The annual - 63rd Tour of Spain Bike Race in 2008 is scheduled to start from Granada in Andalucia, the south of Spain on August 30th and will finish in Madrid on 21st September. The Andalucian stage will cover five days before the race heads up north to the mountainous area of the Pyranees, from where the tortuous stage of the mountain climb begins.
This will be the ninth time that the race has started with a team trial - the flat run of 7km in Granada - will be the starting point of the testing race of 3170km with its 40 mountain climbs, five mountain top finishes and only one flat 40km individual time trial.
Granada hosted the initial stages of the race for the first time in 2005, and was also part of the very first race back in 1935 when it saw the arrival of cyclists from Murcia in the tenth stage of the race.
The first stages in Andalucia will cover around 700km and then the uphill slog and some of the hardest stages and undoubtedly the most spectacular scenery of the race.
Itinerary and stages - Vuelta de Espana 2008 - Tour of Spain Bike Race
- August 30 : Granada 7km
- August 31 : Granada - Jaén, 167km
- September 1: Jaén - Córdoba, 165km
- September 2: Córdoba - Puertollano, 153km
- September 3: Ciudad Real - Ciudad Real ITT, 40km
- September 4: Ciudad Real - Toledo, 162km
September 5 – Rest day
- September 6: Barbastro - Andorra (Naturlandia - La Rabassa), 224km
- September 6: Barbastro - Andorra (Naturlandia - La Rabassa), 224km
- September 7: Andorra (Escaldes - Engordany) - Pla de Beret, 160km
- September 8: Viella - Sabiñánigo, 198km
- September 9: Sabiñánigo - Zaragoza, 173km
- September 10: Calahorra - Burgos, 178km
- Steptember 11: Burgos - Suances, 180km
September 12 – Rest day
- September 13: San Vicente de la B. - Alto de L'Angliru, 199km
- September 14: Oviedo - E. E. Fuentes de Invierno, 158km
- September 15: Cudillero - Ponferrada, 198km
- September 16: Ponferrada - Zamora, 185km
- September 17: Zamora - Valladolid, 160km
- September 18: Valladolid - Las Rozas, 179km
- September 19: Las Rozas - Segovia, 161km
- September 20: La Granja de S. I. - Alto de Navacerrada ITT, 16km
- September 21: S. Sebastián de los Reyes - Madrid, 110km
Tour of Spain 2009
The dates for next year have been announced - the starting point for the 2009 Tour of Spain will start in Drenthe in the north of the Amsterdam.
More information about the route details can be found here the Official Tour de Espana website. on the English language page.
See here for more information on Andalucia and Cycle holidays.
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