano in Cantabria confirmed as stage finish:
La ascensión previa hasta el embalse de Alsa y el posterior arreglo del novedoso tramo será la traca final de una jornada con un recorrido que se guarda con recelo, pero
www.eldiariomontanes.es
They'll pave the road up to the upper reservoir, making it a climb of 800m drop. The stage is said to include more climbs, but I don't know of any as hard as the final one close enough to be relevant. There's the possibility of a loop including the first 8km of that last climb followed by 8km flat and 8km downhill back to the start of the climb.
Finally, the rumour of Fancuaya in Asturias is heating up.
The article mentions road improvement works in the nearby Puerto de Marabio. This opens the possibility of linking San Lorenzo W, Marabio S and Fancuaya with barely any flat... in the valleys.
S Lorenzo W
Marabio S
Fancuaya