Vuelta a Espana 2023: Six key stages as Jumbo-Visma eye Grand Tour grand slam

A team time trial curtain-raiser in Barcelona is an apt way for the Vuelta a Espana 2023 to get under way as Jumbo-Visma look to become the first team in the modern era to win all three of cycling’s Grand Tours in a single calendar year.

The last rider to secure a Grand Tour double in a single season is Britain’s Chris Froome, who followed up his Tour de France win in 2017 with victory in La Vuelta. Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard will be looking to follow in Froome’s footsteps this September – although team-mate Primoz Roglic could also pull off the first Giro/Vuelta double since Alberto Contador in 2008.

And if either rider does the double, then Jumbo-Visma will pull off an historic treble that eluded even Team Sky in their pomp.

Given the calibre of their squad, Jumbo-Visma could well possess the red jersey from start to finish for they will certainly be among the favourites in the opening 14.6km team time trial in Barcelona. But the 78th edition of La Vuelta won’t be won in a short and flat TTT but on far more challenging tests over the following three weeks.

Running from 26 August to 17 September 2023, La Vuelta 2023 covers 3,154km and features just four flat stages and one individual race against the clock, as well as six hilly stages and nine uphill finishes – including summit showdowns on the Col du Tourmalet and the Angliru.

Here’s a closer look at the six stages that could shape the race, starting with a mountaintop finish as early as Stage 3.

Any time gains from the TTT could pale into insignificance once the race hits the high mountains in Andorra just two days later. A potentially pivotal stage culminates with the Coll de Ordino (17.3km at 7.7%) and then the first summit finish of of the race at the ski resort of Arinsal after an ascent of 8.3km at 7.7% but peppered with double-digit pitches.

With time bonuses on the Ordino (3, 2 and 1 seconds) and also at the finish (10, 6 and 4), we could easily see an early shake-up on the general classification – with those arriving at La Vuelta undercooked or short of form in danger of shipping a lot of time before the race has really got going.

Make no mistake – there will be tough tests for the riders in the remainder of the opening week, not least in Stage 6 with the showdown at the Astrophysical Observatory of Javalambre on the Pico del Buitre, which peaks at 16% and lasts for over 10km.

But the next major GC summit meeting may take place on a stage without any summits to speak of – on the Tuesday after the first rest day, with a largely flat 25.8km race against the clock which will suit the powerhouse specialists and will take no prisoners.

Taking place over wide and flat roads, with just the one gentle climb in the opening 7km, means this ITT could well see the pure climbers haemorrhage a load of time. Of course, Jumbo-Visma duo Vingegaard and Roglic will love it – but so too will the new time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel, who should be able to show off his resplendent rainbow jersey in Valladolid (the city where Christopher Columbus died) provided he’s not already in a red skin suit.

A queen stage in France? Yes, the etapa reina is an étape reine in this Vuelta, with a short and explosive stage that takes place almost entirely in France and concludes – after more than 4,000m of climbing – on the summit of the Col du Tourmalet.

It’s a mythical mountain that was meant to feature in 2020 but was postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. A short ride up the Spanish side of the Portalet will kick things off ahead of the Col d’Aubisque (16.5km at 7.1%) and Col des Spandelles (10.3km at 8.3%).

The riders will then tackle the Tourmalet from the west side, the 18.9km climb starting in Luz-Saint-Sauveur and twisting its way up via eight hairpins and an average gradient of 7.4% to the finish at 2,115m. Will the local llamas come out to play? Quite possibly. Frenchman Thibaut Pinot last won when the Tourmalet featured as a summit finish in the Tour in 2019, with compatriot Julian Alaphilippe holding onto yellow.

It’s worth noting that the true affect of Stage 13 may not be gauged until a day later, when the riders tackle two HC (“Especial”) climbs ahead of the Puerto de Belagua as the first part of a tricky weekend that culminates with a hilly stage to Lekunberri for Stage 15.

Those purists who can’t face a queen stage across the border will rejoice that the third week sees a return of the Angliru for the first time since Britain’s Hugh Carthy gurned and grimaced his way to victory in 2020.

The ninth summit finish on the Alto de L’Angliru in the history of La Vuelta comes at the end of a short and sharp stage that also features two Cat.1 ascents of the Alto de Colladiela (7.8km at 7.1%) and the Alto de Cordal (5.4km at 9.2%).

As we all know by now, the Angliru’s average gradient of 9.8% over 12.4km is severely skewered by the far gentler opening third, which features one short section where the road nearly flattens out. The final 7km hardly drop below 20% with the riders facing the steepest sector of 24% – the aptly named Cueña les Cabres (goat path) – with 3km remaining.

Carthy secured his place on the final podium here three years ago while Alberto Contador struck gold on the Angliru in 2017 to bow out with a bang one day before his retirement. We can expect a similar headline-grabbing story here in 2023 on a mountain that could well decide the outcome of the race.

There’s no let-up in the battle for red with the Angliru followed one day later by a banana-skin of a stage that features five categorised climbs, including La Vuelta’s first ever finish on the new climb of Cruz de Linares, which is tackled twice.

After the Cat.2 Alto de las Estacas (5.1km at 7.5%), Cat.1 Puerto de San Lorenzo (9.9km at 8.6%) and Cat.3 Alto de Tenebredo (3.4km at 9.5%), the riders embark on the 33km finishing circuit that includes back-to-back ascents of the Puerto de la Cruz de Linares (8.3km at 8.6%).

Used for the first – and second – time in Vuelta history, the Cruz de Linares is one of those typically narrow roads made up of concrete slabs that peaks at 20% and will no doubt punish the legs and morale of riders still coming to terms with the after-effects of the Angliru’s brutality 24 hours earlier.

Hey, Siri – how do you make a bunch of professional cyclists really suffer after three weeks in the saddle?

We’re about to find out whether the answer is found not with your traditional HC or Cat.1 showdown at altitude, but with this intriguing experiment that sees a weary peloton ride an interminable succession of 10 third-category peaks over the course of a leg-sapping 208km parcours that resembles the side of a saw.

You have to give Unipublic/ASO their dues: it’s a bold way to end the Vuelta. But it’s a gamble that really could pay off. All number of scenarios are possible for this kind of unprecedented penultimate day test, which should keep viewers guessing all the way to Madrid.

The Collado del Portazgo (10.8km at 3.4%) precedes the Puerto de La Cruz Verde (7km at 5%) which in turn bookends a circuit that is tacked twice and includes the climbs of La Escondida (9km at 4.1%), the Alto de Santa Maria de la Almeda (5km at 5.6%) and the Alto de Robledondo (5.1km at 4.8%). After the second, alternative schlep up La Cruz Verde (7.2km at 3.9%), the race heads towards the finish in Guadarrama via the tenth categorised climb, the Alto San Lorenzo de El Escorial (4.6km at 6.6%).

Taken in isolation, none of these Cat.3 climbs warrants a change of bib shorts on the fear spectrum. But the repetitive nature of the climbing – at the end of three extremely tough weeks – could bring about some unexpected eleventh-hour twists and turns if not in the battle for red but then certainly in the fight for the podium and top 10 positions.