ARCHIVED - 2 stages of the 2021 cycling Tour of Spain in the Region of Murcia
On 21st August the riders will follow the shore of the Mar Menor to the finish line in La Manga
The official presentation was made on Thursday of the 2021 Vuelta a España, cycling’s Tour of Spain, an event which is one of the highlights of the annual calendar along with the other major three-week Grand Tours (in France and Italy), and it was revealed that the route followed by the peloton between 14th August and 5th September will include two stages featuring the Region of Murcia.
On Saturday 21st August the riders set out on a mainly flat stage from Santa Pola near the city of Alicante and pass through San Pedro del Pinatar, San Javier, Los Alcázares, Torre Pacheco, Pozo Estrecho, La Aljorra, Los Dolores, Cartagena, Mar de Cristal, Los Nietos, Los Urrutias, Punta Brava, El Algar, El Llano del Beal, Los Belones and Playa Honda before reaching the finishing line in La Manga del Mar Menor.
This will be the fourth time that the Vuelta has visited La Manga and the first since 1980, when one of the stages began on the shore of the Mar Menor.
They will then travel to Puerto Lumbreras in the south-west of the Region to set out on a mountain stage on Sunday 22nd August, ending at the Alto de Velefique in the neighbouring province of Almería.
There will be a good deal of interest in Murcia in the performance of Alejandro Valverde, a native of the regional capital, who will be 41 years old when the event is held. Valverde won the Vuelta in 2009, and this will be the last time he competes.
To coincide with the Jubilee Year of the Camino de Santiago the event will finish not in Madrid, as is usually the case, but with a 33-kilometre time trial in Santiago de Compostela, the destination of countless pilgrims undertaking long-distance walks to the cathedral in honour of Spain’s patron saint.