Revised Vuelta a España route has the toughest first week of any post-war Grand Tour

Vuelta a España 2020 (Image credit: Getty Images)

Three major summit finishes, four mountainous stages, one very hilly stage, and a finish on the Tourmalet in late October. Put it all together and the revised 2020 Vuelta a España route, bereft of its three stages in the Netherlands, now looks set to become Grand Tour racing's hardest-ever first week since World War II.

It's impossible to consider cycling's projected 2020 season without adding in the huge caveat of an ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the risks of a second outbreak and the possible impact of public-health measures in France and Spain. All three of these factors could yet play havoc with the revised race calendar.

Assuming the season plays out as planned, the Vuelta has been reduced to 18 stages and will kick off on Tuesday, October 20 in Spain's frontier town of Irun in the Basque Country. The first six days suddenly look even harder than recent previous editions of the race. None of which, with multiple steep little summit finishes and the odd ascent of Sierra Nevada or similarly tough challenges, have been easy.

As for the Tour de France, even in this year's exceptionally tough first week, after six days of racing the Tour will 'only' have had two summit finishes. One will be at the comparatively easy Orcières Merlette ski station in the Alps, while the second will be a long, grinding ascent through the Massif Central to Mont Aigoual. Even if you add in the Pyrenees, which come at the start of the second week, the Tour route is not excessively difficult.

Things do not get any easier on stage 2 of the Vuelta, with a late ascent of the first-category Aralar – a viciously steep climb in north-west Navarre where an out-and-out climber like Fabio Aru won in 2014, prior to a fast, technical descent. Featuring 14 per cent ramps and with cement sections on its upper slopes, Aralar will be the second opportunity in 24 hours for an important GC weed-out.

As if that wasn't enough, stage 3 concludes with the first-category ascent of the Laguna Negra de Vinuesa. Unprecedented for the Vuelta, and nearly eight kilometres long, assuming they use the harder of two approach roads up the climb, Vinuesa's toughest segment is halfway up, with a kilometre averaging out at 11 per cent. Either way, riders will face what is the Vuelta's second summit finish, and third incursion into the hills or mountains, in three days.

The most difficult of the climbs on stage 5 is the last – Petralba – which is rated as second-category and nine kilometres long, and just 15 kilometres from the finish. Averaging nine per cent, it is toughest at the bottom, but with a long section through a tunnel near the top. Petralba could see a dark-horse GC contender on the attack prior to Sunday's set-piece Pyrenean showdown on the Tourmalet.

The other change planned for the Vuelta, in the third week – the cancellation of the Portuguese stage into Porto, and the next day back to Spain at Ciudad Rodrigo – is not expected to have any major impact. Both stages were originally through flat or rolling terrain, and the replacement route, while yet to be released, is said to be equally straightforward. The Vuelta organisers have also said that no further changes are expected to the race route overall.

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.