Vuelta a Castilla y Leon presented

By Antonio J. Salmerón

A total of 16 teams, seven of them ProTour, have been announced for the 2.1 ranked Vuelta a Castilla y Leon at the official presentation in Valladolid, Spain on Tuesday. The 22nd edition, introduced to the media by 1988 Tour de France winner Pedro Delgado, has a total budget of 610,000 euros and will mark the 2007 debut of Oscar Pereiro. Other notables expected to start are Ivan Basso, Jose Luis Rubiera, Haimar Zubeldia and Vladimir Karpets.

Starting with a 10km time trial in Zamora, the race then proceeds south to Salamanca on stage two for a relatively flat by potentially windswept 157km with stage three being more of the same - 147.6km from Salamanca to Valladolid. The overall standings should be well and truly shaken up after stage four which ends with the cat 1 ascent of Navacerrada. The final 162km leg between Osma and Soria also includes two first category climbs: Santa Ines and Piqueras.