Vuelta a España 2021 route rumours

[Netserk]

I'm just sitting here waiting for Godwins law to happen again

It's all Froome's fault?

 

[gregrowlerson]

It's all Froome's fault?

Everything STEMS from the 2011 Vuelta.

Back on topic. Kinda.

 

[Gigs_98]

About the route, I'm a bit unsure what to think of it. Some of the mountain stages are better looking than most from the previous editions and there are some really nice medium mountain stages. But there are a few things about this route that really stand out to me and none of them are positives.

The Gamoniteiru mtf in particular is massively annoying me. I don't think it's a good mtf in general, it's one of those monster climbs with the steepest ramps right at the end, but I particularly dislike how it's placed. It's the final big mountain stage, so it will be in the back of the heads of the riders for almost the entire race, it comes right after another mountain stage, probably neutralizing it, yet it still comes before the only somewhat long TT of the race so some climbers might not approach this climb as aggressively as they would otherwise. It's also just so much harder than any other mtf in this vuelta (except if I'm forgetting something right now) that it will be the focus point for all gc riders going into the race. We have seen time and time again that's not a formula leading to good racing yet here we are.

The 2nd thing I really dislike is the combination of stage 20 and 21. I really like that the Vuelta decided to go for a medium mountain stage on the penultimate day again. That formula has worked really well in the past (thinking of 2015 and 2019) and this stage has a very similar appeal. In principle I'm also happy they put at least one somewhat lengthy TT in the route and I'm not against stage 21 TT's in principle either. But in this case, that TT will completely kill stage 20 and that's just a pity. It also means that Gamoniteiru becomes even more important for the climbers as they won't want to bet on an all or nothing attack on stage 20 and I think you know by now that I'm not happy about this.

Then lastly, it feels like there are more really flat stages than usually. Don't know if my memory is deceiving me since I don't think many others have criticized that aspect, but for the gt that makes a huge fuzz about having hardly any pure sprint stages, this route as quite a lot of pure sprint stages. Now I don't need a big mountain stage every day, but imo the fact that almost every day had the potential of catching a gc rider off guard has been the main appeal for the Vuelta lately, as the mountain stages themselves are usually rather underwhelming. I think I counted something like 7 stages which I would expect to end in a bunch sprint and that's just a tad much for me.

 

[Netserk]

As for Gamoniteiro in itself, I think it's a pretty great monster MTF. Yes, the very steepest KM is the final one, but other than that, it ticks off all the other boxes. It has greater vertical gain and steeper gradient than Portet, but it's not as steep as Mortirolo.

Of course, I agree completely wrt. its poor placement, penultimate Friday or Saturday would be the best.

 

[Red Rick]

CN forum for the last 12 years: "We want Gamoniteiro"

CN forum: Gets Gamoniteiro

CN forum: "We don't want Gamoniteiro anymore

 

[Netserk]

It'd be great if they switched the 2nd and 3rd week, with the El Barraco stage as the last GC day.

 

[ice&fire]

Due to lack of space at the summit, the Gamoniteiro stage finish might be placed somewhere around 500m before the end of the road. So the "steepest ramp at the end" argument becomes very marginal.

 

[Gigs_98]

CN forum for the last 12 years: "We want Gamoniteiro"

CN forum: Gets Gamoniteiro

CN forum: "We don't want Gamoniteiro anymore

Tbf I wasn't one of the people shouting for Gamoniteiro to begin with. I also wouldn't complain about it if it was placed differently but I feel like this is simply about as bad of a use of a monster mtf as you can come up with.

 

[Ulle97]

CN forum for the last 12 years: "We want Gamoniteiro"

CN forum: Gets Gamoniteiro

CN forum: "We don't want Gamoniteiro anymore

Similar to so much of the whinging that goes on about Grand Tour routes these days. I remember when I first joined a cycling forum back in 2005/06, there was nothing only complaining about too many TT km in the grand tours and not enough MTFs. Now it seems to have come full circle. Now we seem to want more TT kilometres and less MTF because they are only raced in the last km or because they are 'poorly positioned.' Yikes!! Sometimes you can never win.

 

[OlavEH]

Similar to so much of the whinging that goes on about Grand Tour routes these days. I remember when I first joined a cycling forum back in 2005/06, there was nothing only complaining about too many TT km in the grand tours and not enough MTFs. Now it seems to have come full circle. Now we seem to want more TT kilometres and less MTF because they are only raced in the last km or because they are 'poorly positioned.' Yikes!! Sometimes you can never win.

Nah, even there are disagreements about TT kms and MTFs, I think that the by far most common issue on the design of Grand Tours in this forum is that there are too few stages which promotes attack from further out than the few last km. Especially in the Vuelta, but also to an increasing degree in the Tour, they are relying on MTFs and particularly MTFs with the steepest section in the end. That is not a good recipe for having more than 10-15 mins of action.........

 

[tobydawq]

Nah, even there are disagreements about TT kms and MTFs, I think that the by far most common issue on the design of Grand Tours in this forum is that there are too few stages which promotes attack from further out than the few last km. Especially in the Vuelta, but also to an increasing degree in the Tour, they are relying on MTFs and particularly MTFs with the steepest section in the end. That is not a good recipe for having more than 10-15 mins of action.........

But then when the early action actually does happen, it is swept under the rug and disregarded as pure luck and circumstance.

 

[Red Rick]

But then when the early action actually does happen, it is swept under the rug and disregarded as pure luck and circumstance.

Hey now, I said Finestre 2018 was gonna be insane when everyone said it was gonna be a waiting game for Jafferau.

 

[OlavEH]

But then when the early action actually does happen, it is swept under the rug and disregarded as pure luck and circumstance

I don't think there is many that would characterize any stage involving climbs like Mortirolo or Finestre as luck and circumstance. Or the Stelvio stage last year. Or the Cortina stage this year if that is action-packed........

 

[ice&fire]

Wildcard teams: Burgos BH, Caja Rural and Euskaltel

La Vuelta 21: teams selection - La Vuelta 2025

The organizers of La Vuelta have chosen the teams that will take part in the 76th edition of the Spanish Grand Tour. LaVuelta 21 will start on Saturday the 14th

www.lavuelta.es

 

[Bonimenier]

After today it's highly likely that Roglic will ride the Vuelta as well. GC-wise the field's going to be ridiculous.