Vuelta 2015 rumours

[icefire]

The local news from Burgos bring something interesting:

There will be a mass start stage with finish in Burgos before the second rest day and only two stages in the Cantabric mountain range. We know the finish in Fuente del Chivo on the Saturday at the end of the second week, and we know that the day after there will be a stage in Asturias. So it looks that Monday before the second rest day might be a flat stage from somewhere in León to Burgos. Echelons?

The ITT will climb to the castle, but will finish at the cathedral square.

http://www.diariodeburgos.es/noticia/Z8A0283A9-B7BE-5374-CD6E4FFA5CCB425B/20141208/meta/catedral

 

[icefire]

From an interview with Purito:
* Unipublic asked him to design the mountain stage in Andorra
* He can't tell anything but it will be harder than any other stage he recalls in recent Vueltas

http://www.vavel.com/es/ciclismo/42...portante-y-los-objetivos-mas-complicados.html

How often do we see an active rider designing a race he will race and try to win?

AS editor JA Ezquerro believes that yesterday's news in Diario de Burgos were wrong. There will be two stages in Asturias on Sunday and Monday, rest day on Tuesday and the ITT on Wednesday. So the peloton will arrive to Burgos by bus, not riding their bikes.

https://twitter.com/JAEzquerro/status/542285730836656128

 

[Ferminal]

Seems they are going with Alba...

http://www.biciciclismo.com/es/vuel...a-dos-finales-ineditos-en-asturias-11-12-2014

It's a bit of a half Mortirolo, and stupid gradients in the last km... So potentially not ideal for a "Queen" but obviously it depends what comes before (Gardeccia was a Queen afterall). Obviously there are plenty of options for crazy chains so let's hope for a bit more than Coboteria.

Finish in Sotres the day before is meh or ok depending on how you look at it, I guess they will take it to the top of the ramp:

 

[icefire]

Guillén imposed his view and Asturias won't get the donwhill finish the authorities wanted. And we won't get Trobaniello.

The stage to Sotres will finish at 1300m, so they'll do the whole climb.

http://www.ciclismoenasturias.com/i...e-la-vuelta-2015&catid=38:noticias&Itemid=120

The stage smells to MTF preceded by a few irrelevant cat3 or cat2 climbs far from the finish. More or less like Covadonga, but looking at the climb profile its obvious that nothing will happen before the last 3-4 kms. Same story, different place. We'll enjoy the landscape anyway.
http://www.39x28altimetrias.com/jitudeescarandi.html

 

[Red Rick]

Guillen is super pathetic as a race organiser. He's a disgrace to the sport

 

[icefire]

Guillen is super pathetic as a race organiser. He's a disgrace to the sport

Unipublic is making more profits now than 5 years ago despite the economic conditions in Spain, so he's convinced he's a genius and everything is due to his stage designs where GC men are forced to show up in almost every stage but GC gaps are minimal until the end of the race. He can't see that his main source of income is his home country and this will stop working the moment Purito, Valverde and Contador are out of the picture.

 

[Red Rick]

You're probably right. And the Vuelta needs its own identity. The Giro has her cool hilly and medium mountain stages and epic mountain stages. The Tour has their classic, historic climbs so overused I want to nuke half of them and now the Vuelta has their infinite amount of finishes on stupid gradients.

I think they should stand out as the race that tries something new every year, without it just being another wall finish. Trobaniello would've been great, a dirt climb not being the finishing climb.

 

[icefire]

You're probably right. And the Vuelta needs its own identity. The Giro has her cool hilly and medium mountain stages and epic mountain stages. The Tour has their classic, historic climbs so overused I want to nuke half of them and now the Vuelta has their infinite amount of finishes on stupid gradients.

I think they should stand out as the race that tries something new every year, without it just being another wall finish. Trobaniello would've been great, a dirt climb not being the finishing climb.

The idea of the Vuelta being the race that tries something new every year is being exploited with very good results

Guillén: we've got agreements for 3 stages in a planet I can't reveal yet

from https://twitter.com/aigorgaldeano

 

[Kwibus]

The idea of the Vuelta being the race that tries something new every year is being exploited with very good results

Guillén: we've got agreements for 3 stages in a planet I can't reveal yet

from https://twitter.com/aigorgaldeano

Brilliant.

Rodriguez was talking about the hardest stage in years for the Vuelta. Makes me curious.

 

[icefire]

Some details of the first stages hosted in Málaga will be made public today.

The towns hosting stage departures after the TT will be Alhaurín de la Torre, Mijas and Estepona. The 2nd and 3rd stages will finish in Antequera and the top of Mesas de Villaverde respectively. The 4th stage will finish in the province of Cádiz.

Details of Mesas de Villaverde:

http://www.laopiniondemalaga.es/tod...lla-alhaurin-torre-mijas-estepona/730226.html

 

[icefire]

La Opinión de Málaga got the finish in Antequera wrong. The first four stages will be:

Stage 1: Puerto Banús TT
Stage 2: Alhaurín de la Torre - Caminito del Rey
Stage 3: Mijas - Málaga
Stage 4: Estepona - Vejer de la Frontera

Caminito del Rey is an air pathway in the walls of the Gaitanes Gorge at the base of the climb to Mesas de Villaverde.

http://www.mundodeportivo.com/20141...n-la-proxima-vuelta-a-espana_54421919674.html

 

[coimbrawu]

La Opinión de Málaga got the finish in Antequera wrong. The first four stages will be:

Stage 1: Puerto Banús TT
Stage 2: Alhaurín de la Torre - Caminito del Rey
Stage 3: Mijas - Málaga
Stage 4: Estepona - Vejer de la Frontera

Caminito del Rey is an air pathway in the walls of the Gaitanes Gorge at the base of the climb to Mesas de Villaverde.

http://www.mundodeportivo.com/20141...n-la-proxima-vuelta-a-espana_54421919674.html

Caminito del Rey looks ridiculous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDhRvvs5Xw

 

[Christian]

I don't know what they mean by Caminito del Rey. Maybe there are a few passages that resemble more to a road but the parts that I have seen are impossible to use for a bike race. I know they supposedly restored it but still, unless they install nets underneath it to catch the riders who fall off I can't imagine them using it. Maybe they finish somewhere close to it or something like that.

Should be a gorgeous stage though. I have taken the train between Sevilla and Malaga many times and it is the most beautiful train ride that I know. You can see the caminito from the train, you go through tunnels and ride right along the abyss. There are one or two villages up there where the train sometimes stops, I've always wanted to visit them but never got around to it

 

[Christian]

This is what it looks like today. edit: this is what it's supposed to look like when it's done

Here is a very interesting article about the restauration and the history of the Caminito:

http://viajesferroviarios.blogspot.fr/2014/10/el-chorro-la-estacion-magica-de.html

Apparently they used drones to get all the material up there

 

[icefire]

I don't know what they mean by Caminito del Rey. Maybe there are a few passages that resemble more to a road but the parts that I have seen are impossible to use for a bike race. I know they supposedly restored it but still, unless they install nets underneath it to catch the riders who fall off I can't imagine them using it. Maybe they finish somewhere close to it or something like that.

Should be a gorgeous stage though. I have taken the train between Sevilla and Malaga many times and it is the most beautiful train ride that I know. You can see the caminito from the train, you go through tunnels and ride right along the abyss. There are one or two villages up there where the train sometimes stops, I've always wanted to visit them but never got around to it

The stage is announced as a hill top finish. Some sources wrote of a stage finish at Mesas de Villaverde, which is the hill on the west bank of the river just south of the gorge. I posted here a profil of the climb and link to a page with pictures and a map.

I guess they've chosen to use the name of Caminito del Rey to promote the hike path which is expected to open next summer after restoration works are completed.

 

[Christian]

The stage is announced as a hill top finish. Some sources wrote of a stage finish at Mesas de Villaverde, which is the hill on the west bank of the river just south of the gorge. I posted here a profil of the climb and link to a page with pictures and a map.

I guess they've chosen to use the name of Caminito del Rey to promote the hike path which is expected to open next summer after restoration works are completed.

Ah, thanks! I agree, it is probably for promotional purposes that they call it Caminito del Rey. It truly is an amazing site, now that it is reasonably safe I would love to do it some day

 

[icefire]

In today's news:

UCI denies RFEC permission to celebrate a women's race the last day of the Vuelta.

In a smaller box, the number of uphill finishes is confirmed to be 9, all of them new. So far we know:
* Stage 2: Mesas de Villaverde (Caminito del Rey)
* Stage 9: climb in Alicante/Valencia already decided but not published yet
* Stage 11: climb in Andorra not known/published yet
* Stage 14: Fuente del Chivo
* Stage 15: Sotres (Jitu de Escarandi)
* Stage 16: Ermita de Alba

From the remaining three, at least one will be in the first week of the race in Andalucía.

http://ciclismo.as.com/ciclismo/2014/12/18/vuelta_espana/1418940116_785242.html

 

[icefire]

Stage 9 finish has been revealed: Cumbre del Sol in Benitatxell (Alicante). There are no details of the stage parcourse, but there is terrain for plenty of hills before the last ramp.

This is the only profile I've found, but I've read of a different road reaching the top in 4kms @ 10%.

So we have:
Stage 8: Murcia after Cresta del Gallo (cat 2)
Stage 9: Cumbre del Sol (HTF)
Stage 10: Castellón after Desierto de las Palmas (cat 2)
Rest day
Stage 11: big mountain stage in Andorra

http://www.ciclo21.com/la-vuelta-2015-subira-a-la-cumbre-del-sol-perfil/

 

[veji11]

Stage 9 finish has been revealed: Cumbre del Sol in Benitatxell (Alicante). There are no details of the stage parcourse, but there is terrain for plenty of hills before the last ramp.

This is the only profile I've found, but I've read of a different road reaching the top in 4kms @ 10%.

I am definitely not a fan of the Vuelta's race for crazy inclines, but very irregular climbs like this one are nice, and to me funnier to watch than a regular 5 kms @12 or 14% climb.

 

[icefire]

More news today:

Stage 13 (Friday 4th of September) will be around Sierra del Moncayo and will finish in Tarazona. This is the region that hosted the ITT in 2013 and 2014.

http://www.aragondigital.es/noticia.asp?notid=127625

The stages after the 2nd rest day will be:
Stage 17: ITT in Burgos
Stage 18: Roa de Duero - Valladolid (flat, maybe windy)
Stage 19: Medina del Campo - Ávila (flat / hilly)
Stage 20: Sierra de Guadarrama (mountain)
Stage 21: final parade in Madrid

All the rumours so far have hinted that there won't be a MTF in the second last stage. If this is true and that stage only includes the known climbs in the area, GC might be decided on Wednesday.

http://www.eldiadevalladolid.com/no...1224/vuelta/españa/ultima/etapa/roavalladolid

 

[roundabout]

First 17 stage Vuelta since 2011.

 

[Red Rick]

Looks like Descender will be right in the end

 

[Libertine Seguros]

More news today:

Stage 13 (Friday 4th of September) will be around Sierra del Moncayo and will finish in Tarazona. This is the region that hosted the ITT in 2013 and 2014.

http://www.aragondigital.es/noticia.asp?notid=127625

The stages after the 2nd rest day will be:
Stage 17: ITT in Burgos
Stage 18: Roa de Duero - Valladolid (flat, maybe windy)
Stage 19: Medina del Campo - Ávila (flat / hilly)
Stage 20: Sierra de Guadarrama (mountain)
Stage 21: final parade in Madrid

All the rumours so far have hinted that there won't be a MTF in the second last stage. If this is true and that stage only includes the known climbs in the area, GC might be decided on Wednesday.

http://www.eldiadevalladolid.com/no...1224/vuelta/españa/ultima/etapa/roavalladolid

Give us a nice tough San Lorenzo de El Escorial stage and it could be interesting. Otherwise a very tame ending.

 

[Ferminal]

First 17 stage Vuelta since 2011.

Took me way too long to get that...

I agree it's shaping up as a bit of a stinker, more so than "normal".

As we know a lot of potential with unused finishes but seems more along the lines of "let's go find 10 never before used finishes with similar characteristics as our favourites, just a bit worse". End result is a hatful of 20-30min climbs that have most bored ****less half way in.

 

[icefire]

From today's print edition of Marca:

* Stage 4 to Vejer de la Frontera will finish in a ramp 1.5kms long. I guess this wil be similar to stage 3 this year that Michael Mathews won.
* Stage 11 in Andorra will have more than 4700m of climbing
* Stage 16 to Ermita de Alba will challenge for Queen stage. If this is true, the race will have 2 stages with more than 4500m of climbing. This is unprecedented in Guillén's era.
* Stage 20 will be on the roads of the Sierra de Guadarrama, but won't finish on a climb.

So far we know seven uphill finishes:
* Stage 2: Caminito del Rey
* Stage 4: Vejer de la Frontera
* Stage 9: Cumbres del Sol
* Stage 11: Andorra MTF, not yet revealed
* Stage 14: Fuente del Chivo
* Stage 15: Sotres (Jitu de Escarandi)
* Stage 16: Ermita de Alba

We're still missing two.