grezlanzablog

1995 was a fateful year for all cycling. It was then that the Spanish three-week multinational race moved from the middle of spring to the beginning of autumn. Since then, no one has won it in conjunction with the Tour. This year, Christopher Froome will try to fill this statistical gap. And, it seems, he does not care that he will have to compete with almost the whole world.

We haven’t seen such seasons in cycling for a long time. Of course, every Grand Tour is ‘a small life inside one race’. But right now it's hard to remember the year when Giro and Tour would have become such impressive scenery for a mix of drama and action. Let’s believe that the Vuelta will not disappoint either. At least its organizers have done everything to avoid this.

About the Route

First of all, they’ve prepared such a route that any self-respecting sprinter will not even take a road book for the race. Just six flat stages. Tour de France has about the same amount until the first day of rest. Everything will begin in the French Nîme on August 19 with a team division for 13.7 km (the third overseas start of the Tour of Spain). And the participants of the race will be told "Welcome to Andorra!" already on the third stage. Those who do not know how to behave in the mountains, it promises very dreary moments.

At the 14th and 15th stages, Sierra de la Pander and Sierra Nevada (this time without a link to Pico Veleta) will wait for the riders. Everyone who has seen the races at least a couple of times knows about them. But the finish mountain of the 17th stage of Los Machucos is something from the series when David Millar tore off his numbers and called out to the hearts of the organizers, hardened by the television ratings. It was written on the official website that there are two sites with a gradient of 25 and 26 percent. Eyewitnesses assure: there is more than 30 percent here and there plus a disgusting cover. In any case, it will be fascinating 7 kilometres. 

And, of course, for the dessert, Angliru is left as the 20^th stage. The Vuelta did not come here since 2013 when Nibali and Horner arranged a frenzied competition. Since then, perhaps the most legendary mountain in the world of cycling has definitely not become easier (Alberto, please repeat what you did in 2008 and do not care that you have another label on your shoulders). This time the organizers definitely decided to turn the stage into something epic-legendary. The ascent to Angliru is preceded by overcoming of two peaks of the first category of complexity. All this is at 117.5 km height. Imagine the face of Marel Kittel on these roads and you will also come to the conclusion that no normal sprinter will definitely come to the Vuelta, he will not reach Madrid in any case, as he will not fit into the time limit.

The usual distribution of bonus seconds at the finish (10, 6 and 4), red number and colour of the award-winning T-shirts (red, green, white, blue peas) will not be a surprise to anyone. Unlike Giro, the organizers of the route placed reasonably the only section 40.2 km at the beginning of the third week. No finish at the Santiago Bernabeu. The total mileage of the race is 3324.1 km.

Participants

Journalists have only a preliminary list of participants of the Vuelta-2017 at their disposal. If you need some extra information, you can read more about cycling tips here.

If everything remains the same, then the mountain rises will be bursting with those who want to prove something to other teams.

Chris Froom has already polished the second step for three versions of the Vuelta and this time he is ready to step a little higher, which he told right after the Tour. Before him, none of the British won in the overall standings of the Tour of Spain. Personal ambitions plus the ability to write yourself into the history of cycling.

Further, on the list, we will list all the guys who do not hesitate to publicly announce the claims in the general classification: Chaves, the Yates brothers, Contador, Mike, Vangardenen, Nibali, Jungels, Barde, Zakarin, Talansky, Bargil, Creuswijk, Maynes. Add to them almost everyone who knows more or less distinctly how to ride in the mountains and you will get an approximate composition of participants.