First Week
The start is different than what we're familiar with, the start in the Netherlands was cancelled due to obvious reasons and so on the opening day we have a hard stage with a summit finish in the Alto de Arrate, Vuelta hey!
Second day we find already a different yet quite hard challenge, the climb to de Alto de San Miguel de Aralar is one familiar to the race but the finish comes after it in Lekunberri. It's a stage that should again see some differences and attacks by the GC riders as the climb is hard enough for it, the race will be set up very early.
And again in the third stage we have a new summit finish, there shouldn't be real gaps here it's not a hard day overall, and the final climb to La Laguna Negra de Vinuesa is a slow buildup that has some rough gradients in the final kilometer, reckon it's a day that could fall for a breakaway at first sight.
On stage 4 there's the first sprint stage at long last. One that should be easily controled by the sprinter teams who will be looking for an elusive win.
Stage 5 is one that should fall for the breakaway, classic Spanish rouleur day with lots of false flat roads, inconsistent climbs that aren't too hard but also not easy at all, and a small hilltop finish in Sabiñanigo.
Stage 6 is the big day in the Pyrinees. The race will cross the border in this, the final day of the opening week. Although a short stage is features a lot of brutal climbs climbing the Alto de Portalet in the beggining of the day, going up the Col d'Aubisque via it's hardest side before descending into Luz-Saint Sauver where the Col du Tourmalet should make the big differences of the day. A true high mountain stage, the race should be broken apart after this stage with win and podium candidates as clear as it could be.
Second Week
The second week starts with a complicated stage towards Villanueva de Valdegovia, the finish takes place in a long circuit that include two ascents of the Puerto de Orduña, a stage that should see a breakaway take the win but however it could see a bit of a GC clash aswell.
Chances are though the riders will be saving themselves for this day which will have an important role in the GC, it's the 4th (if you count Arrate) summit finish of the race and it's quite a hard one. The stage will revolve pretty much all around Molcalvillo where the final 7 kilometers average around 10%.
Stage 9 is a new oportunity for the sprinters, one of the flattest stages they'll face, should be an easy and controlled day set for the fast men that are still in the race at this point.
Stage 10 is in theory a sprinter stage but when you look closely it proves to be quite a tricky and sketchy one, ridden almost all throughout the coast it has tons of little climbs, the classic rompe-piernas roads that are full of little ascents and descents, in theory this wouldn't be much a challenge but the finish in Suances is atop a 1.5Km climb at 6%, not something brutal but it can pose an issue for some sprinters and also get the puncheurs to be in the mix.
Stage 11 is the first of the two decisive days in the Asturias. Of course, lots of mountains before, but for sure lots of riders will be thinking of these two stages, this one includes the two classic climbs we see every year in Cobertoria and San Lorenzo, and this year the finish is atop the long Alto de la Farrapona.
What can be called the queen stage, stage 12 is the one most riders will be fearing and maybe riding conservatively in order to save their legs for, the stage is hard, it's very short but it's hard but when you have the Angliru in the route it's hard to look at anything else. Before the rest day, after this climb we should have a clear battle for the win, but also it's possible that the race is close to being decided as there are only two more days to make real differences if everything goes to normal.
Third Week
The final week begins with a time-trial 2020 version. It takes place in the roads of Galicia and is 33 kilometers long, most of them flat but a bike change is to be expected in the base of the final climb into Mirador de Ézaro. This will be one hell of an effort if the race makes it this far.
Stage 14 is very similar to Suances, but more towards the breakaway riders, the rouleurs mainly, there are no rough climbs in this day but it's a constant up and down, and to remove the ambitions on the sprinters the finish in Ourense is 1.1Km long at 6.5%, which just adds to the agressive tendency that this profile motivates.
Stage 15 is deceivingly hard with well over 4000 meters of climbing, the only issue is there is virtually no place for an attack by the GC riders. This stage is also designed for a breakaway, constant roller-coaster, too hard for sprinters, marathon distance and the finish is almost 900 meters above the start despite de finish being mostly descending.
Stage 16 is another breakaway fit stage. I mean yes they really do come that often, you could argue some sprinters could resist, but which team is capable and will want to chase on such rugged terrain... Lots of riders hunting stages, a combination in front is inevitable and so another day of likely solo or small group glory is expected.
The final opportunity to take time on rivals, to make differences, to take a stage win if you're not a sprinter. I have to say when I saw this race structure I was disapointed because stage 13 the race will likely be decided already, but at least this stage isn't as soft as it looked like at first. The issue is everyone will wait for the final climb, but there is proper terrain to make damage beforehand with some long climbs before the final climb into the Alto de la Covatilla.
The final day, if the race makes it this far it's a huge success taking into account how bad things look in Europe.
Stage Importance
⭐ 4, 9, 18
My opinion, the route could be better. I mean I won't be harsh, there was the start in the Netherlands and also the passage through Portugal (still seriously sad over that) which forced the organizers into having a completely different route than expected, but it just feels like there's a big mountain stage missing in that final week. Farrapona is good but the race will be surely decided by then, there's 3 transitional stages in there and one could've been designed into a stage that could make differences or raids. Excluding that I think the route isn't bad, I don't think there will be any raiding unfortunately because most mountain stages finish with the hardest climb of the day, but there's several stages with shorter explosive climbs that can put on quite the show, and lots of breakaways will also open things up to many riders looking to add a very important win to their palmares.
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