2022 Tour of Spain

Our cycling tour of Spain begins in Costa Blanca. The popular destination is enjoyed by many Europeans throughout the year, with a mild temperature in the cooler months of the year. It can get hot in July and early August, but the Mediterranean provides perfect relief to cool off. Staff will meet you at Valencia Aiport at 10 am and transport you the short distance to Alicante.

Arrive earlier in Spain and adjust your travel clocks so that you’re ready to go for your European cycling adventure. Contact our team at the time of booking to arrange pre-trip accommodation in Valencia. It is a great way to take the worry out of making the connecting flights and travelling with your bike.

We will drive to our hotel not far from the beaches in Alicante, where our mechanics will be spinning the spanners to assist any guest with assembling their bike. We will then head out on a short ride to get our bearings, meet fellow guests and make sure our bodies and bikes are as ready for some challenging rides ahead of us.

Tonight, we will enjoy a welcome dinner to meet staff and fellow guests. We will help lubricate and hydrate all guests with wine provided tonight with your meal.

Today is the race of truth for professionals. As is customary the leaders on general classification will head off last in the ultimate race against the clock. Expect to see a rider well down on classification to have a long spell in the hot seat after posting an early fastest time. The course today is a fast 30km, with little undulations. You could see some records broken, but the winds may be up and spice up the race.

We will set off this morning and check out the course on our bikes, before the professionals. We will watch some of the riders prepare at their team buses on their rollers, before heading off to the starter’s ramp. It is a dangerous stage for a general classification rider whose forte is hill climbing. We will follow parallel with the course and see the riders on the course at different stages and finish up in Alicante for the fastest riders to cross the finish line.

Today is the longest stage of the 2022 Vuelta a Espana, at nearly 200 km in length. There are also a few mountains to contend with, and riders will most likely have trade winds to remain alert all day. With the change in temperature and a demanding time trial yesterday, it will be a tougher stage than what it looks on paper.

We have a few hours to transfer today ourselves, so we will take the opportunity to see the stage start, have a ride ourselves and travel in the air-conditioning with the race updates in the heat of the day.

Our next 2 nights are in Cordoba, which is the third-largest city in Andalucia after Seville and Malaga. Andalucia has historical influence from Roman, Islamic, Jewish and Christian occupations. Andalucia has incredible buildings and parks to explore. We will have time to wander through some of the impressive sites as we ride our bikes.

We have no time pressures today and we have a long ride planned for the morning, through the regional parks to the North of Cordoba. We will catch up with the live racing for the next 3-days, so today is about enjoying riding in Spain and immersing into some of the cultural aspects of a regional Spanish city.

Córdoba has a historic town that is a World Heritage site. There are many little streets to explore. Each May they have a courtyard festival, where the architectural and flora characteristics are on display. The courtyards can be explored year-round. There are inviting squares, taverns with fabulous tapas and flamenco performances are throughout the city. Córdoba is most famous around the world for its Great Mosque.

After our ride this morning, you are free to explore the city through the afternoon. Keep in mind though, that everything shuts for a siesta in the afternoon. There is a reason why the Spanish have a long-life expectancy – and their food helps. Take a siesta this afternoon and then hit town toward dusk and enjoy a fun night out in Spanish culture.

We’ll rejoin watching the 2022 Vuelta a Espana live today. Our focus will be the stage finish where it should be a bunch sprint. Every day at a Grand Tour is different, with competitions within competitions. Today’s stage is a final transfer stage before two tough mountain stages. But for general classification riders, they can easily be caught out with some cross-wind or a stage that looks simple on paper.

This morning we will travel to the stage finish town and set off on a ride through the local wine-growing region and ride along the rail trail. After the ride, you can take a shower at our bus and freshen up ready for the professional races to arrive. It will be a fast finish and good fun to watch. Find a local taverna to keep cool and lubricated for the afternoon.

The range of wines produced in the Montilla-Moriles area is wide, from young wines to the sherries: Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso and Palo Cortado, and the dessert wines: Muscatel and Pedro Ximénez (one of the most famous).

We depart from Cordoba this morning making our way to one of the most exciting stages of this year’s tour. The stage finish to Sierra de La Pandera will be tough, and separate riders in the closing stretches. We will drive to near the base of the climb and give you the opportunity to climb it yourself, before the race comes through. Return to the base and you can relax before the race comes through.

As the race approaches, make your way a little bit up the climb to cheer the riders along the steep sections. The racing will be frenetic and you’ll be amazed at the speed the lead riders take the climb. You’ll also be amazed at the pace that the ‘autobus’ (the group of sprinters) head up the climb. Being a short stage today, staying ahead of the time-cut is very important to make the finish in Madrid.

After the race, we have a short transfer to our next hotel in Granada, where we will ride in and out of our hotel for the next few days.

Today is the Queen Stage of the 2022 Vuelta a Espana. As is often the case, the stage before the final rest day is an opportunity for the climbers to leave everything they have on the mountain. In today’s challenge, it will also have the aspect of high altitude. Sierra Nevada is a high mountain range, visible from many parts of Southern Spain.

Teams often have their early-season team camp on Sierra Nevada, especially to do high altitude testing. We can ride from our hotel and go as far up the climb as you like to watch today’s race. The race route has a preliminary climb before descending to a point quarter way up the main climb to Sierra Nevada. We will take a look at this preliminary climb tomorrow, and concentrate on the main climb to Sierra Nevada.

Tonight you are free to explore Granada and enjoy seeing a Grand Tour in one of the most spectacular locations.

It is a rest day for the race, a much-needed rest for riders participating in the final Grand Tour of the season. For many of the riders, yesterday would have brought back painful memories of their team testing camps. For us, we can cherry-pick the roads that the professionals will have built the foundations for their season on.

We have two more days Granada to enjoy the riding that it has to offer, and explore one of Spain’s famous cities. This afternoon, you may like to visit Alhambra Palace, a beautiful complex of buildings and gardens. As you return, call in for a tapas dinner at one of the local Tavernas and be able to walk-off what you’ve eaten before turning in for the night.

Today is our final day in Andalucia, a region that we have loved exploring on our bikes and by foot in the evenings.

We will enjoy a final ride on the roads used by the professionals during their training camps to Sierra Nevada. Athletes aim in coming to altitude camps, besides the testing, are to sleep high and train low, giving an optimum altitude effect on their bodies. After our ride this morning, you have the afternoon to relax and catch up with the tour in air-conditioning before heading out on the town for some great Spanish cuisine. Granada has a modern influence, so if you’d like to eat something more international, then Granada is a good opportunity for you to do this. Although, tapas is hard to go past.

Today is our main transfer day. We will travel from Grenada to the north, connecting with the race tomorrow.

We will have a short ride from our hotel this morning, and meet our transport along the road. You can relax in the air-conditioned comfort and enjoy the ever-changing scenery as we navigate our way from Andalucia to the foothill of Gredos, an impressive mountain range a short distance from Madrid.

Sierra de Gredos has been shaped by the various ice ages and is adorned with spectacular lakes, glacial cirques and many gorges. Our hotel for the next 3 nights is situated on a private golf course that has an incredible aspect of the Gredos mountain range.

The race passes close to our hotel today. We can ride from our hotel and test ourselves on one or two of the climbs and watch the race twice.

Today’s stage is the first mountain stage after the Sierra Nevada stage. So the lead riders will have kept themselves hidden in the bunch saving their effort for the last few days of the Grand Tour. Today has some challenging climbs, as they navigate the terrain that has been gouged through the various ice ages.

Today’s stage is built for spectators, is only a couple of hours from Madrid. It starts and finishes in Talavera de la Reina, a city with outstanding monuments. Modern and ancient architecture are fused to make this a very attractive city on the fertile plains. There are great examples of Roman, Baroque and Renaissance architecture throughout the city.

We will travel to Talavera de la Reina this morning and give you time to ride all or some of the 65km circuit that the professional riders will do twice this afternoon.

We have our last ride this morning as we ride from our hotel to a fine dining restaurant for lunch. We will enjoy celebrating our 2 weeks travelling together and firmly etch our memories into our minds.

Over lunch, we can share our stories of achievement, laughter, absurdity, and friendship. All our guests come to enjoy a cycling holiday, follow some racing in varying capacities. But all guests depart with memories, that last their lifetime. We a joyed to share help make those memories for every guest.

After lunch, we will travel to Madrid, where our hotel is situated on the final circuit of the Arts District and within walking distance of many of the attractions in Madrid. You are free to use the next evening to explore Madrid yourself.

We rise this morning and can enjoy a long breakfast to fuel us up for the day ahead. You may like to explore an art gallery or find a gift shop to buy some presents for your friends and family. It is nice to find a cafe and watch the energy of plazas come to life.

The teams will be arriving at our doorsteps and will complete an intense kermesse style finale to the Grand Tour. Traditionally finishing in front of the biggest monuments of Madrid, the high paced circuit at twilight is a great festival. Walk around the circuit in a clockwise direction and you will experience all the different parts of the circuit and see the riders and extra time.

After the team presentations, you don’t have far to walk to some of the nicest dining experiences in Europe. Madrid is a fun city.

Today is our last day together. This morning we say farewell at the hotel and you are free to make your own way to either the airport or the nearby train station. We are within walking distance of the Atocha train station where suburban and intercity trains depart from. The hotel will be able to arrange for you a shuttle to the airport or another hotel if you prefer.

Each year it is a pleasure to host guests at the biggest cycling races in the world. In 2022, it is particularly special to welcome back our guests who have waited patiently to return to travel. Your loyalty matters to us, and we look forward to hosting you again very soon in Australia or Europe.