Vuelta a España 2019 Rumours

[ice&fire]

Although this was announced last month at the beginning of this year's race, the news has been under the radar.

The Vuelta 2019 will start at a place that could be a perfect background for its Italian counterpart: the pink salt lake of Torrevieja, South of Alicante. The first stage is still to be decided if it will be ITT or TTT. The province of Alicante will also host stages 2 and 3, with Guillén remarking the abundance of mountains in the area.

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/deportes/la-vuelta-2019-saldra-de-las-salinas-torrevieja/10006-3728640

Very little is known from the rest of the route. Guillén said that they had about 80% of it, but only two host towns have been aired:

Toledo will host a state finish as a tribute to Bahamontes in the 60th anniversary of his TDF win. IIRC he must be the oldest surviving TDF winner.
http://www.europapress.es/castilla-lamancha/noticia-toledo-podria-albergar-etapa-vuelta-2019-homenaje-60-aniversario-victoria-bahamontes-tour-20180506134123.html

And Pau will host a mid race TT, with an additional stage finish on French soil.
https://www.ciclismoafondo.es/grandes-vueltas/vuelta-a-espana/articulo/francia-parada-y-fonda-del-perfil-mas-internacional-de-la-vuelta-2019

 

[Red Rick]

Can't possibly worse than this year, although I guess they could've had a TTT to start and less ITT'ing.

 

[CaptainSpenno]

Amazing result for us having bought property between the two lakes earlier this year. That's next August's trip sorted & looking forward to hearing the rest of the route.
There is certainly plenty of good riding & running!) in the area.

 

[luckyboy]

W52 are going ProConti so let's get em there

Gonçalo Moreira @gmoreira_esp
Exciting news for POR: after media reports about the possibility of @w52fcporto turn Pro Conti in 2019 I confirmed with a few sources that this is indeed the reality. I was also told that @Tiagomachado85 will be on the roster.
Since Benfica (2008) no POR team achieved PC level.

@gmoreira_esp
To be clear. Every summer there are rumours regarding W52. This year the paperwork was actually submited to the UCI that must aprove or reject the bid.
Sources outside W52 told me this shouldn't be a problem; rarely this type of requests are denied without a major issue occuring.

https://twitter.com/gmoreira_esp

 

[fauniera]

The Vuelta 2019 will start at a place that could be a perfect background for its Italian counterpart: the pink salt lake of Torrevieja, South of Alicante. The first stage is still to be decided if it will be ITT or TTT.

How about using the sterrato in the middle of the lake?

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

W52 are going ProConti so let's get em there

Gonçalo Moreira @gmoreira_esp
Exciting news for POR: after media reports about the possibility of @w52fcporto turn Pro Conti in 2019 I confirmed with a few sources that this is indeed the reality. I was also told that @Tiagomachado85 will be on the roster.
Since Benfica (2008) no POR team achieved PC level.

@gmoreira_esp
To be clear. Every summer there are rumours regarding W52. This year the paperwork was actually submited to the UCI that must aprove or reject the bid.
Sources outside W52 told me this shouldn't be a problem; rarely this type of requests are denied without a major issue occuring.

https://twitter.com/gmoreira_esp

Oh boy, that's probaby gonna end like Funic.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

W52 are going ProConti so let's get em there

Gonçalo Moreira @gmoreira_esp
Exciting news for POR: after media reports about the possibility of @w52fcporto turn Pro Conti in 2019 I confirmed with a few sources that this is indeed the reality. I was also told that @Tiagomachado85 will be on the roster.
Since Benfica (2008) no POR team achieved PC level.

@gmoreira_esp
To be clear. Every summer there are rumours regarding W52. This year the paperwork was actually submited to the UCI that must aprove or reject the bid.
Sources outside W52 told me this shouldn't be a problem; rarely this type of requests are denied without a major issue occuring.

https://twitter.com/gmoreira_esp

Is this the uci's answer to sky's dominance? Fighting fire with fire?

 

[CaptainSpenno]

The Vuelta 2019 will start at a place that could be a perfect background for its Italian counterpart: the pink salt lake of Torrevieja, South of Alicante. The first stage is still to be decided if it will be ITT or TTT.

How about using the sterrato in the middle of the lake?

Smoother riding than some of the roads as you cross into Murcia!

 

[Red Rick]

Yes I am bumping this cause there's just that little to do.

Any news?

When's the presentation anyway?

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Yes I am bumping this cause there's just that little to do.

Any news?

When's the presentation anyway?

Presentation is in January at some point or other.

I'd heard rumors from some friends over there that 2019 might be more in the north and west of the country instead of the south and east.

 

[jfazendeiro]

Last month the Twitter account Gregarios de Lujo published some predictions about the route.
They were:
-a stage to starting in Ibi and end in Alicante
-the inclusion of Cumbre del Sol in a stage that would end in Calpe
-a visit to Andorra
-the aforementioned TT in Pau
-a stage through Las Landas with finish in Urdax or Zugarramurdi
-a stage finish in Los Machucos
-a stage finish in Puerto de Ancares
-an unprecedented stage finish in Plataforma de Gredos (starting in Hoyos del Espinho or Navacepada)
-a passage through Toledo as a homage to the 60th anniversary of Bahamontes win in the Tour de France.
-a short mountain stage in the Madrid mountains (Navacerrada, Morcuera, Canencia, Cotos)

 

[Libertine Seguros]

TT in Pau might be changed now the Tour's doing the exact same though. Would be interesting if they had the exact same one, or if the Vuelta had a longer TT than the Tour. Gredos will be way better from Navacepeda because they could append it directly to Peña Negra that way whereas the nearest way to get any selectivity from Hoyos del Espino would be via Las Erillas and then the uncategorised Parador de Gredos climb that PRC have explored in depth. You can see their investigations here and here. Here are a couple of their stages to illustrate:

(you can see the direct combination of Peña Negra and Plataforma de Gredos here, as well as the combination of Las Erillas - which can be led into by La Erilla (different climb) and Puerto del Pico - and Parador de Gredos as a lead-in.

You could also have SUCH a great run-in with Cumbre del Sol if you finished in Benitatxell itself or even better, Teulada with the open parking area at the auditorium. Carrer del Pou in Benitatxell is 300m at 10%, then into Castellons is 600m at 8%, and finish with 500m at 5% to the auditorium in Teulada - which places the summit of Cumbre del Sol 11km from the line and would make the stage a perfect tune-up for a Worlds full of short ramps too.

 

[Red Rick]

That first profile looks really good Libertine.

Cumbre del Sol and no MTF is a rumor I like
Ancares is a good climb, especially if they use the same side as 2014. Harder than anything this year
Don't like going back to Los Muchachos, but it was decent last year
When in the race would Andorra be?
Basque stage should be good

Not sure about a short Madrid mountain stage. Those climb aren't that great.

 

[Kyllingen86]

Andorra again?

They seem to go to Andorra as often as TDF go to Alpe d'Huez. Are there really no other great climbs worth going to in the pyreneers?

Los Machucos delivered last year so it could be great. With that in mind there are so many great climbs in Spain. No need to re-use any mountain more than once every third year.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Colmenar Viejo - Morcuera - Cotos - Navacerrada plateau - Fuente de la Reina - Navacerrada North - Cercedilla with the uphill finish at the Sanatório would be 120km and would be about as good as I think you could expect I think. Based on the other rumours they would be coming to Gredos from the north, so this would probably mean around stage 18, then stage 19 to Toledo, stage 20 in the Sierra de Guadarrama and then the Madrid parade. On the plus side, if they're going back to Sierra de Madrid stages on the final weekend we might get a better Madrid Challenge race for the women. Or there will be two stages in the Sierra like in the early 00s, which often included a short stage there - 133km to Abantos in '07, 142km to Collado Villalba in '04, 130km to Ávila and 129km to Abantos in 2000 - back before those short stages were en vogue. The other possibility is a stage from Toledo to somewhere in the northern Comunidad de Madrid or Segovia area on stage 19 (or maybe Riaza like in 2015) and then a Sierra de Guadarrama stage on stage 20 akin to those days - Abantos is in very poor state these days so would have expected to have heard some rumours about resurfacing by now if that was going to be in, Mina is still unpassable, and Bola would be hyped, so suggests something more akin to 2009's San Ildefonso stage or trying to recreate the surprise magic of 2015's stage to Cercedilla. The ideal is probably something more like 1981's stage to Los Ángeles de San Rafael. If the honouring of Bahamontes means they want Toledo to be last stage before Madrid (though not sure what this would mean as unless it's an ITT - not exactly a good way to honour a great pure climber of course - it would be a very tame ending) they could go after Gredos from Ávila to the Sierra de Guadarrama, necessitating if it's a short stage something not too dissimilar from this from 1995 back when Destilerías DYC were on the route every year - Segovia Golf, which hosted the race in 2012's stage start of the Bola del Mundo, is in the same town as the distilleries (Palazuelo de Eresma) and La Granja de San Ildefonso is on the same route but a little closer to the summit; it would be better to have the extended version of the same route from a year later which is similar to that 2009 stage to La Granja. I just pray to god we don't get anything like 2008's Segovia stage.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Andorra again?

They seem to go to Andorra as often as TDF go to Alpe d'Huez. Are there really no other great climbs worth going to in the pyreneers?

Los Machucos delivered last year so it could be great. With that in mind there are so many great climbs in Spain. No need to re-use any mountain more than once every third year.

Well, Port-Ainé, La Molina and VallTer 2000 are fine but they get the coverage they want from the Volta a Catalunya which is probably a lot cheaper than La Vuelta, plus you do have that issue of Catalunya and Madrid not seeing eye to eye lately. This may limit the availability of other strong potential mountaintop finishes in the region like Rasos de Pegüera, Tuixent-La Vansa, Jaciments de Fumanyà (this could potentially allow for a double loop with Fumanyà-Pradell, which would be awesome, or just Pradell and then Fumanyà from the north), Coll de Pal etc.. There's also Pla de Beret, but that's not going to produce an especially strong stage unless you come from France and use Portillón and Mirador d'Arres in the run-in. There's a lot of decent passes though - Pradell, Collfred, Coll d'Ares and so on.

But Aragón is coming, just you wait - Fernando Barceló, Jaime Castrillo and Sérgio Samitier are all strong young Aragonese climbers and the Vuelta a Aragón has just recommenced business with the help of local man Fernando Escartín. At the moment it seems that the Aramón ski stations are busy promoting Formigal (2013, 2016) which is a fairly easy climb and Valdelinares which of course isn't in the Pyrenees, but they also are responsible for the administration of Cerler, which is a classic Vuelta climb and will make at least jens_attacks happy. And it remains to be seen if that project to pave the Collado Sahún ever gets finished.

Using the French side of the Pyrenees obviously there's a lot, but the Spanish Pyrenees outside of Catalunya mainly feature low passes or shallow MTFs until you get over toward the Basque Country/Navarre area.

 

[ice&fire]

Andorra again?

They seem to go to Andorra as often as TDF go to Alpe d'Huez. Are there really no other great climbs worth going to in the pyreneers?

Los Machucos delivered last year so it could be great. With that in mind there are so many great climbs in Spain. No need to re-use any mountain more than once every third year.

None that is willing to host a stage finish. But I don't count Pla de Beret, Cerler and Formigal as great climbs.

Nevertheless, considering the rumours posted by jfazendeiro, it seems that they will do a counterclockwise route starting from Alicante, going N to the Pyrenees, W to Asturias and SE to central Spain. If this is the case the Pau TT will be during the second week, probably just after the rest day. This probably rules out a hard mountain stage in the Pyrenees so any of these not-so-great climbs would be fine before the first rest day.

Two additional rumours:
Escartín has been seen at Pola de Lena. This has triggered rumours and raised the heat in Spanish cycling forums about anything around including La Cubilla and Gamoniteiro.
The stage to Ancares would probably depart from Western Asturias. And this has fed the dreams of traceurs about a mountain stage in that area the day before with finish at Santuario del Acebo.

 

[Red Rick]

Awww yes

The annual Gamoniteiro rumor that's not happening

Still it was the last thing that was missing from the forums this year

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

Awww yes

The annual Gamoniteiro rumor that's not happening

Still it was the last thing that was missing from the forums this year

The Gamoniteiro rumour is on a different level than the Canary Islands dream. One can rumour...

 

[OlavEH]

I would be less suprised by an inclusion of Gamonteiro than I would be if Unipublic presented a well-designed route with several multi climb mountain/hilly stages. Based on the rumours mentioned above, the optimal route could include something like:

- Maximum one "murito finish".
- Maximum one "single climb stage", like Covatilla and La Rabassa this year. Ancares?
- A long multi climb stage in the Basque country, preferrably with finish in or close to Eibar.
- 3-4 multi mountain stages, one in Andorra and one in Sistema Central.
- A proper queen stage with one or more extraordinary climbs, but not Angliru. The Fumanya/Pradell combo would be great

But it's more likely that we'll have something like this:

- At least two, perhaps three murito finishes.
- At least two single climb stages.
- The Basque stage will be at best average design, and not using the potential in the region.
- The multi mountain stages will be designed so that all will be decided on the last climb.

I might seem pessimistic, but all experience suggests the Unipublic will give us another at best mediocre route.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

I would be less suprised by an inclusion of Gamonteiro than I would be if Unipublic presented a well-designed route with several multi climb mountain/hilly stages. Based on the rumours mentioned above, the optimal route could include something like:

- Maximum one "murito finish".
- Maximum one "single climb stage", like Covatilla and La Rabassa this year. Ancares?
- A long multi climb stage in the Basque country, preferrably with finish in or close to Eibar.
- 3-4 multi mountain stages, one in Andorra and one in Sistema Central.
- A proper queen stage with one or more extraordinary climbs, but not Angliru. The Fumanya/Pradell combo would be great

But it's more likely that we'll have something like this:

- At least two, perhaps three murito finishes.
- At least two single climb stages.
- The Basque stage will be at best average design, and not using the potential in the region.
- The multi mountain stages will be designed so that all will be decided on the last climb.

I might seem pessimistic, but all experience suggests the Unipublic will give us another at best mediocre route.

But, but... steep.

 

[Red Rick]

Vuelta's mediocre routes kinda keep overdelivering.

For all the monotony with murito's, hill top finishes and steep crap, I think the Vuelta does anything besides big mountain stages and variety really well. Pacing is usually pretty good, with the first week having some alright selection, the main mountain blocks at the end of week 2 with some grand finale at the penultimate stage.

Flat stages have been pretty good in the Vuelta too.

Really I think the Vuelta needs to be a little less reliant on steep as hell climbs, mix in more descent finishes in the bigger mountain stages and the medium mountain stages, and find some way to use the biggest climbs they can use as a pass well. Add a little bit more variety to the big name climbs as well. Next time you want to use the Angliru, use Cuitu Negru instead.

Ancares is a great climb and a pass for example, but I don't know if there's enough towns nearby. But then again the top can get a stage finish, so I can't imagine it's that much of a wasteland.

The 2018 route was very disappointing, but it delivered pretty well. Most other routes have been pretty good apart from 1/2 murito's too many.

 

[OlavEH]

Re: Re:

But, but... steep.

Oh yes, definitely steep!! There is no doubt about that.

Just wish they could put some very steep climbs an other place than in the very last kms.

A Basque stage with a very steep climb 20-30 kms from stage finish followed by an easier climb and then downhill to stage finish would be a good design.

A Fumanya-Pradell combo followed by a stage finish nearby would also be very welcome.

 

[Red Rick]

Man, Ancares is really an underated beast

 

[perico]

The Vuelta really does over deliver. It’s been consistently exciting over the last decade, as opposed to the other two. Last two years may have had the least suspense, but even with the overall wrapped up, the riders kept it entertaining.