This years Vuelta a Espaņa (Tour of Spain) starts at the end of August and could be one of the most open and exciting in years. Its got it all; mountains, team time trial, individual time trial, flat roads and sprints. Here is our easy-read review.
The start of this La Vuelta 2006 is in Málaga and the first stage is a time trial for teams, normally the prologue is for individual riders, but the organisers like the team time trial as they also did this when La Vuelta started in Valencia in 2002, this year it’s a flat 7.2 kilometres.
Some Sprinters Stages
The next three stages are flat and long and wind there way from Málaga to Córdoba, Almendralejo and Cáceres, these are the stages for the sprinters, fast and made for men like Petacchi, who has won these sorts of stages many times before. The longest stage of this Vuelta is the third stage, 220 kilometres of flat hot Spanish roads that finish in Almendralejo.
Next A Bit Of Climbing!
Over the next seven stages we alternate from undulating and more importantly, mountainous! The fifth stage finishes at the ski station of La Covatilla (Béjar), nearly 2,000 meters altitude, this a very hard stage with three climbs preceding the finish, but this is only a taster for stage nine, this must be the queen of stages, five mountain passes, all over 1,000 meters, the stage starts in A Fonsagrada and 206 kilometres and a lot of climbing later, ends in Alto de la Cobertoria, this stage will sort out the men from the boys.
Part Two
After the first rest day we have a group of six stages, one of them mountainous, finishing in the home town of top Spanish rider, Oscar Freire, its unlikely he will win such a hard stage though, but he could win some of the other stages as they are not to hilly. Stage 14 is an individual time trial round Cuenca, any rider with overall contention will have to pull the stops out on this day.
The Last Week
Now we get to the part of the where the real action starts, after the second rest day we have three very, very hard days, firstly Almeria to the Observatory Astronomic de Calar Alto, this is the highest climb in La Vuelta at over 2,000 meters high, stage 17 has three big climbs and if this doesn’t shake things up enough then stage 18 should with the special category Sierra de la Pandera. These mountain stages are followed by the second individual time trial of 28 kilometres after the time trial we should know who the winner is going to be and its only the finally into Madrid on the Sunday.
The Contenders
It would be easier to tell you who will not be riding, no Ulrich, no Basso, No Landis, but this could make for extra excitement. Here are the teams and possible riders who could be the stars of this years Vuelta a España: Top Favourites for us in Red
Mikel Astarloza
Jean-Patrick Nazon.
Jérôme Pineau
Thor Hushovd
- Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears (Spain)
Alejandro Valverde
Jose Garcia Acosta
Vladimir Karpets
Oscar Pereiro
- Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone (France)
David Moncoutie
Carlos Sastre
Manuel Beltran
Thomas Danielson
- Davitamon-Lotto (Belgium)
Christopher Horner
Mario Aerts
Fred Rodriguez
- Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spain)
Iban Mayo
Haimar Zubeldia
- Francaise des Jeux (France)
Sebastien Joly
David Rebellin
Evgeni Petrov
Danilo Di Luca
David Cioni
Alissandro Petacchi
Erik Zabel
Marco Velo
- Phonak Hearing Systems (Switzerland)
Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero
- Quick Step-Innergetic (Belgium)
Paolo Bettini
José Rujano
Denis Menchov
Oscar Freire
Michael Rasmussen
David George
- Saunier Duval-Prodir (Spain)
Leonardo Piepoli
David De La Fuente
David Millar
Daniele Nardello
These are the riders we know about and there is still the possibility that the Astana team of Alexandre Vinokourov could make the start line. Who ever are in Malaga on the 26th of august, the race will be very worthwhile watching.
If you want to read more about la Vuelta, with history, winners and how was createdm then read our special article here:
La Vuelta a España, the youngest of the three Grand Tours
