Stage 5 will depart from Granada and will travel to the province of Almeria.

I guess it'll be via Alfacar or Viznar, but there is a lot of nice dirt roads in the area like the eastern side from Prado Negro (near A-92) or a sideroad from Viznar labeled as GR-3103... after further investigation Prado Negro won't work as there's nothing besides the A-92 motorway.

Friday 7th of Sep: La Camperona, coming from Asturias through Puerto de Tarna.Saturday 8th of Sep: Lagos de Covadonga, entering Asturias through San Isidro. I can't see anything more than one or two cat 2 climbs far away from the fininsh.This leaves the other rumoured MTF to Sunday 9th of Sep: Praeres de Nava.

I have a hard time believing the order of the last two. Regarding the finish at Covadonga, Unipublic is in talks with the National Park authorities to have the finish at the old site at Lago de la Ercina, that's 1km more of climbing than we've got in recent years. If they don't include a proper sequence of climbs in the stage to Praeres we're set for a very dissapointing weekend.

There will be a finish coming from the province of Huesca with two climbs in Spain and La Comella with a finish in town. The second stage will be 'spectacular'. A copy of (or a variation on) the 2015 stage is in the making.

So the rumour of Javalambre was Unipublic trolling us.

Olders posts in Ciclo 21 include the departures and finishes of some stages in the first week. These allow completing a route with only two gaps.

I have tentatively placed the Monte Oiz stage on Wednesday to avoid the 4 MTFs in a row. There are two gaps, one of them I would expect is an ITT. I have counted 8 MTFs but rumours said that Guillén said there would be 10. So maybe there are a couple of small muritos there I'm missing or one of the unknown stages in the last week is another MTF.Waiting to see the detailed stage routes this can be anything from garbage to decent.

Kyllingen86 wrote:I read somewhere Picos Buitre would be in. Could it be one of the MTF's?

Pico del Buitre is 6hrs driving from both the Basque Country and Andorra. There's just no way they fit that and Andorra without facing a protest from the teams because of ridiculous transfers the very same day the route is presented.

I read it on cyclingstage but apparently, unless there is a mountain with the same name, something is way wrong in that article. It says Pico del Buitre is in Aragon.

Pico del Buitre is indeed in Aragón; but it's in the South of Aragón, near Valencia and far from the way between the Basque Country and Andorra. It's not the first time that Unipublic leaks a fake rumour.

The finish at Pozo Alcón (stage 7) is expected to include a loop with two linked climbs: Vadillo Castril and Tiscar. My guess is that both are no more than cat2 climbs, followed by a final 6-7 km going up at 3-4%. Anyway it looks like an interesting finish.Stage 8 will finish at Almadén (flat).Stage 9 will depart from Talavera de la Reina and will be 226 km long, but there's no mention of any climb before La Covatilla. We'll have to wait for additional details.http://www.diariojaen.es/deportes/la-etapa-de-pozo-alcon-constara-de-tres-puertos-y-185-kilometros-CM3538545

Not possible to be Unipuerto from Talavera de la Reina as they've got to get from the southern to the northern Meseta plateaus, the latter of which is higher. (Piornal)-Honduras-(La Garganta or El Cerro)-La Covatilla or (Piornal)-Tornavacas-(Tremedal)-La Covatilla would seem most likely.

Hey, just because it's impossible to be Unipuerto doesn't mean they won't make it the only relevant climb. They could also go over Pico then go all rolling in the northern Meseta through Ávila province, or just sidestep Piornal and just put Tornavacas first. It'll be a tougher stage than 2011 regardless coming from Talavera, but that doesn't automatically mean it's going to be a good design.

Libertine Seguros wrote:Not possible to be Unipuerto from Talavera de la Reina as they've got to get from the southern to the northern Meseta plateaus, the latter of which is higher. (Piornal)-Honduras-(La Garganta or El Cerro)-La Covatilla or (Piornal)-Tornavacas-(Tremedal)-La Covatilla would seem most likely.