Vuelta 2015 rumours

[Geraint Too Fast]

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.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Expecting La Granja or Destilerías DYC to make a return as a stage town.

Would love an inclusion of Fuente de la Reina. A finish like this PRC proposed stage would be good.

 

[roundabout]

Heh, where would a Destilerias DYC sponsored finish be located now?

Segovia? Palazuelos de Eresma?

Edit: given that the Friday stage finishes in Avila it will probably be something like the 2009 profile

 

[icefire]

After recollecting all rumours, this is what the course will look like:

Stage 1: Puerto Banús (ITT/TTT)
Stage 2: Alhaurín de la Torre - Caminito del Rey (Cat2 MTF)
Stage 3: Mijas - Málaga (flat)
Stage 4: Estepona - Vejer de la frontera (HTF)
Stage 5: Sevilla??? - Córdoba???
Stage 6: Cordoba??? - Jaén??? (hilly?)
Stage 7: Jaen??? - Granada??? (hilly?, mountain?)
Stage 8: ??? - Murcia (after cat2 Cresta del Gallo)
Stage 9: ??? - Cumbre del Sol (Cat2 MTF)
Stage 10: Valencia - Castellón (after cat2 Desierto de las Palmas)
1st rest day
Stage 11: Andorra mountain stage (~4500m of climbing, MTF)
Stage 12: Andorra - somewhere in Lleida or Zaragoza???.
Stage 13: ??? - Tarazona (rolling terrain stage around Sierra del Moncayo)
Stage 14: Vitoria - Fuente del Chivo (MTF, single climb)
Stage 15: Comillas - Jitu de Escarandi (MTF, probably preceded by a few cat3 or cat2 climbs far from the finish)
Stage 16: Luarca - Ermita de Alba (~4500m of climbing , MTF)
2nd rest day
Stage 17: Burgos ITT (~40kms, flat, through the climb to the castle)
Stage 18: Roa de Duero - Valladolid (flat, windy???)
Stage 19: Medina del Campo - Ávila (hilly???)
Stage 20: Sierra de Guadarrama (mountain, downhill finish)
Stage 21: Madrid parade (flat)

There are still three unknown stages in the first week, but we know they will visit the provinces of Sevilla, Córdoba, Jaén and Granada.

There are seven confirmed uphill finishes out of nine announced. I guess that at least one of the remaining ones will be somewhere in Jaén or Granada. If there isn't any uphill finish after the ITT, the other one might be in stage 12.

Trobaniello has been known to be a hoax: the Asturian stage finishes had been decided weeks before they were announced. The mention of unpaved roads dissapeared from all sources after that announcement.

 

[May0maniac]

After recollecting all rumours, this is what the course will look like:

Stage 1: Puerto Banús (ITT/TTT)
Stage 2: Alhaurín de la Torre - Caminito del Rey (Cat2 MTF)
Stage 3: Mijas - Málaga (flat)
Stage 4: Estepona - Vejer de la frontera (HTF)
Stage 5: Sevilla??? - Córdoba???
Stage 6: Cordoba??? - Jaén??? (hilly?)
Stage 7: Jaen??? - Granada??? (hilly?, mountain?)
Stage 8: ??? - Murcia (after cat2 Cresta del Gallo)
Stage 9: ??? - Cumbre del Sol (Cat2 MTF)
Stage 10: Valencia - Castellón (after cat2 Desierto de las Palmas)
1st rest day
Stage 11: Andorra mountain stage (~4500m of climbing, MTF)
Stage 12: Andorra - somewhere in Lleida or Zaragoza???.
Stage 13: ??? - Tarazona (rolling terrain stage around Sierra del Moncayo)
Stage 14: Vitoria - Fuente del Chivo (MTF, single climb)
Stage 15: Comillas - Jitu de Escarandi (MTF, probably preceded by a few cat3 or cat2 climbs far from the finish)
Stage 16: Luarca - Ermita de Alba (~4500m of climbing , MTF)
2nd rest day
Stage 17: Burgos ITT (~40kms, flat, through the climb to the castle)
Stage 18: Roa de Duero - Valladolid (flat, windy???)
Stage 19: Medina del Campo - Ávila (hilly???)
Stage 20: Sierra de Guadarrama (mountain, downhill finish)
Stage 21: Madrid parade (flat)

There are still three unknown stages in the first week, but we know they will visit the provinces of Sevilla, Córdoba, Jaén and Granada.

There are seven confirmed uphill finishes out of nine announced. I guess that at least one of the remaining ones will be somewhere in Jaén or Granada. If there isn't any uphill finish after the ITT, the other one might be in stage 12.

Trobaniello has been known to be a hoax: the Asturian stage finishes had been decided weeks before they were announced. The mention of unpaved roads dissapeared from all sources after that announcement.

Wow, could be a great route for Vuelta standarts, stage 20 could be great, the ITT on stage 17 should create gaps that will force the climbers to attack.

 

[jens_attacks]

to attack where? on the avila walls?or navalmoral like god vdb?

one itt at the end of the first week would have been good. some super nice 50 km on some autovia like in the good old days

 

[nhowson]

Would not have expected the Vuelta route to be better than the Tour route after 2014. Downhill finish on the last stage a big and very pleasant surprise.

 

[icefire]

Stage 13 will depart from Calatayud and will enter the province of Soria before returning to Aragón for the finish at Tarazona.

http://www.desdesoria.es/?p=119919

Jaén is still discussing with Unipublic a stage finish and departure. The current proposal from the provincial authorities is to host a stage finish at Cazorla.

http://noticias.lainformacion.com/e...tivo-por-la-provincia_xgw5AEWGiN1PUnXdARhzz2/

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah, it looks pretty good, i just really hope some of these finishes are real descent finishes and that the 20th stage is a real killer.

Thanks for all the updates Icefire

 

[roundabout]

Cazorla better not be an uphill finish.

 

[icefire]

Lleida will host a stage finish.

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/notic...ra-unica-llegada-catalana-vuelta-2015-3816167

http://www.dorsal51.com/?p=19624

The second link states that this will be stage 10, before the first rest day. If this is true, a stage in Andalucía has been dropped.



EDIT: According to this tweet from a sports journalist in Barcelona, the stage to Lleida will be the day after Andorra.

https://twitter.com/qiglesias/status/549566750728409088

 

[Ricco']

Stage 20 will start in San Lorenzo de El Escorial and finish in Cercedilla.

 

[Ferminal]

lol, 15km A to B as the crow flies, Pescheux taking charge.

20km from the top of Navacerrada (less if they take a more direct route).

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Hmmm, suggests either Navacerrada north (so after a long period of flat) or Cotos (which is rather easy) as final climb. Unless they're going to do the Fuente de la Reina climb, which I doubt as I don't see them descending the side I put in one of my fantasy Vueltas.

Unless they're doing a small climb after Navacerrada approach, which would allow for part of this:

(probably the bit from the road to Navacerrada and Cerceda at 11km to the road back to Cercedilla at 16-17km).

I suppose feasibly they could do Morcuera, Cotos (or just Navacerrada south), descend Navacerrada north, Fuente de la Reina, descend into La Granja using the narrow road rather than into Valsaín (otherwise the loop would be too short) then Navacerrada north and descend into Cercedilla. Otherwise I can't see how they'd make a legitimately difficult stage out of this.

 

[icefire]

According to AS, that last mountain stage will be within the boundaries of Madrid. I dont know what to think, as general sports media use to be clueless about cycling. You can't ride through Navacerrada or Cotos without crossing the boundaries of Madrid.

The funny thing in the AS article: a risk report recommended not including sterrato in the race. I wonder who at Puripublic wrote that report

http://ciclismo.as.com/ciclismo/201...tml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

 

[roundabout]

A stage start in San Lorenzo de El Escorial is ok. I was worried that it would be Avila.

But a finish in Cercedilla, ugh.

 

[icefire]

I had overlooked it, but the AS article also mentions an uphill finish somewhere in Granada in stage 7.

What I can't figure out is the three mountain stages without uphill finish after the ITT in Burgos. Stage 19 with finish in Avila coming from the north can't have more than a few cat3 and a cat2 climb. And I can't see stage 18 departing from Roa de Duero and finishing either in Valladolid or Segovia as a 'mountain' stage. That region is flat as a pan.

 

[roundabout]

Roa de Duero is probably close enough to Segovia to do a loop with Navacerrada in it.

But I really doubt that something like that is going to actually happen.

 

[icefire]

Roa de Duero is probably close enough to Segovia to do a loop with Navacerrada in it.

But I really doubt that something like that is going to actually happen.

A loop with Navacerrada north and Navacerrada south as the stage to Bola del Mundo in 2010 would be over 210kms. A shorther option would be a loop with only Fuente de la Reina.

 

[roundabout]

I was actually thinking just Leon and Navacerrada S. Would probably be just about under 210 k.

Edit: with a flat stage before Navacerrada N, it's probably possible to do a slightly shorter loop than in 2010?

 

[icefire]

I was actually thinking just Leon and Navacerrada S. Would probably be just about under 210 k.

Edit: with a flat stage before Navacerrada N, it's probably possible to do a slightly shorter loop than in 2010?

It's possible, but it'd probably be too short to fit all the caravan in it. The shortest feasible loop would be around Los Molinos, Collado Mediano and back to the village of Navacerrada. The stage would be just under 205k.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

A loop with Navacerrada north and Navacerrada south as the stage to Bola del Mundo in 2010 would be over 210kms. A shorther option would be a loop with only Fuente de la Reina.

Navafría-Cotos-Fuente de la Reina?

 

[icefire]

Navafría-Cotos-Fuente de la Reina?

That's perfectly feasible, but Navafría and Cotos are 5-6% climbs with 600m drop. That'd be a joke of a 'mountain' stage even if Fuente de la Reina has the gradient to break the peloton.

 

[Red Rick]

Wait, are we talking about a 200km plus 'mountain' stage in the Vuelta. Even that impresses me

 

[Descender]

Looks like Descender will be right in the end

About what? I mean, I'm right about everything, but what are you referring to specifically?