The Virtual Vuelta With STRAVA

Aug. 22, 2014 — Twenty-one stages, 2,013 miles, 189,000 feet of climbing, and the best riders in the world. It all kicks off this Saturday at the Vuelta a España, and to give riders an unprecedented look at the terrain, Strava has created a route for each and every stage with all the segments, elevation, grade and mileage.

peloton/Yuzuru Sunada

Strava has created a homepage for the event, where these routes can be easily accessed and dissected. Seventeen riders on nine teams will be uploading their rides to Strava, and the list includes some very heavy hitters — Rigoberto Uran, Laurens Ten Dam, and Thibaut Pinot, among others. All these riders’ profiles can be linked to through the Strava Vuelta homepage, so follow them to get the insider’s view of the Vuelta.

Young Nathan Brown of Garmin Sharp will be mounting up for his first Grand Tour and uploading his experience to his Strava account, which will provide incredible insight into what a young rider goes through. Brown will be tasked with helping Talansky ride high in the overall, and should feature in a lot of the action.

Veloviewer.com is also a great resource to see these segments dissected even further. SKY Sports has compiled them all in one place for easy viewing.

Some of the Vuelta’s most challenging segments are listed below. If you want to get your name on these KOM’s you better hurry. A few of these segments have only a handful of riders on them now. Once the Vuelta rolls through, forget about approaching the top of the leaderboard in this lifetime. Perhaps we need to book a ticket to Spain for #MrH.

Climb Potes–San Glorio

Lagos de Covadonga

La Cobertoria

Alto La Farrapona

Ancares por Pandozarco