Nat Bromhead
The official route for La Vuelta 19 has been announced, the 74th edition of the Spanish race taking place between August 24th and September 15th 2019.
Riders will leave Salinas, finish in Madrid, and cover 3,272.2 km in between. La Vuelta ’19 will feature eight uphill finishes, five of which are new.
One of the highlights will be a mountain stage in the Principality of Andorra that includes a chain of some of the harshest mountain passes in Andorra and a new ascent to Coll d’Engolasters with a 4 km sterrato track link section. The race then crosses the border to France, returning to the Peninsula via Navarre, the Basque Country, Cantabria and Asturias, where it will visit some familiar peaks and also some new ones for this year, such as Santuario del Acebo or Alto de La Cubilla, to the delight of mountain climbers.
During its final week, the race moves to the Central System, alternating between Castile–La Mancha, Castile and León and the Community of Madrid. With a ‘leg-breaking’ final in the Gredos and Guadarrama mountains, traversing La Vuelta’s mythical mountain passes such as La Morcuera, which brought us a heart-stopping finish during La Vuelta 15 when Fabio Aru took the red jersey from Tom Dumoulin during stage 20.
Javier Guillén, La Vuelta’s General Manager, said the 2019 race will be a dificult but very interesting Vuelta.
“Surprises, intrigue and emotion (are) guaranteed,” he said. “Short but intense stages, including innovation and new and unprecedented ascents. The Vuelta brand is what it is, and we will never give it up, to the contrary, we seek to strengthen it”.
LA ROJA CELEBRATES ITS 10th ANNIVERSARY
The leader’s red jersey celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2019. In 2010 Vincenzo Nibali became the first winner of the Spanish grand tour to wear the red jersey, which replaced the gold jersey last worn by Alejandro Valverde.
“Red is associated with success, passion, and Spain and is now firmly associated with the unparalleled spectacle that is our race”, explained Javier Guillén. The list of riders to have worn the red jersey atop the final podium of La Vuelta includes names such as Fabio Aru, Vicenzo Nibali, Nairo Quintana, Alberto Contador, Chris Froome or Simon Yates, the last to join this select club.
