Five stages that could be key to La Vuelta 25

The Vuelta Ciclista a España presented this Thursday the official route for its 2025 edition, in which the Spanish round will celebrate its 90th anniversary, starting on August 23 in Turin (Italy) and ending on September 14 through the streets of Madrid, in a design that highlights the return of great ports such as L’Angliru and the Bola del Mundo in stages that will give a lot of spectacle.

Unipublic, the organizing company of the Spanish race, unveiled in Madrid a design very marked by the mountains – with up to 10 finishes at the top – and little time trial, where three countries – Italy, France and Andorra – will be visited throughout of the 21 stages that will take place through northern territory. Next, we will analyze the five stages that could be key for the general classification of La Vuelta 25.

-STAGE 7. ANDORRA LA VELLA – CERLER. HUESCA LA MAGIA (187 KMS).

With a week of competition already in their legs and after the first mountain stage in Andorra the day before with the final ascent towards Pal, the peloton will face a new mountain day with the climb to Cerler. The Huesca mountain is once again the protagonist of the La Vuelta route 18 years later, where the race has arrived 11 times, the first time being in 1987 with the victory of the German cyclist Raimund Dietzen.

The stage will begin in the Andorran country, but as soon as Javier Guillén, race director, gives the starting signal, La Vuelta will re-enter Spain to head to Port del Cantó. This first-class port will serve to form the break of the day before facing two second-class ports that will elucidate the group of leaders.

The high finish of this seventh stage will be harder than the previous day, with a few first kilometers to the town of Cerler where the hardness is especially in the first part of the climb. For the cyclists it will be the third consecutive effort after the one mentioned in Andorra and the always demanding team time trial, which more than one may choke on, in Figueres (Girona). The Vuelta will not lose its essence once the race enters Spain.

-STAGE 11. BILBAO – BILBAO (167 KMS).

The second week of competition will probably be the most decisive for the general classification. Of the first part, the eleventh stage stands out, which will take place around Bilbao. A winding terrain, with seven ascents, five of the third category and two of the second category, in the purest classic style that will be difficult to control for the leaders’ teams.

A stage that will give a lot of play for the breakaway and that, if the peloton does not finish organizing itself well, will reach the finish line to compete for partial victory. The first part of the stage will be somewhat more bearable, with the hardness concentrated in the final part. The Balcón de Bizkaia and the double ascent to Alto del Vivero will select the race before facing the short but tough climb to Alto Pike a few kilometers from the finish line in Bilbao.

There will be no big climbs, but the toughness will have an impact on selecting the race. It is a stage finish that is reminiscent of the first stage of the 2023 Tour de France where the Yates brothers reached the finish line alone to compete for the first yellow jersey of the race.

-STAGE 13. CABEZÓN DE LA SAL – L’ANGLIRU (202 KM).

For many, the queen stage of this edition is the legendary climb to L’Angliru. Since its premiere in 1999, this rise has not left anyone indifferent. Its ramps have maximized the climbing capabilities of cyclists, writing several pages in the history of La Vuelta. ‘Chava’ Jiménez was the first to make his name at the Asturian summit and Alberto Contador achieved there, 10 years apart, his first and last victory in La Vuelta. Both the Slovenian Primoz Roglic and Roberto Heras, cyclists with the most overall victories in the Spanish race, also won after overcoming the ramps of Les Cabanes and Cueña les Cabres.

It will be the longest stage of La Vuelta 25, where the first part will go parallel to the coast to enter Asturias with the risk of possible wind blowing. After this first part, cyclists will find the hardness concentrated in the final section. El Alto de la Mozqueta and del Cordal, both of first category, will be the prelude to the final climb to the very tough Asturian colossus, with average slopes close to 10 percent.

At the finish line, as has been the case in past editions, they will arrive one by one as a result of the superhuman effort that the runners will have to make, who will have to face ramps that approach or exceed 20 percent with almost 200 kilometers on their legs. .

-STAGE 18. VALLADOLID – VALLADOLID (CRI) (26 KM).

Four days before arriving in Madrid, the cyclists will have to face an individual effort against the clock. The time trial will have little prominence in this edition, only 46 kilometers – 20 km per team -.

The individual time trial of this edition has a small slope in the initial part of the route. Specialists against the clock can take advantage of pure climbers since it is a route that is not technically complicated and runs, mostly, along wide avenues of the Valladolid city.

-STAGE 20. ROBLEDO DE CHAVELA – BALL OF THE WORLD. NAVACERRADA PORT (159 KM)

In case the race still reaches the last mountain stage undecided, the Sierra de Guadarrama will pass judgment. A very winding day and where the breakaway will be able to look for their options from the first ascent of the day, the Alto de La Escondida, in the third category, which will be crowned after traveling the first kilometers of the stage, to try to put the peloton on the ropes in the fight for the stage.

The Alta de La Paradilla (3rd) and the historic Alto del León (2nd) will be the last ascents before giving prominence to the Navacerrada pass, which will be climbed first along the well-known Segovian slope of the ‘seven revolts’ and, as final climb, the route from Becerril de la Sierra to the demanding ramps of the Bola del Mundo, with a very tough finish with an average slope above 15 percent.

This climb will once again be the protagonist in La Vuelta for the third time, after the arrivals in 2010 and 2012. Something that the public present at the Ifema Municipal Palace (Madrid) applauded as soon as the route was announced. The Guadarrama mountain range should crown the winner and define the final podium of La Vuelta 25.