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MADRID, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The winner of the 2017 Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race will, like 2016 champion Nairo Quintana, almost certainly be a specialist climber, following the unveiling of the route for the 2017 race here on Thursday.
The three-week race will actually start in France, beginning the first stage, which is a team time trial in the city of Nimes, with the second stage going from Nimes to Gruissan.
After that, the riders continue to Andorra, which will test climbers' legs for the first time, although it will not be until the fifth stage of the Vuelta that the race reaches the first of nine hilltop finishes, which will surely be decisive.
The penultimate stage before the race completes its traditional finish in Madrid, could be the most decisive of all as riders will have to struggle up the legendary Angliru climb in the province of Asturias.
With an average gradient of over 10 percent and sections of 24 percent, the Angliru is considered to be one of the toughest climbs in cycling and could well decide the winner of the 2017 race.
Meanwhile there is a 42-kilometer individual time trial, but that is not enough to take the advantage away from climbers in a race the Vuelta Director, Javier Guillen insisted was "true to the personality of the race" and which top Spanish rider, Alejandro Valverde described as "really tough."
"Some people may think they have gone a bit far and it will mean a lot of suffering for those of us who are on the bikes," commented the veteran rider.
