Vuelta a España 2019 Rumours

[Red Rick]

Damn provincial borders

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

Candín is big enough to have a bar. And that's more than what you can find at the summit

Seriously, all stages in those sparsely populated areas are paid by regional governments or provincial councils. So as long as there is space to deploy the infrastructure any place is feasible. It's just a matter of interest of the involved actors.

Bar is good

Yeah I guess that's also part of the reason we still haven't seen the Gamoniteiro cause it's like 1km from the Angliru as the crow flies.

Guillén has stated several times that he likes Gamoniteiro but there's lack of flat and solid space to host the minimum finish infrastructure. That was the case with Ancares summit until he got permission to get some bulldozers in 2014. I believe getting some bulldozers up to Gamoniteiro is just a matter of time.

 

[OlavEH]

Re: Re:

Guillén has stated several times that he likes Gamoniteiro but there's lack of flat and solid space to host the minimum finish infrastructure. That was the case with Ancares summit until he got permission to get some bulldozers in 2014. I believe getting some bulldozers up to Gamoniteiro is just a matter of time.

Guillen has used a bunch of previously unknown climbs in the Vuelta the last decade, and hosted MTFs in south (Nevada, Pandera, Calar Alto), central, northwest and north (mainly Andorra), but it's ages since we have seen a big MTF in Catalonia. Is this due to political reasons?

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

Guillén has stated several times that he likes Gamoniteiro but there's lack of flat and solid space to host the minimum finish infrastructure. That was the case with Ancares summit until he got permission to get some bulldozers in 2014. I believe getting some bulldozers up to Gamoniteiro is just a matter of time.

Guillen has used a bunch of previously unknown climbs in the Vuelta the last decade, and hosted MTFs in south (Nevada, Pandera, Calar Alto), central, northwest and north (mainly Andorra), but it's ages since we have seen a big MTF in Catalonia. Is this due to political reasons?

He won't say yes, but it's obvious that the race avoids those regions where hostility is quite open. That means that the only feasible MTF in Catalonia is Pla de Beret.

 

[OlavEH]

Re: Re:

He won't say yes, but it's obvious that the race avoids those regions where hostility is quite open. That means that the only feasible MTF in Catalonia is Pla de Beret.

Hostility against what? The riders? The Vuelta in general? Madrid and central government.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

He won't say yes, but it's obvious that the race avoids those regions where hostility is quite open. That means that the only feasible MTF in Catalonia is Pla de Beret.

Hostility against what? The riders? The Vuelta in general? Madrid and central government.

Yes, but I don't think that the riders, and especially not the race organisers (who were Basque) were a problem for La Vuelta when there were ETA bomb threats in the 60s and 70s. A bike race is harder to secure than a lot of sporting environments and if there is going to be separatist violence in Catalunya, the Vuelta is a pretty high profile sporting event which is probably easier to disrupt, whether via indirect but disruptive means like the tacks on the road in 2012, more aggressive means like Trieste in 1946 or Czechoslovakia in 1969, or the most extreme examples like the Basque separatists in the El Correo-El Pueblo Vasco days. We've had in recent years the Frankfurt Maitagrennen cancelled at short notice for a bombscare and of course the Boston Marathon bombing, so while the Vuelta is not actively avoiding Catalunya at present, they don't want to stray too far from areas with good security presence and they don't want to travel into areas where the separatist/nationalist feeling is too strong either.

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

He won't say yes, but it's obvious that the race avoids those regions where hostility is quite open. That means that the only feasible MTF in Catalonia is Pla de Beret.

Hostility against what? The riders? The Vuelta in general? Madrid and central government.

Anything with España in its name. Same situation as the Basque Country until they realised that it was just a sport competition detached from partisan politics that could be positively used as a show window to the world.

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

Damn provincial borders

The provincial borders issue has an aggravating circumstance in Ancares linked to the 2014 Vuelta stage.

The border line between the provinces of León and Lugo in the area does not follow any logic based on mountain ridgelines, rivers or any other salient geographical feature. If you look at the map below the villages of Balouta and Suarbol belong to León even if they are both on the side of the mountain where water flows to the lands of the province of Lugo.

To make things more difficult the strip of land between the point where the Balouta, Pan do Zarco and Piornedo roads join (that was the stage finish in 2012) and the summit had been under dispute for a long time as the pastures and forestry are owned the village of Suarbol. This led the province of León to believe that those last kms of the 2014 stage were in their land, so they made a small contribution to pay for that stage at the suggestion/request from Unipublic. Some time after they put some signs in the area marking what they thought were the borders of the province, raising the controversy with the town of Navia de Suarna in Lugo. The matter was taken to the Ministry of Development that checked the cadastre and ruled that the land in question is part of the province of Lugo even if it is owned by the Leonese village of Suarbol.

This has made the Leonese authorities extremely sensitive about paying for a Vuelta stage finish in that area if they climb any of the northwestern sides of the mountain as they feel they were cheated.

 

[Red Rick]

Only solution I see is a double ascent then, no?

 

[ice&fire]

I guess it's all down to very complex negotiations on who is willing to pay, the conditions set by those who pay and how to split the payment if they cross the border depending on the detailed route and the finish location.
Some people are fearing for the worst as 2021 is a Compostelan Holy Year and they believe that Galicia will try to get a strong Vuelta presence in 2020 and 2021, so they'll probably skip 2019. If this is the case, 2019 will only have the Leonese side of the climb, which would be a 5km long wall with nothing relevant before.

 

[ice&fire]

Opening stage not yet decided if ITT or TTT but Guillén clearly favours the second option.
http://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/5544/vuelta-a-espana-2019-race-likely-to-start-with-team-time-trial

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

According to La Vuelta web site the race presentation will be on Wed 19th of December. This is just 6 weeks from now.

Yeah, looks like we can mull over the merits of all 3 GT's with our Xmas fare -
https://www.lavuelta.es/en/news/2018/la-vuelta-19-save-the-date-19-12-2019-1/16680

On Wednesday, December 19th, Unipublic will be presenting the route of La Vuelta 19. The ADDA (Auditorio Provincial de Alicante) will be hosting the ceremony in which the details of the 74th edition of La Vuelta will be revealed.

In a live streamed gala that will be broadcasted on Teledeporte at 7 pm, the organisation will be unveiling the host cities of the 21 stages of the 2019 edition, starting on August 24th in the Salinas of Torrevieja and arriving in Madrid on September 15th.

 

[OlavEH]

There are no rumours about a stage in France?

If there is some climbs/area that deserves to be used again, it is the climbs in French Basque country.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

There are no rumours about a stage in France?

If there is some climbs/area that deserves to be used again, it is the climbs in French Basque country.

Does the stage in Andorras start there? Could get there over the Port d'Envalira is coming from France.

But yeah I think we all want to see French Basque Country.

 

[OlavEH]

Re: Re:

There are no rumours about a stage in France?

If there is some climbs/area that deserves to be used again, it is the climbs in French Basque country.

Does the stage in Andorras start there? Could get there over the Port d'Envalira is coming from France.

But yeah I think we all want to see French Basque Country.

Andorra via France doesn't count :razz:

TDF obviously won't use those climbs, so the hope is that Unipublic and the Vuelta are willing to do so. A plausible stage could be a stage start in Pamplona, and finish at Pierre Saint Martin (or Larrau if that's possible).

 

[ice&fire]

Nothing has been leaked to the media, but rumours point to the Pau ITT in the second week, followed by a stage through the French Basque Country with finish around Urdax and stage with finish at Bilbao.

 

[ice&fire]

The regional government of Cantabria is negotiating a stage finish.
According to the link below Unipublic is looking for a new climb, but self-appointed internet experts and insiders believe they'll revisit Los Machucos.
https://www.eldiariomontanes.es/deportes/ciclismo/gobierno-cantabro-negocia-20181108215558-ntvo.html

With this the second week could be Pau ITT, French Basque Country, Bilbao, Cantabria and two Asturian mountain stages.
Now the question is what to do with the Ancares rumour. Ancares on Monday and rest day on Tuesday would be an unprecedented four mountain stages in a row. Ancares after the rest day means either some long transfers in the last week or the rumoured mountain stage to Gredos will depart from far to the north and will have less climbing than those profiles posted by Libertine Seguros here.

 

[May0maniac]

French Basque Country has the potential to be super awesome, but i don't know if they are willing to create a proper mountain stage.

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

French Basque Country has the potential to be super awesome, but i don't know if they are willing to create a proper mountain stage.

If they finish at Urdax as the rumour says, they're far away from the best climbs. They can do Bagargi, Arnostegi, Izpegi and Otsondo, but Arnostegi is more than 60km from the finish and the last two are 6% climbs.

 

[OlavEH]

Re:

French Basque Country has the potential to be super awesome, but i don't know if they are willing to create a proper mountain stage.

https://goo.gl/QJEfuP

And the scenery there is just stunning

Pretty high up on my bucket list of cycling climbs.

 

[ice&fire]

Andorra will host a stage finish.
https://www.elperiodico.com/es/ciclismo/20181116/la-vuelta-2019-pasara-andorra-7150844

This is likely to be on the weekend before the first rest day, so don't expect a monster mountain stage but a Unipuerto or one in the mould of the 2017 stage that Nibali won.

Last paragraph states that the opening stage will be a TTT but I wouldn't be surprised if Sergi Lopez-Egea is actually clueless about this.

 

[Red Rick]

It's Andorra, so it could be anything between 1 and 5 climbs lol. Loooots depending on when it is before the first restday and what the surrounding stages are.

 

[ice&fire]

If it is at the end of the first week Guillén will do his best to keep GC gaps at a minimum. Arcalis?

 

[Red Rick]

First week Vuelta is usually like the 2nd or even 3rd MTF/HTF

 

[ice&fire]

Yes, but I doubt we'll get 5 climbs in a stage that early unless Guillén is kidnapped and kept underground from now till the race start.