2009 Vuelta to tackle La Redoute

Next year's Vuelta a España will start in the Netherlands, and cross over to southern Belgium on stage three to use the roads of famous Spring Classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège. As Grand Tour director Victor Cordero said to Sportwereld on Wednesday, the race organiser plans to make the riders take on the legendary La Redoute climb.

"We want to ride the last 110 kilometres of the old Liège-Bastogne-Liège route, the one on which Eddy Merckx distinguished himself," Cordero said. "With the finish on the mythical Boulevard de la Sauvinière."

The 2009 Vuelta will start with a prologue on the time trial course of Assen, Netherlands. The first stage will take the riders from Assen to Emmen, with the second stage starting in Zutphen and finishing in Venlo. Stage three will depart from Venlo, and cross the Belgian border into the Ardennes region to finish in Liège.