Once again there was a leak of the route details ! Time will come when the savvy journos will not fly into the “ Presentation ” unless they have made important appointments for face to face interviews with the Racers that cannot be done on the phone !
Whilst the amount of Mountain top finishes do not unduly trouble me , I cannot see how I can hitch hike from Barcelona to the North west corner in a day ! It took me all of two days to make it from Innsbruck to Grenada in 2010 and I was in the same vehicle from near Albi in Italy to Grenada for 30+ hours ! That was on motorway most of the journey . Across Spain is somewhat more difficult to get a lift if recollections are correct .
No doubt the racers will be relieved of this task by flying but their support vehicles will no doubt exit Andorra and the team cars will convoy with Police Escort ! The caravan attached to the Vuelta is small compared to the TDF so their non appearance in Barcelona will be no surprise .
Southern Spain usually has warm to hot weather but I recall some fear some storms on the north coast and I wouldn’t bet on Barcelona not having a down pour also !
The route of the 2012 Vuelta a España:
Stage 1, August 18: Pamplona team time trial, 16.2km
Stage 2, August 19: Pamplona-Viana, 180km
Stage 3, August 20: Oion-Arrate (Eibar), 153km
Stage 4, August 21: Barakaldo-Valdezcaray, 155km
Stage 5, August 22: Logroño-Logroño, 172km
Stage 6, August 23: Tarazona-El Fuerte del Rapitán (Jaca), 174km
Stage 7, August 24: Jaca-Motorland (Alcañiz), 160km
Stage 8, August 25: Lleida- Coll de la Gallina (Andorra), 175km
Stage 9, August 26. Andorra-Barcelona, 194km
August 27: Rest day
Stage 10, August 28: Ponteareas-Sanxenxo, 166km
Stage 11, August 29: Cambados-Pontevedra time trial, 40km
Stage 12, August 30: Vilagarcía-Mirador de Ezaro (La Coruña), 184.6km
Stage 13, August 31: Santiago de Compostela-Ferrol, 172.7km
Stage 14, September 1: Palas do Rei-Los Ancares, 152km
Stage 15, September 2: La Robla-Lagos de Covadonga, 186.7km
Stage 16, September 3: Gijón (Villa de Jovellanos)-Cuitu Negro, 185km
September 4: Rest day
Stage 17, September 5: Santander-Fuente Dé, 177km
Stage 18, September 6: Aguilar de Campoo-Valladolid, 186.4km
Stage 19, September 7: Peñafiel-La Lastrilla, 169km
Stage 20, September 8: Palazuelo del Eresma-Bola del Mundo, 169.5km
Stage 21, September 9: Cercedilla-Madrid, 111.9km
Miguel Indurain has already commented that “ With so many tough mountain stages, I would have been stuffed from the start,”
Miguel noted the lack of “ Time Trial Ops” which was his forte :
“This kind of route is exactly what the fans want, and the climbing specialists will have a great chance to win the race,"
The stage distances have been shortened but he thinks :
“they’ve maintained the level of difficulty of the stages.”
This will be a rather novel Vuelta , with the finish in Madrid which is the southernmost point of this Grand Tour edition
“It’s going to be different, because it’s all in the north, and it’ll be quite a nervous race because there are a lot of summit finishes,”
Source :http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/indurain-i-would-have-struggled-on-2012-vuelta-a-espana-route
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