The 2023 Vuelta a España will likely include at least four major summit finishes. Lagos de Covadonga, Angrill, and the brutally tough new climb Miserat de Alicante are all said to be included in next summer's route.

According to the Spanish sports newspaper AS (opens in new tab), these three climbs could be alongside Tourmalet, which has already been confirmed as part of the Vuelta's 2023 route.

Next summer, the Vuelta a España will open in the Catalan capital of Barcelona on August 26 for the first time since 1962. It will open with a technical TTT, but will likely focus on the mountain stages in the second half of the race and the time trial in Valladolid in the middle of the race. Also, for the first time since 1994, the 2023 Vuelta a España will be held after the World Championships, making it a great opportunity for Remco Evenpole's (Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl) successor to show off his newly acquired rainbow jersey.

The opening stage will be the team time trial for the second year in a row and the third in five years. The opening TTT is 14 km, considerably shorter than Utrecht in 2022, but may be harder due to the possibility of an uphill finish.

Also, as already widely publicized, the second stage will probably repeat the first day's finish in Barcelona's Parc Montjuïc. Later in the same week, the Vuelta will enter Andorra, with finishes on at least eight hills. So far, however, relatively few other details are available, unlike in previous years when most of the route was comprehensively leaked by early December. [As Ciclo21 (opens in new tab) recently reported, a stage from Utiel in neighboring Valencia to the coastal town of Oliva is scheduled for September 1. A new super-tough climb, the 7-km Miserat in the province of Alicante, will likely bring the curtain down on the first week of racing.

The route for the 2023 Vuelta is expected to head north through the French Pyrenees and Navarra mountains, then west to Valladolid for a time trial at the beginning of the third and final week. A double ascent of Lagos de Covadonga and Angril (Angril was last climbed in 2020) is planned.

The Vuelta will finish in Madrid on Sunday, September 17. The full route will be presented in Barcelona on the evening of January 10.