Vuelta a España 2012 - Rumours, Route etc.

[Descender]

Vuelta a España 2012 - Rumours, Route etc.

It will start in Pamplona with a prologue, then a flat stage around Viana. This much has been oficially announced.

Now, as to the circulating rumours, the organisers want to bring the race to the Canary Islands. If not in 2012, then in 2013. They would make two stages on Tenerife and two on Gran Canaria, climbing the Teide in the first one, possibly twice, topping at the Puerto de Izaña first.

Both are roughly 45kms long and 5,1% gradient.

Now in these past days word has been spread that Olano and co. are planning a stage with a finish on top of San Miguel de Aralar, which is Navarre, like Pamplona, so I don't think that would be feasible for next year.

11kms at 8%. The road is completely cemented, Bola del Mundo-like.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

potentially epic.

 

[dlwssonic]

potentially epic.

But it won't be, thanks to the organisers. No way will they use those 60km or 40km climbs.
Only the Giro would.

 

[Lupetto]

I'd love to see them doing the Canary Islands. Going there in 2012 would mean, that the the Vuelta will finish there.

It's not just that the Canary Islands offer long climbing, there are also a lot of really steep roads with 1-2 km at 15+%.

 

[jens_attacks]

they will go to canary but i think only in 2013
i expect some pyrenees and way more itt kms

 

[Parrulo]

vuelta is looking good so far

hopefully the vuelta organizers realized that to make the vuelta great they need to go the same way the giro did by making it spectacular and not conservative.

 

[Descender]

vuelta is looking good so far

hopefully the vuelta organizers realized that to make the vuelta great they need to go the same way the giro did by making it spectacular and not conservative.

They won't, believe me.

Olano has been quoted saying they were scared about the Sierra Nevada stage because it might create big gaps, but fortunately it didn't. And he said they are not going to change the overal style of the race.

The Vuelta organisers are PURPOSEDLY trying to make stages short and easy until the last climb so that the gaps are small.

They are shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[Parrulo]

They won't, believe me.

Olano has been quoted saying they were scared about the Sierra Nevada stage because it might create big gaps, but fortunately it didn't. And he said they are not going to change the overal style of the race.

The Vuelta organisers are PURPOSEDLY trying to make stages short and easy until the last climb so that the gaps are small.

They are shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[jens_attacks]

probably they will go again in euskadi hopefully this time on a crazy decisive parcours

 

[luckyboy]

Teide twice?!

 

[Lupetto]

A fantasy Vuelta a España with Islas Canarias.

 

[luckyboy]

That would be an interesting prospect. First 18 days wouldn't be too exciting GC-wise though. 91.6km seems a lot of TTing too.

 

[Parrulo]

A fantasy Vuelta a España with Islas Canarias.

honestly thats awful . . .

 

[Ferminal]

Now in these past days word has been spread that Olano and co. are planning a stage with a finish on top of San Miguel de Aralar, which is Navarre, like Pamplona, so I don't think that would be feasible for next year.

11kms at 8%. The road is completely cemented, Bola del Mundo-like.

Looks good, are there climbs nearby to make it a hard day?

Edit: Read your above post about them not wanting hard days

 

[roundabout]

A fantasy Vuelta a España with Islas Canarias.

First 18 days "made by Unipublic" last 3 by RCS.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Looks good, are there climbs nearby to make it a hard day?

Edit: Read your above post about them not wanting hard days

There are a few smallish climbs around there they can add. Personally I'd prefer them to do that then have the 20km flat or so to Monréal and finish on the Higo de Monréal (8,1km, 9,5%):

If they're starting in Pamplona then I'd guess there won't be too much Pyrenées, as they would therefore be right near the start of the race. This would probably mean that Cerler or Valdelinares is the most we can hope for in the northeast - no Coll de Pal until 2013 at the earliest unfortunately!

If they go clockwise I'd expect them to head down through Cuenca, maybe Xorret del Catí or another short mountain in the Valencia area, before heading down into Andalucía for the first set of mountains proper. Calar Alto perhaps? Haza del Lino is the unlikely dream of course; then they can head north and throw in the Asturian mountains to finish people off.

If they go anticlockwise, however, you could have a very tough first week in País Vasco. If so, I'd like a finish in Galdakao after doing the other, harder side of El Vivero from Lezama (4km @ just over 8%), or even a stage with the Alto de Aia in - after all, the Vuelta organisers like their punchy finishes. After this you could go through Cantabria. Finishing on Peña Cabarga has been done the last two years, so best not saturate this - but Cueva el Soplao could be good, it was used in the nationals in 2009 - it's about 5km @ 7%, so would be your early on uphill sprint-from-the-elites stage. Then you could use the Asturian mountains or the area around Ponferrada (I ask for Collado Trevinca, but I would expect Alto del Morredero to be more likely) as the first set of true mountain stages at the end of week 1, before some transitioning down to the south for the end of week 2, with the Andalucían mountains providing the coup de gras. I'd love a stage into Portugal finishing with a circuit of Guarda - that's short and uphill, but not certainly a steep finish for the puncheurs - a strong sprinter who can go uphill a bit could win it, the puncheurs could take it, or if the GC riders force things they could open up some small gaps. It would be a pretty interesting finish since nearly everybody could feel they could win. For the absolute, absolute coup de gras, a stage that ends with the climb up from Fuengirola to the Cerro del Morro. There are a number of ways to get there, but the last 5km are the same - all at over 9%, closing at a kilometre of over 11%.

There are steeper ways to get to that 5km too.

 

[The Hitch]

If the prodical son confirms his return (Valverde too) then surely they will include that climb that is so close to his native Madrid that was so successful in 2010 so that all the fans can come out and the home hero can get that special win.

 

[auscyclefan94]

If the prodical son confirms his return (Valverde too) then surely they will include that climb that is so close to his native Madrid that was so successful in 2010 so that all the fans can come out and the home hero can get that special win.

I think I may need a bucket if you keep glorifying Contador as some sort of God.

 

[will10]

I think I may need a bucket if you keep glorifying Contador as some sort of God.

 

[LukeSchmid]

Lol lol lol

 

[Forunculo]

I think I may need a bucket if you keep glorifying Contador as some sort of God.

Enjoy, this is Cadel's year

 

[The Hitch]

I think I may need a bucket if you keep glorifying Contador as some sort of God.

Learn English. I glorified Contador as a god of Spanish people not as my god.

I called him 1 the prodigal son and 2 the home hero.

Both suggest the support is coming from his compatriots and his home country not from me

But if you keep complaining every time i praise a rider (thats 3 totaly different riders in the last month) i might just start making a list so that I know which riders to hype in order to annoy you.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

pic

ahaha

 

[icefire]

If the prodical son confirms his return (Valverde too) then surely they will include that climb that is so close to his native Madrid that was so successful in 2010 so that all the fans can come out and the home hero can get that special win.

I've read in some interviews with Mr Guillén that he sees three years as the ideal revisit interval for 'iconic' climbs such as Angliru or Bola del Mundo. Other climbs with lesser status may feature more frequently, especially in their first visits.

My guess for next year is just based on the trend of typical Vuelta course in recent years and geography. The start is confirmed in Pamplona. Guillén has also confirmed that they have received requests to host stages from Catalunya (to the east) and Asturias (to the west). I can see those choices being mutually exclusive, so they'll go either to the east or the west. Whatever the mountains they visit in the north (either the Pyrenees or the Cantabrian range) that will be in the first half of the race so they'll only do single climb stages. That leaves the fireworks for a mountain range in the south that Cadel Evans fans will remember with anger from 2009.

For the last weekend, they might do Bola del Mundo. But I wish they restored the tarmac in Monte Abantos and the nearby roads and they do some silly loops with nasty climbs around El Escorial. After three weeks of racing that might be more than enough to shuffle a bit the GC if it is close. Mind you, Cadel Evans lost his podium spot in 2007 droping from 2nd to 4th in the two stages they hosted there.

 

[Descender]

The AS newspaper publishes today some rumours regarding next year's edition of the Vuelta. According to them, a return of the Bola del Mundo is very likely, and the race could also go back to the Ancares region and finish atop the Lagos de Covadonga, with the last 4 stages in the Canary Islands.

Personally I'd give more credibility to the Bola del Mundo talk than to the northern rumours. I suspect they will turn east from the start in Navarre, with a MTF in Andorra, and then down to Madrid and to the south before making the trip to the islands. But if the organisers can't get sufficient economic support from the Catalan cities, they will surely go for the Ancares-Asturias option.