The 80th edition of La Vuelta – live on TNT Sports and discovery+ – runs between Turin and the Spanish capital of Madrid over the course of 3,151 largely undulating kilometres.
The traditional last-chance saloon for many GC hopefuls, La Vuelta is once again a climber-friendly affair, but some lumpy stages also suit the Classics specialists and breakaway riders, while up to five bunch sprints offer an olive branch of sorts to the increasingly-maligned sprinters.
Kicking off with three days in Piedmont in northern Italy, a fleeting visit to France is then followed by that increasingly rare phenomenon in Grand Tours: a team time trial back on Spanish soil.
Just the one individual race against the clock features in the race, which also includes an uphill finish on day two, nine further summit showdowns, just two stages over 200km, and a route that never ventures south of Madrid.
For the sixth time in the race’s history, La Vuelta starts outside Spain with a first-ever Italian ‘gran comienzo’ in Turin. A largely flat stage should see a sprinter take the spoils and don the first red jersey in Novara.
But then it is all change, with the dynamic turned on its head for the first of our seven key stages…
Stage 2, Sunday 24 August – Alba to Limone Piemonte – 159.6km
La Vuelta a Espana 2025 Stage 2 profile
Image credit: ASO
It’s not often that the second stage of a Grand Tour finishes in a ski resort and it is no huge surprise to see such a challenge on La Vuelta.
Sure, the majority of the profile is largely flat, while the last climb to the ski resort of Limone 1400 is only a Cat. 2 ascent of 7.6km with an average gradient of 5.4%.
But anyone entering the race slightly undercooked or simply not feeling 100% could easily lose time on this big-ring climb, which could certainly coax out the GC favourites earlier than usual.
The climb was taken on in the 2002 Giro d’Italia when Stefano Garzelli took the spoils ahead of Santiago Perez, Gilberto Simone and Francesco Casagrande.
A third stage in Italy is a short 135km blast through the medium mountains with an uphill finish in the small town of Ceres near the border with France.
It sets things up nicely for Stage 4, which sees the riders leave Italy via the Col de Montgenevre and then tackle the Col du Lautaret from Briancon. Save for a small unclassified hill, the longest stage of the race concludes with 70km of flat roads before a punchy finish in Voiron.
Stage 6, Thursday 28 August – Olot to Pal – 170.3km
La Vuelta a Espana 2025 Stage 6 profile
Image credit: From Official Website
No sooner has the race finally arrived in Spain than the peloton zips off to neighbouring Andorra…
After the pan-flat 20km team time trial comes the first major summit finish of the race. Starting in the volcanic hotspot of Olot, the 170km stage gets going with a bang in the form of the 11.4km Collada de Sentigosa from the gun.
The riders descend to Ripoll ahead of the next test, the Cat. 1 Collada de Toses, which is gentle enough at an average gradient of under 4% but which goes on for a whopping 25km.
A long 60km descent spirits the riders to the watersports mecca of La Seu d’Urgell and into the Principality of Andorra ahead of the short but sharp Alto de la Comella, which is 4.2km long at 8%.
The Cat. 2 Comella has featured in the Tour de France before and was most recently used in the 2019 Vuelta when Frenchman Geoffrey Bouchard was first to the top in a stage won by – who else? – Tadej Pogacar.
The final climb to and beyond Pal is 9.7km at 6.4% and makes its fifth appearance in La Vuelta, with Igor Anton and Jose Maria Jiminez among the previous winners.
Some tough double-digit gradients in the middle section could be the springboard for the win and some GC damage towards the end of the first week.
Stage 7, Friday 29 August – Andorra La Vella to Cerler – 188km
La Vuelta a Espana 2025 Stage 7 profile
Image credit: From Official Website
Immediately after the first major summit finish comes the second – and it’s noticeably harder, with nearly 4,500m of vertical gain packed along the route.
After a solitary kilometre in Andorra, the race leaves the landlocked microstate and returns to Spain ahead of the first of four classified climbs in the Pyrenees.
The Cat. 1 Port del Canto rises at an average of 4.3% over 25km, but the first section is noticeably harder, which will encourage early attacks.
It is followed by a long descent to Sort and then a fast slog along the valley road towards the Cat. 2 Puerto de Perves, another 23km monster but with a gentle average gradient of just 3.5%.
Next up is the Cat. 2 Coll de L’Espina (5.9km at 6.5%), which is followed by a lumpy plateau and then a fast descent to the foot of the final climb.
The road rises uphill for the best part of 30km with a forgiving early section ahead of the intermediate sprint, followed by a tough 9.2km section up to Cerler.
The final section of the climb is just over 12km at 5.9% but these stats are skewered by two short downhills which punctuate gradients that otherwise push towards double digits.
Finding a rhythm will be hard and some serious damage can be done particularly after a such a long day with so many uphill kilometres.
The first week of La Vuelta concludes with a sprint stage to Zaragoza and then a Sunday showdown at the tiny family ski resort of Valdezcaray in the province of La Rioja, renowned for its wines.
Stage 13, Friday 5 September – Cabezon de la Sal to Alto de L’Angliru – 202.7km
La Vuelta a Espana 2025 Stage 13 profile
Image credit: From Official Website
Any weary legs exiting the first rest day could be punished on the 168km Stage 10, which has been denominated as “flat” by the race organisers, but still features over 3,000m of climbing including the summit finale at another rinky-dink ski resort at Larra-Belagua.
It is here where Remco Evenepoel triumphed in 2023 a day after his GC hopes went up in smoke on the Col du Tourmalet.
A Classics-style test in and around Bilbao is followed by a day in the medium mountains in Cantabria with that rare thing in La Vuelta: a flat finish. Then we have the big one: Stage 13 to the Alto de L’Angliru.
The brutal climb in Asturias returns for a tenth fixture on the Vuelta since its inception in 1999, with previous winners including Wout Poels (2011), Kenny Elissonde (2013), Alberto Contador (2017), Hugh Carthy (2020) and, most recently, Primoz Roglic (2023) at the head of a Jumbo-Visma 1-2-3.
The opening half of the long 203km stage is largely flat ahead of an unclassified climb that precedes the super-tough final third.
First up is the Cat. 1 Alto La Mozqueta, a 6.6km climb at 8.4% that should see any breakaway blow apart while seriously whittling down the peloton.
The Cat. 1 Alto de Cordal follows – a short 5.4km climb with an average gradient of 9.2% that provides a little taster of the hellish task that follows.
An average gradient of 10.2% sounds pretty fruity in itself but it hardly reflects the true difficulty of the climb because the first 5km go up at 8% and are followed by a flat mid-section that runs for a kilometre before the real savagery begins.
The final half of the climb boasts an average gradient of 15% and, notably, the exposed Cuena les Cabres goat path sector where the needle pushes 24%.
It was here where Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard dropped their team-mate Sepp Kuss two years ago, with the American battling to limit his losses and hold onto the red jersey in dramatic style.
Stage 14, Saturday 6 September – Aviles to Alto de la Farrapona – 135.9km
La Vuelta a Espana 2025 Stage 14 profile
Image credit: ASO
No rest for the wicked. Over 3,800m of climbing in under 136km makes the race’s 14th stage potentially even more regal than the apparent queen stage which precedes it.
Unlike the ride to the Alto de L’Angliru, there are practically no flat roads in this test in the rugged peaks of the Asturias and Cantabrian mountains of northern Spain.
A lumpy opening half culminates with the Cat. 3 L’Alto Tenebreo before the riders tackle the Cat. 1 Puerto de San Llaurienzu – a leg-sapping 10km climb at 8.6%.
There is then a fast descent to the foot of the final climb, the ‘Especial’ Alto de la Farrapona, where the finish comes alongside the dreamy Lagos de Someido.
Over 16km long at an average gradient of 6.2% only scratches the surface of a climb that plays out in a series of steps, with a short downhill section at the midway point following the steepest 12.5% ramp and preceding an unforgiving final 5km that averages over 10%.
On its last appearance in the Vuelta in 2020, the Farrapona hosted a ding-dong battle between escape artists David Gaudu and Marc Soler, with the Frenchman pipping the Spaniard to the line after an uphill sprint to the summit.
Six years previously, Alberto Contador got the better of Chris Froome as El Pistolero paved the way to his overall victory in 2014.
The second week of La Vuelta closes with a lumpy stage to Monforte de Lemos that suits a breakaway but could also be controlled by the sprinters’ teams.
Stage 18, Thursday 11 September – Valladolid to Valladolid – 26km ITT
La Vuelta a Espana 2025 Stage 18 profile
Image credit: ASO
The final week kicks off with an undulating ride and another uphill finish on the Castro de Herville climb above Mos.
This is followed by yet another summit showdown on the Alto de El Morredero above Ponferrada, where the gradient regularly hits double digits over the course of the 18.1km uphill grind.
But let’s instead focus on something a little different: the race’s only individual time trial. With just one 700m climb at 5.6%, the 26km race of truth is an otherwise pan-flat big-ring test for the specialists and thoroughbred rouleurs.
After an early technical part that includes numerous corners, then the short climb, the route is largely straight and, well, straight-forward – the kind of parcours that will have Filippo Ganna salivating in his sleep.
This one will not be full of drama, but with so many similar summit finish tests for the GC riders on this year’s Vuelta, this at least offers something different in the battle for red.
And given that it is followed by a rare concession to the sprinters – albeit with a home straight on a slightly uphill ramp into Giujuelo – you can expect the top contenders to go all in as they look to steel a march over their rivals.
Stage 20, Saturday 13 September – Robledo de Chavela to Bola del Mundo – 165.6km
La Vuelta a Espana 2025 Stage 20 profile
Image credit: ASO
Perhaps saving the best till last, the 80th Vuelta is set to be decided on this penultimate day extravaganza on a lung-busting climb that is only making its third appearance on the race.
With over 4,200m of vertical gain and five categorised climbs in the Sierra de Guadarrama peppering the parcours, Stage 20 packs a serious punch.
Two Cat. 3 climbs – the Alto de la Escondida and the Puerto de la Paradilla – get things off to an explosive start as the road rises straight from the gun.
After the riders pass the imposing El Escorial palace, the Cat. 2 Alto del Leon slaps them with a 7.4km test at 7.1%.
A lumpy plateau follows. Here, there could well be a regrouping ahead of the penultimate climb – or a breakaway (which may include some GC hopefuls) might push on to make a difference.
The Cat. 1 Puerto de Navacerrada is 6.9km long at 7.6% and is followed by a technical descent to the foot of the final climb of the Vuelta.
The second ascent of the Puerto de Navacerrada is harder and longer than the first – a 9.1km ascent at 7.3%.
And it is not over at the top, with the road carrying on up the Bola del Mundo for a sharp 5km addendum that could well decide the outcome of the race.
With the last few kilometres rising at an average gradient of 12.2%, the combined efforts of the three previous weeks are sure to take their toll. The damage could be significant. Dreams may be dashed, jerseys lost, glory won.
If the Navacerrada often plays a pivotal role – with Richard Carapaz recently securing the polka dot jersey with his victory in 2022 – the addition of the Bola del Mondo has only taken place on two previous occasions.
In 2010, Vincenzo Nibali and Ezequiel Mosquero battled it out, the latter winning the stage but the former winning the race.
Two years later, Russia’s Denis Menchov got the better of Australia’s Richie Porte while Alberto Contador weathered the storm to beat Joaqium Rodriguez to the overall title.
With the gradient ramping up to 23% in the final kilometre, the Bolo del Mundo offers a worthy crowning glory to the 80th edition of La Vuelta.
All that is left is the final 111.6km ride into Madrid, with nine laps of a 5.8km city centre circuit and a likely sprint showdown in the Plaza de Cibeles.
Watch every stage of La Vuelta 2025 live on TNT Sports and discovery+.