La Vuelta 2020 course route revealed

The course route for the 75th edition of the La Vuelta a Espana has been revealed, with the 2020 race to take place from August 14 - September 6.

Source: ASO

For the fourth time in the race's history, the Spanish grand tour will start abroad.

The peloton will depart from The Netherlands, a country familiar to La Vuelta. 

Following the first rest day, the race will recommence from a place very special to cycling: the Basque Country.

Basque fans will fill the roads in Guipuzcoa before the peloton passes through the Chartered Community of Navarra, Soria, Zaragoza and Huesca, ahead of a border cross for an iconic stage finale at the Col du Tourmalet, in the French Pyrenees. 

A second rest day will allow the riders to recover before an extremely demanding second week in the Northern half of the peninsula.

Back in the Basque Country, the race will continue through Alava, La Rioja, Burgos, Palencia, Cantabria and Asturias.

Two La Vuelta icons will test the peloton over consecutive days with high-altitude finales in Alto de La Farrapona and in Alto de L’Angliru. 

During the last week, the race will take place in the peninsula’s West, with two entire stages and one departure held in Galicia.

A return to the peninsula’s centre will then take place via the most direct route: through Portugal, before a final stage in La Covatilla that will precede the procession in Madrid.

"The race has undergone many transformations throughout its history, but I would go as far as to say that we are currently in our best moment," General Director of La Vuelta, Javier Guillen said.

"We have built a real personality for the race, characterised for its spectacular and unpredictable nature as well as for its innovative and daring spirit. 74 editions under our belt that show just how hard we’ve worked to get where we are today."

"For the 2020 edition, we wanted to do something extra special and ended up designing the race’s most international route in its long history. We will visit four countries: Holland, Spain, France and Portugal, thus becoming one of the most relevant European sporting events in 2020”.