La Vuelta de España – Friday 19th August-Sunday 11th September

Vuelta de España (Tour of Spain Cycle Race) will be the last major 3 week race of 2022, starting in The Netherlands.

I can see people asking “Why The Netherlands”?  The ‘why’ is very simple – money! Stage start and finishes bring in big bucks to their towns and cities.

The La Vuelta is a cycle race run in the same format as the Tour de France which took place in July – 21 stages, 3,200km, jerseys for the leader of the various competitions; leader (red), mountains, points and young riders.

When La Vuelta arrives in Spain after the 3 stages in The Netherlands, it will re-commence in the North East (after a rest day on 22nd August), then it heads down the East coast for 5 stages. That’s when we see it in the Alicante region for Stage 10, which is a Time Trial in Elche. This is the first opportunity for our readers in the Murcia region to watch the action within a reasonable driving distance.

Stage 11 is another opportunity, as the stage start is in Alhama de Murcia, passing Totana, Lorca, Pulpi, Mojacar, Carboneras and finishing in Cabo de Gata.

This exciting and famous race then heads West, covering all of the Andalucia regions, then North West to finish in Madrid. All details of stages, riders etc can be found on www.lavuelta.es 

If you have never watched this race before, now is your chance. The atmosphere is electric, with in excess of 50 vehicles in convoy, hundreds of riders, many police on motorbikes assisting the race and thousands of spectators along the route cheering the riders on.