If you like to witness cyclists struggling on mountain stages, you'll need to check in early with the 2007 Vuelta a Espana.
Instead of opening with a week for the sprinters, the three-week-long Tour of Spain — September 1-23 — boasts a mountaintop finish on the difficult Lagos de Covadonga on the fourth day.
In all, the Vuelta route announced today boasts seven mountain stages, four mountaintop finishes, and two time trials as it spins for 2,009 miles clockwise from the coastal city of Vigo in the north to the capital city of Madrid.
The seventh stage is marked by a 30-mile time trial in Zaragoza, followed by two mountain stages before the first rest day. The second time trial — 15.5 miles in Villalba — takes place on the next to last day of bicycle racing.
The Vuelta website lists all the climbs in the race, by stage. As you can see, stages 9 and 10, 14 and 15, and 19 will be hellish.
The 2006 runner-up Alejandro Valverde told AP:
''It will be great for the fans to see the return of the legendary climb to the Lagos. The mountain stages start very early, but with the riders still being fresh I think things won't be decided until the last week.''
Race director Victor Cordero told the BBC that 2006 was a bad year for the Vuelta because of Spain's Operation Puerto investigation, which linked dozens of athletes, including cyclists, to blood doping. Many of those cases have been thrown out by cycling oversight bodies in other countries after the judge disallowed use of the Puerto evidence until its veracity can be determined.
“We have tried to light the fuse of the 2007 Vuelta early on in the race and keep it burning right to the end.”
One of those racers who missed the 2006 Tour de France because of Operation Puerto, Alexandre Vinokourov of Khazakstan, won this year's Vuelta. Even though he was not linked to the scandal, so many riders on his team were named that they disbanded for the Tour.
The stages and host town for the 2007 Vuelta a Espana:
1 Sept: Vigo-Vigo – 145 km
2 Sept: Allariz-Saniago de Compostela – 150 km
3 Sept: Viveiro-Luarca – 155 km
4 Sept: Langreo-Lagos de Covadonga – 182 km (mountain finish)
5 Sept: Cangas de Onis-Reinosa – 155 km
6 Sept: Reinosa-Logrono – 195 km
7 Sept: Calahorra-Zaragoza – 140 km
8 Sept: Denominacion de Origen Carinena-Zaragoza (individual time trial) – 49 km
9 Sept: Huesca-Cerler – 174 km (mountain finish)
10 Sept: Benasque-Ordino-Arcalis (Andorra) – 220 km (mountain finish)
11 Sept: Rest day
12 Sept: Oropesa-Algemesi – 190 km
13 Sept: Algemesi-Hellin – 167 km
14 Sept: Hellin-Torre-Pacheco – 150 km
15 Sept: Puerto Lumbreras-Villacarrillo – 205 km
16 Sept: Villacarrillo-Granada – 205 km
17 Sept: Rest day
18 Sept: Jaen-Puertollano – 165 km
19 Sept: Ciudad Real-Talavera de la Reina – 180 km
20 Sept: Talavera de la Reina-Avila – 154 km
21 Sept: Avila-Alto de Abantos – 138 km (mountain finish)
22 Sept: Villalba-Villalba (individual time trial) – 25 km
23 Sept: Rivas Vaciamadrid-Madrid – 100 km.
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