Stage Profiles: La Vuelta 2022
2022 La Vuelta Route
The three-week, 21-stage route begins with 3 stages in the Netherlands. Not a mountainous region, clearly, so prime opportunity for the sprinters to take the spotlight. Thereafter the race returns to Spain. A cluster of stages in the first half take place in the hills and mountains of the north. Then a cluster of stages in the second half takes place in the hills and the mountains of the south before the race winds its way to Madrid for a final leisurely roll into the capitol, punctuated with a hard sprint at the finish.
Utrecht > Utrecht
08/19/2022 - Stage 1 - 23,3 km - Team TT
The opener in the Netherlands. It’s not clear whether team time trials have fallen out of favor with grand tour planners or if it’s just a fluke of schedule, but these stages are rare birds lately. The entire team dons the tightest, most aero skinsuits available and bows their head for gasket-blowing sprint train start to finish. The time earned is marked by, usually, the fifth man over the line. So you can distance one or two teammates along the way. It’s a type of stage that loves a doped team, arteries pumping with enhanced, no-quit plasma, but that’s neither here nor there.
Hertogenbosch > Utrecht
08/20/2022 - Stage 2 - 175,1 km - Flat
A flat stage for the sprinters, although there is one small categorized climb. Holding the King of the Mountains jersey based on one category-3 climb might seem like a hollow victory. But this is world tour pro cycling. There are no gifts. Take your wins where you get them.
Breda > Breda
08/21/2022 - Stage 3 - 193,5 km - Flat
The final stage in the Netherlands and another happy stage for the sprinters. Teams will usher their fastmen through the route in preparation for a fantastic bunch sprint finish.
Vitoria-Gasteiz > Laguardia
08/23/2022 - Stage 4 - 152,5 km - Mountain
Stage 4 follows a rest/travel day as La Vuelta returns home to Spain. The inclines start to perk up in the hills and mountains of the northern region. The pure sprinters will start to drag in the hill and dale, and those that remain will suffer in the final uphill sprint. What this route needs is a good puncheur and/or a Mads Pedersen-type that can top some hills without losing zip in the final sprint.
Irun > Bilbao
08/24/2022 - Stage 5 - 187,2 km - Mountain
The series of category-2s and -3s looks hand-crafted to produce a breakaway. It might be a breakaway of GC contenders by the end, testing each other’s strength at this early stage of the three-week race. Or if the GC contenders play it safe, watch for an oddball winner. Why not Thomas De Gendt?
Bilbao > Ascensión al Pico Jano. San Miguel de Aguayo
08/25/2022 - Stage 6 - 181,2 km - Mountain
If the break can form before the Puerto de Alisas, the breakaway might have a chance on Stage 6. Otherwise the top teams will likely push the pace, play the attrition game, and see if their GC guy can gain time on rivals up the final, fearsome category-1 uphill finish. Pretender contenders in the GC ranks will be shown out here if they lack the form to stay with the true competitors.
Camargo > Cistierna
08/26/2022 - Stage 7 - 190 km - Mountain
It’s a striking stage profile: a dramatic upsweep into a single monster climb, resembling the EKG of someone having a heart attack. There doesn’t appear to be enough kilometers before the rise for a significant break to form, unless the GC contenders are playing it conservative. And if a break does form, there’s 65km left of relative flat for the peloton to catch them.
La Pola Llaviana/Pola de Laviana > Colláu Fancuaya. Yernes y Tameza
08/27/2022 - Stage 8 - 153,4 km - Mountain
A rock n roller of a route with a series category-2s and -3s to thin out the peloton and make life hell for the sprinters. Teams will need their climbers to usher GC hopefuls safely to the final category-1 killer up the Colláu Fancuaya. If you’re aiming for GC, you have to be there on the last climb alongside (or preferably, in front of) rivals to turn the race your direction.
Villaviciosa > Les Praeres. Nava
08/28/2022 - Stage 9 - 171,4 km - Mountain
Another monster mountain day with a series of categorized climbs, punctuated by category-1s at the midpoint and uphill finish. A three-week bike race is a war of attrition. Whether or not you looked good on the previous day’s climb, you need to have the stamina to run it back. If a GC hopeful loses time to rivals on stages 8 and 9, it’s not too hard to read the tea leaves on their chances.
Elche > Alicante
08/30/2022 - Stage 10 - 30,9 km - Individual TT
After a well-deserved rest day riders will kick out their legs for an individual time trial. There’s no team dynamic in the individual time trial to muck things up for those with the power to go it alone. The 31.1km course is long enough to allow one weird angle on a turn, maybe two, but no more. If you showed well in the mountains, and have a good time trial to boot, your starting to look like a true contender.
ElPozo Alimentación > Cabo de Gata
08/31/2022 - Stage 11 - 191,2 km - Flat
A reward for the pure sprinters after muddling through the mountains. There’s no chance for a breakaway as the sprint teams will be able to reel it in by the finish. Look for a bunch sprint with the best of the best fastmen showing their stuff in the final meters.
Salobreña > Peñas Blancas. Estepona
09/01/2022 - Stage 12 - 192,7 km - Flat
Another striking upsweep stage profile. A break will form with riders hoping that charging up the incline around 120km into the race will pad their lead enough to win. But will the breakaway gain enough time and have enough juice to fend off the GC contenders battling up the final category-1 uphill finish?
Ronda > Montilla
09/02/2022 - Stage 13 - 168,4 km - Flat
Another sweet stage for the sprinters. Hill and dale, plus accumulated fatigue from two weeks of racing, will test which sprint teams have the depth to compete in Stage 13.
Montoro > Sierra de La Pandera
09/03/2022 - Stage 14 - 160,3 km - Mountain
Stage 14 is 100km of racing and then a hellish escalator to the moon. Mancha Real is not a categorized climb (so no KOM points), but it’s a climb all the same, and riders will be killing themselves to keep pace going over it to position themselves for the double-decker peaks of Los Villares and La Pandera. This stage will bring the drama.
Martos > Sierra Nevada. Alto Hoya de la Mora. Monachil
09/04/2022 - Stage 15 - 149,6 km - Mountain
The peloton will crash against the beyond-category Sierra Nevada like a ship against the reef in stormy seas. The uphill finish will be a prime opportunity to make major gains on GC rivals. A few contenders will see their hopes vanish on the final climb. Riders who lack the endurance for a three-week race will be shown out. A few pure sprinters might have already abandoned in anticipation.
Sanlúcar de Barrameda > Tomares
09/06/2022 - Stage 16 - 189,4 km - Flat
Another well deserved rest day followed by a flat course. A sprint stage right after the Sierra Nevada feels like a joke. But any pure sprinter who beat the time cutoff on Stage 16 deserves another chance for glory.
Aracena > Monasterio de Tentudía
09/07/2022 - Stage 17 - 162,3 km - Flat
If you’re trailing in the GC competition or haven’t otherwise made your mark on the 2022 La Vuelta by Stage 17, you’re running out of time. The strong teams won’t allow a GC rival to get up the road on a breakaway, so that fight will wait for mountains in stages 18, 19, and 20. But a stage win hopeful might be able to sneak off the front for a last desperate attempt.
Trujillo > Alto de Piornal
09/08/2022 - Stage 18 - 192 km - Mountain
Stage 18 marks a trio of mountain stages that will burnish the winner of the 2022 La Vuelta. At this point the GC rivals know exactly who needs time and roughly the climbs on which they’ll try to make it up. After a 100km warmup, the riders will enter a playground of peaks and valleys. Some desperate riders might try to push the descent too hard with potentially dangerous consequences.
Talavera de la Reina > Talavera de la Reina
09/09/2022 - Stage 19 - 138,3 km - Mountain
Two 60km laps up and down the Puerto del Pielago on Stage 19. Call it “medium mountains” because it’s only a category-2 climb. But the pace will be on as fastmen with the legs for hills will look for the breakaway. Expect a reduced bunch sprint for the win.
Moralzarzal > Puerto de Navacerrada
09/10/2022 - Stage 20 - 181 km - Mountain
The day that will produce the winner of the 2022 La Vuelta. The route is marked by five categorized climbs. No beyond-category climb, but the wear and tear of the serial ascents will take their toll. If the GC competition is close, under a minute, we’ll see the racelong battle for a podium finish condensed into a few decisive moments on Stage 20. If the GC competition is not close, racers poised to win will play it conservative.
Las Rozas > Madrid. Paisaje de la Luz
09/11/2022 - Stage 21 - 96,7 km - Flat
Like the triumphal glide into Paris at the Tour de France, the peloton will enjoy a leisurely roll into Madrid. As a matter of tradition, the GC competition is finished and the remaining riders can celebrate the mere fact of surviving three-weeks of hot summer racing. The pace will pick up, however, in the circuit stage finale on the streets of the capitol city. One last go round for the pure sprinters.
