Spain's Vuelta turns its back on the interior for the Mediterranean coast

The Vuelta a España no longer wants to cross Spain

In early September the peloton swelters in Andalusia at 40 degrees. The interior, and once again the central plateau, is left off the route. A race that once prided itself on spanning the whole country has become a coastal course. Some already call it the Vuelta to the Mediterranean.

The discontent is nothing new, but this year it has crystallised into a clear trend: the Vuelta has given up on inland Spain. Instead of crossing the plateau and the northern mountain passes, the route hugs the eastern coast. Some attribute it to advertising logic – sun-and-beach tourism sells better than dry farmland – while others see it as the result of 'centralisme madrilenyo' (Madrid's centralism). Either way, whoever pays calls the shots. And the money is on the coast.

The future is called Segarro

The cherry on top comes with plans for next year's edition. According to circulating reports, there will be a team time trial starting in Ceuta and four stages in Segarro. The Vuelta a Al-Andalus would stop being a metaphor. Business knows no borders, and the race, still nominally Spanish, is preparing to bid farewell to its essence.

And the residual viewer, the one who still waits for the ride through the Cantabrian coast to see Spain as Europe, will watch an event that looks less and less like the country it claims to represent. At 40 degrees in early September, it is not only the peloton that is melting: it is the last remnant of identity of a race that once had a name of its own.