Stages comments


Work in progress

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General comment before the race 28/08/2003

No Rest 'Til Madrid

Less than a fortnight now remains before the start of the 2003 Vuelta a España, cycling’s last major stage race of the season. With a week’s worth of climbing on offer this year, it promises to be highly unpredictable..
The Vuelta is famous for producing surprises and surprise winners, and this year will almost certainly be no exception. With just two of the top ten finishers from the Tour de France taking part - Spaniards Francisco Mancebo (IBanesto.com) and former ONCE rider Carlos Sastre (ONCE-Eroski) - the race seems certain to be wide open, with little opportunity to check out riders’ previous form.
2925 kilometres long,

the mountains start as early as stage two with the ascent of the first category Fito close to the finish in Cangas de Onis, then the end of the first week includes no less than three mountain top finishes in the Pyrenees.

Following a long transfer south to Valencia, and two transition stages, stage 15’s assault on the Pandera, dubbed the Angliru of the South, will almost certainly reduce the number of favourites yet again.
But the mountains do not end there. Sierra Nevada’s 40 kilometre slopes, leading to the Vuelta’s high point at 2600 metres, will start the race’s final week with a bang, with stage 19’s tough haul through the sierras west of Madrid and stage 20’s concluding mountain time trial on the Abantos near El Escorial¹s ancient monastery are the last two major challenges.

ONCE-Eroski’s Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, despite winning in Andorra in 1999, will be looking to make his mark on the race far earlier than Abantos, however.
Stage one’s team time trial in Gijon is a golden opportunity for ONCE-Eroski to repeat their opening stage win in Valencia last year, whilst the 40 kilometre time trial at Zaragoza on stage six is similarly advantageous for the 30-year-old: flat, exposed and likely to cause real problems to the thoroughbred climbers.
The 53 kilometre race against the clock in Albacete in the second week is similarly favourable for Gonzalez de Galdeano. As exposed and flat as the Zaragoza stage, the last time there was a time trial this long in the Vuelta was in the 1970s, and it could well provide some real surprises.

”The first week will be vital” ONCE-Eroski team manager Manolo Saiz argued recently. “With so many mountains, and two dangerously exposed stages to Burgos and Zaragoza, it will be possible for one rider to build up a huge advantage and maintain that lead through the final week.”
”However, the lack of transition stages - I can only see seven or eight - will make it very hard for one particular team to control.

This is going to be a very tactical Vuelta, and one which will suit Igor very well.”
Furthermore, with no Angliru and no Covadonga - the two hardest single ascents in Spain - the mountain men would do well to remember that only one climber, Roberto Heras, has won the Vuelta in the last 15 years.
La Vuelta 2003 - Stages

Mountain
Time trial

Saturday 6 September: stage 1: Gijón - Gijón (team time trial) 30 km.
Sunday 7 September: stage 2: Gijón - Cangas de Onis 140 km.
Monday 8 September: stage 3: Cangas de Onis - Santander 160km.
Tuesday 9 September: stage 4: Santander - Burgos 158km
Wednesday 10 September: stage 5: Soria - Zaragoza 165kms.
Thursday 11 September: stage 6: Zaragoza - Zaragoza (individual time trial) 43,8km
Friday 12 September: stage 7: Huesca - Cauterets (France) 190km
Saturday 13 September: stage 8: Cauterets - Pla de Beret (Val d'Aran) 166km
Sunday 14 September: stage 9: Vielha (Val d'Aran) - Port d'Envalira (Andorra) 176km
Monday 15 September: stage 10: Andorra - Sabadell 179km
Tuesday 16th September: first rest day. .

Wednesday 17 September: stage 11: Utiel - Cuenca 160km
Thursday 18 September: stage 12: Cuenca - Albacete 167kms.
Friday 19 September: stage 13: Albacete - Albacete (individual time trial) 53km
Saturday 20 September: stage 14: Albacete - Valdepeñas 160km
Sunday 21 September: stage 15: Valdepeñas - Sierra de la Pandera 181km
Monday 22nd September: second rest day.

Tuesday 23September: stage 16: Jaén - Sierra Nevada 162km
Wednesday 24 September: stage 17: Granada - Cordoba 180km
Thursday 25September: stage 18: Las Rozas - Las Rozas 150km
Friday 26 September: stage 19: La Vega de Alcobendas - Collado Villalba 166km
Saturday 27 September: stage 20: San Lorenzo el Escorial - Alto de Abantos 12km
Sunday 28 September: stage 21: Madrid - Madrid 130km