Spanish Vuelta unveils 2013 route fit for climbers

Alberto Contador won his second Spanish Vuelta title in 2012, one month after his doping ban ended.

Alberto Di Lolli/AP

VIGO, Spain (AP) -- Spanish Vuelta organizers have unveiled a 2013 route that favors climbing specialists with several mountain stages.

The 68th edition goes back to touring the entire country after last year's race was confined to the northern half of the Iberian peninsula.

The 14th and 15th stages take riders out of Spain and through the Andorran and French Pyrenees.

Riders will face 13 mountain stages in all. There is just one individual time trial and two rest days during the three-week event.

The 21-stage race will begin with a team time trial in Rias Baixas on the northwestern coast of Galicia on Aug. 24. It ends with a traditional arrival in Madrid on Sept. 15.

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