One week before Christmas, the organisers of the Vuelta a España have given climbers of world cycling a welcome gift in the form of a typically mountainous edition of the race. There will be ten summit finishes in total, eight of them rated category one or above, most notably the infamous Alto de l’Angliru.
One rider the organisers will be hoping accepts this gift is Tadej Pogačar, who had prior to yesterday's announcement expressed his interest in potentially returning to the Vuelta for the first time since 2019, depending on what the route looked like. Not that there’s any kind of route that wouldn’t have suited the best rider in the world, who excels in all kinds of terrain, but this feast of mountains will surely be to his liking.
Prior to reaching the mountains, the race will visit both the other Grand Tour nations it’s rivalling in trying to lure Pogačar to race it: Italy and France. The former follows its Grand Départ of the Tour de France this year with a flat stage, uphill finish and rolling stage, before the riders eventually cross the border into Spain on stage five via France.
From there the race will take place almost exclusively in northern terrain, the hot regions of Andalusia, Murcia and Extremadura overlooked entirely as the race never ventures further south than Madrid.
In between all the climbing stages will be an individual time, team time trial, some sprint stages and some for the puncheurs. But above all this is a Vuelta for the climbers.
Vuelta a España 2025 stage
STAGE ONE: TORINO-REGGIA DI VENARIA TO NOVARA (200KM)
Saturday, August 23, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
For the first time since 2020 the Vuelta a España will start with a road stage, and for the first time since 2007 it should be a sprinter who will end the opening day in the red jersey. This Italian Gran Salida is a long stage (the second longest of the race, in fact), but there is only one small climb to be tackled early on, meaning it should be an easy day for the sprinters’ teams to control.
STAGE TWO: ALBA TO LIMONE PIEMONTE (157KM)
Sunday, August 24, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
The race might remain in Italy for a second day, but stage two has the profile of a typical Vuelta stage, teasing the sprinters with a flat first 133km before denying them with an uphill finish. The Limone Piemonte climb is long and shallow rather than short and steep, so won’t see significant gaps between the GC favourites.
STAGE THREE: SAN MAURIZIO CANAVESE TO CERES (139KM)
Monday, August 25, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
The third and final stage finish in Italy will again be uphill, although this time up an uncategorized ascent to Ceres. Rolling terrain early in the stage may mean the breakaway has a chance, involving riders who lost enough time yesterday to be allowed freedom to get up the road.
STAGE FOUR: SUSA TO VOIRON (192KM)
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
The Vuelta leaves Italy, but for France rather than Spain. The riders will summit two long, category two climbs upon crossing the border, though the even longer descent that follows and final flat run-in to the finish in Voiron could see the race all come back together.
STAGE FIVE: FIGUERES TO FIGUERES (20KM TTT)
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
At long last the Vuelta reaches its homeland in Spain, for a team time trial in Figueras, Catalonia. While this discipline is relatively common in the Vuelta, this stage stands out for its length (the second longest of its kind since 2016), and for how unusually late it comes in the race. By now, some teams might by now have the disadvantage of being a man down through abandons.
STAGE SIX: OLOT TO PAL. ANDORRA (170KM)
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
We’re in the Pyrenees, for the first mountain stage of the race. The race’s first category one climb of the race, Collada de Toses, is tackled in the opening half of the stage, and will be followed by a first mountain top finish at Pal, which will surely reveal who the main contenders for the overall victory will be.
STAGE SEVEN: ANDORRA LA VELLA TO CERLER (187KM)
Friday, August 29, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
Another day in the mountains, this time even more severe with no less than four Pyrenean summits to overcome. There are plenty of King of the Mountain points on offer for climbers to get into the break and try and seize control of that classification, while the red jersey contenders will likely wait until the final tough, category one challenge to Cerler to do battle.
STAGE EIGHT: MONZON TEMPLARIO TO ZARAGOZA (187KM)
Saturday, August 30, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
After two tough days in the mountains, the organisers have taken mercy with a pan flat stage without a single climb. A bunch sprint therefore looks guaranteed in Zaragoza, which will host its fiftieth stage finish in Vuelta history.
STAGE NINE: ALFARO TO ESTACION DE ESQUI DE VALDEZCARAY (195KM)
Sunday, August 31, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
The last stage of the first week takes place mostly over rolling roads in La Rioja, before culminating in a category one summit finish atop Valdezcaray ski station. It’s not as hard as the two previous mountain top finishes in the Pyrenees, but the riders will be fatigued after so many days of uninterrupted racing.
STAGE 10: PARQUE DE LA NATURALEZA SENDAVIVA TO EL FERIAL LARRA BELAGUA (168KM)
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
The second week of the Vuelta begins in much the same way as the first week ended, with a day made up mostly of rolling terrain turned into a mountain stage with a final category one ascent to the finish in the Navarre part of the Pyrenees. That climb is Larra Belagua, which first hosted a stage finish two years ago when Remco Evenepoel completed his stunning comeback win having been dropped out of GC contention the day before.
STAGE 11: BILBAO TO BILBAO (167KM)
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
Having hosted the Tour de France Grand Départ two years ago, Bilbao will again feature in the Vuelta, for an out and back stage to and from the Basque city. The total of seven categories climbs is the most of this year’s race, all of them either category two and three, making this prime territory for breakaway puncheurs, or potentially GC riders wanting to disrupt the race outside of the high mountains.
STAGE 12: LAREDO TO LOS CORRALES DE BUELNA (143KM)
Thursday, September 4, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
The two Cantabrian climbs on the menu today are stern tests, especially the Collada de Brenes, which includes ramps of 15%. But with over 20km from its summit to the flat finish in Los Corrales de Buelna, and the fearsome test awaiting them tomorrow, the GC riders may be reluctant to ignite hostilities on it.
STAGE 13: CABEZON DE LA SAL TO L’ANGLIRU (202KM)
Friday, September 5, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
It’s the big one: a summit finish atop the dreaded Alto de l’Angliru, a climb many believe to be the hardest in cycling. This will be the tenth time the mountain has hosted a stage finish at the Vuelta since its first appearance in 1999, in which time it has become perhaps the race’s most famous climb. Even before arriving the riders will have to take on a pair of category one climbs, towards the end of what is also, at 202km, the longest stage of the race.
STAGE 14: AVILES TO ALTO DE LA FARRAPONA (135KM)
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
Another day, another stage in the high mountains, though this one is much shorter and more intense than yesterday’s — shorter, in fact, than any stage barring the finale to Madrid. Back-to-back category one climbs Puerto de San Llaurienzu and Alto de la Farrapona have the potential to cause carnage.
STAGE 15: A VEIGA/VEGADEO TO MONFORTE DE LEMOS (167KM)
Sunday, September 7, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
The opening 16.5km of stage 15, which climb to the summit of the category one Puerto Garganta, suggest initially that this final stage of the second week will be yet another gruelling day in the mountains. But the terrain from there southwards to the finish in Monforte de Lemos is undulating rather than mountainous, making this a likely day off for the GC contenders, and prime territory for a breakaway to succeed.
STAGE 16: POIO TO MOS.CASTRO DE HERVILLE (172KM)
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
The third week of the race begins with a stage that could entice GC riders anxious of running out of time to go on the attack, or for them to rest up and wait for the sterner tests ahead. There are four climbs in total, though none higher than 623m in altitude, while the category two finish at Castro de Herville may not be hard enough to cause gaps between the favourites.
STAGE 17: O BARCO DE VALDEORRAS TO ALTO DE EL MORREDERO.PONFERRADA (137KM)
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
Only around 115km and one climb precede the foot of the Alto de El Morredero, meaning the riders should be relatively fresh by the time they start climbing it. They certainly won’t be by the top, however, for what will surely be a GC showdown on the penultimate summit finish of the race.
STAGE 18: VALLADOLID TO VALLADOLID (26KM ITT)
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
Time trial specialists will have to wait as late as stage 18 for their chance to go up against the clock, for a stage in the familiar Vuelta destination of Valladolid that could throw some spanners in the works of the GC race. It’s one for the specialists, with barely a speed bump to negotiate, and at 26km is long enough to cause big enough gaps to alter the state of the GC.
STAGE 19: RUEDA TO GUIJUELO (159KM)
Friday, September 12, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
At long last, just two days before the finish, the sprinters get a chance with a flat stage in Castile y León. The question is whether there will be any sprinters left in the race to compete for it, or if instead a breakaway will be allowed to succeed — a slight uphill gradient to the finish may swing things in favour of the latter.
STAGE 20: ROBLEDO DE CHAVELA TO BOLA DEL MUNDO (156KM)
Saturday, September 13, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
For the final GC stage of the race, the organisers have saved one of the hardest. There are five climbs in total, but the decisive one will be the final rise of Puerto de Navacerrada, which stands 2,200m high, and, in terms of difficult climbs featured in this year’s race, is beaten only by the Angliru.
STAGE 21: ALALPARDO TO MADRID (101KM)
Sunday, September 14, 2025
Stage profile from the La Vuelta website
As usual, the Vuelta will finish in the nation’s capital of Madrid. A bunch sprint would normally be guaranteed, but any would-be attackers will take heart from the chaos of the equivalent final stage from 2023, when Kaden Groves won from a breakaway that just about managed to hold off the peloton.
Cover image by Getty Images
