The route for the 2010 Vuelta was announced yesterday with a few surprises!

Starting in the South of the country in Sevilla on August 28th, the opening time trial is unusually at night presenting the riders (and TV crews) with an unusual challenge.

Moving counter clockwise the route heads up the East coast through Marbella and Malaga to name but two.  There are lots of transfers with flirtations in Andorra and the Basque country before looping back in to Madrid for the finish.

Apart from the opening prologue the race only features one timetrial on stage 17.  There are 6 mountain top finishes in the race including the Cotobello aux Asturies climb which is 10.1km long with a gradient of 8.4 percent.

Perhaps one of the most surprising announcements was the retirement of the golden leaders jersey.  In its place is a new Red jersey designed to reflect Spain’s national colour.

The lineup for the race could change dramatically before the off as 2009 winner Alejandro Valverde faces a CAS (Cour of Arbitration in Sport) hearing to overturn a two year Italian ban for related to Operation Puerto.  At the same time the UCI and WADA are trying to extend the ban worldwide.

2008 winner Alberto Contador has not committed to the race yet as he maintains his focus on the Tour de France.  The lack of timetrials counts against him but the Spaniard could still ride and we expect teammate Alexandre Vinokourov to be looking for a Grand Tour win.  Then there is always World Champion Cadel Evans now riding with BMC racing and don’t rule out the likes of Levi Leipheimer at Radioshack.

Either way it should be a riveting edition of the Spainish Grand Tour.