David Moncoutie (Cofidis) in the mountains jersey at the Vuelta. (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
The 2011 edition of the Vuelta a España will feature a summit finish at the Sierra Nevada ski resort in southern province of Andalucia. The news was announced at an initial presentation of the Andalucía-Caja Granada team by Luciano Alonso, the provincial government’s representative for tourism, commerce and sport.
Alonso revealed that Andalucía is set to host two stages of next year’s race, although he did not give the dates they will take place. Pressed for further details, Alonso added: “I can tell you that the finish line for one of them will be at the Sierra Nevada, the jewel of Andalucian tourism and sport.”
Sierra Nevada last hosted a stage finish of the Vuelta in 2008, when Frenchman David Moncoutié took the victory on his way to the first of three consecutive mountains titles in Spain’s national tour.
The budget for the Andalucía-Caja Granada team will be just under two million euros, the regional government supplying a little more than half of this and new co-sponsor Caja Granada a little less.
The team will feature 10 of the 16 riders on this season’s Andalucía-Cajasur roster: Antonio Piedra, José Luis Roldán, Javier Ramírez, Manuel Ortega, Juan Javier Estrada, Pablo Lechuga, Antonio Cabello, Sergio Carrasco, José Vicente Toribio and Jesús Rosendo.
Six new signings have already been made by team, which has applied for Pro Continental status: Eloy Ruiz, Juan José Lobato, José Luis Cano, José Alberto Benítez, Adrián Palomares and David Bernabéu.
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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014).
