Bikestyle Tours has been running trips to the Vuelta a Espana every year since 2002 making us one of the most experienced and consistent companies to see this great race with!

If you are looking for a more relaxed cycling holiday but would still like to take in one of the world’s great races you should try the Vuelta!

TRIP DETAILS:
Trip Duration: 11 days, 10 nights
Dates: Friday, 2 September to Monday, 12 September 2011
Start-Finish: Madrid Bajaras Airport
Accommodation: 4 and 5 Star Exclusive Hotels
Group Size: Maximum 30 people (4 Staff)
Cost: $4950.00 Australian Dollars (Single Supplement $790.00)
Deposit: AUD $1000.00
Note: All trip costs are per person, not including airfare and based on two persons per room.
Reserve this Trip Now

Optional Extras:
Bike Rental $600 (Cannondale Synapse carbon fibre)
Pre or post tour accommodation to extend your stay
Travel Insurance and Car Rental.
Email us for details

Our 2011 Vuelta Trip

Our 2011 Vuelta trip will follow the last exciting final 9 days of the 2011 edition as it travels through the Asturias and Picos Europas mountains to the beautiful Costa Verde coastline before returning to Madrid via the Basque country of Northern Spain. The trip will include multiple night stays visiting some of Spains most beautiful cities; Oviedo, Santander, Burgos and Madrid.

Our accommodation while on the road will include some modern luxury hotels along with restored and modernised historical buildings that have been converted to luxury hotels, one being a former palace.

Eat some great Spanish food and enjoy yourself in a relaxed environment with some excellent race viewing, great riding, terrific sightseeing and personal service. Ride parts of the course, challenge yourself on the climbs including the gruelling slopes of the Angliru and the beautiful mountains of the Picos de Europas.

Our trip will be fully escorted (including rides each day) by Spanish and English speaking guides. Bikestyle Tours have been organising cycling trips to Europe since 1996 and this is our tenth year at the Vuelta a Espana. Over those years we have learnt a lot and our knowledge is supported by the Spanish expertise of our guides.

Whilst our trip is primarily based on the Vuelta a Espana it will cater for non-cycling partners too, with bus trips to strategic locations along the course and visits to tourist spots while the cyclists do what cyclists do!

Our trips are designed to give excellent quality, value for money cycling holidays with the emphasis on cycling while not forgetting to enjoy what our destinations have to offer.

We like to ensure our travellers get a complete experience of the areas they visit from cycling to tourism and culture – not to forget the shopping and eating!
We have found that our trips attract cyclists of differing ability as well as people who do not ride but just want to catch up with the Vuelta. To cater for this quite diverse group of people we offer different options on most days.

See Photos from our 2008 Trip
See Photos from our 2009 Trip

Our Rides

Experience tells us that people who come on our trips have quite different goals and the range of capabilities on the bike vary from those who are race fit and want to see what it is like on a hard day at the Vuelta to people who ride infrequently and just want to stretch their legs. So each day we offer rides to suit most people with 2 or 3 options varying from 40km to 120km depending on terrain. Our rides are planned around the Vuelta and often involve rides along the course ahead of the race or through a scenic part of the area we visit.

We also like to ensure our travellers get a complete experience of Spain from cycling to tourism and culture – not forgetting the wining and dining!

Trip Highlights:

• The mountain stages of the Vuelta a Espana
• The final stage in Madrid
• Great Cycling!
• Exclusive Hotels
• Spanish cuisine
• Relaxed Environment
• Visit the famous city of Bilbao
• Historic cities of Oviedo, Santillana del Mar and Burgos
• Personal Attention of the Bikestyle team

DETAILED ITINERARY

Friday, 2 September 2011
Our 2011 Vuelta adventure will start by collecting you from the airport in Madrid today and taking you to our 4 star hotel in downtown Madrid for the night before we head north to Oviedo tomorrow.

Most likely you will arrive in the morning and will have some time for a rest and a walk around Madrid before returning to watch the race on television later in the afternoon. Madrid is a city of great monuments. Among its highlights is the medieval centre dating back to the Habsburg Empire and the Prado Museum, one of the great art museums in the world, as well as the Thyssen Museum, showcasing one of the great private collections of modern times. But Madrid is not just a cultural destination. It is also a lively metropolis with many pubs, cafes, discotheques and nightclubs open late into the night.

Tonight we’ll dine together in a local restaurant and get to know each other over a cold cerveza or a glass of Rioja.
Restaurants in Madrid don’t usually open until 8.30pm so you may need a snack to tide you over to dinner.
After dinner it will be off to bed as we will need an early start in the morning.

Meals:Dinner
Overnight: Madrid

Saturday, 3 September 2011
This morning we hit the road and travel to Oviedo where we spend the next 4 nights in a 5 star hotel in this beautiful and lively city centre. We will head off early, but the long drive will pass quickly as the scenery is quite special and we will show some movies to pass the time.

After a lunch stop close to the city of Leon we will make a stop for our ride for the day. Our ride will start in the small town of La Magdalena, where we will join the locals and cheer the peleton as the Vuelta peleton passes through early this afternoon. After we’ve seen the race it’s on to our bikes to follow the race route for a lovely 40km ride through this scenic region of lakes and green forests of the Asturias.

Oviedo is the capital of Asturias. Only 26km (16 miles) from the beautiful coastline of the Costa Verde and surrounded by the beautiful climbs of the Asturia mountains it is a perfect base for cyclists and often visited by the Vuelta d’Espana. In summer Oviedo is very pleasant, when much of Spain is unbearably hot. It makes an ideal base for excursions along the Costa Verde. Non Cyclists will have the afternoon to look around Oviedo and explore the pedestrian historic centre before we enjoy our first dinner in Oviedo together this evening.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Overnight: Oviedo

Sunday, 4 September 2011
Today is one of the most anticipated stages of the Vuelta a Espana, a 144km stage from Avilés to Anglirú, one of the most feared climbs in professional cycling.The ascent of the mega-mountain, Alto El Angliru, is one of the most difficult climbs you will ever do. It is a steep 1570 metre climb that starts out easy enough but ends with gradients of over 20% and an average of 10% over the 12.5 km ascent from the base.

We will go out to La Vega-Riosa at the base of the climb by bike as it’s only 20 kilometres from Oviedo, making a good warm up distance. This climb is the hardest in Europe and strikes fear into all professional cyclists except the absolute best climbers. “The climb is extremely tough, almost inhuman” Oscar Sevilla once remarked. Recommended gearing for pro’s on this climb is 39 x 29, with some using compact cranksets! If you don’t feel up to riding the climb you will be able to ride part of the climb and take your time enjoying the views.

After we’ve joined the thousands of race fans on the mountain and seen the race pass by we will return to Oviedo by bike or bus, with some free time to explore Oviedo. This evening we can pay a visit to a local cideria, where the waiters make a real show of serving you the local speciality in a manner that is only seen in this region.

Meals: Breakfast
Overnight: Oviedo

Monday, 5 September 2011
Today is a rest day for the Vuelta riders, so we too can take it easy after a hard day yesterday! After breakfast we’ll head off on the bikes on a pleasant 55 km ride through the Asturias to the coastal town of Cudillero on the Costa Verde. It’s an undulating ride, but nothing too difficult, with a nice descent down to the coast at the end.

Our destination, Cudillero , is a small, picturesque fishing port with brightly-coloured houses perched on a horseshoe of steep cliffs around the port. On arrival in Cudillero we’ll head to the waterfront where we can choose from the many restaurants for lunch with a view of the Atlantic Ocean.

After lunch and a look around Cudillero we’ll head back to Oviedo in the bus where the rest of the day is free.

Meals: Breakfast
Overnight: Oviedo

Tuesday, 6 September 2011
The Vuelta resumes racing today with a flat stage from Palencia to Haro, 280 kms south-east of Oviedo. Rather than spend time travelling to the race today we will spend the day visiting the Picos de Europa mountain range with a ride up to Lagos de Covadonga, a climb often included in the Vuelta due to it’s difficulty and also the spectacular scenery of this region. The Picos de Europa national park is an exceptional landscape, where high summits alternate with deep gorges and canyons. The park boasts 200 peaks of over 2,000 metres and vertical drops of over 2,300 metres and is intermingled with meadows, hillside forests, beech and oak groves and moors.

You will have the choice 3 ride distances today so there is something for everyone. From our starting point near the coast at Colunga it’s a 30km ride with a small climb over the Asturias to Canga de Onis. You can choose to finish your ride in this historic Spanish town, with plenty to see and do, or carry on to the 1100 meter summit above the lake at Lagos de Covadonga, returning back to Canga de Onis for a total distance of 75km. Or travel in the bus to Canga de Onis for the ride up to Lagos de Covadonga and back, a distance of 50km. It was in this area of Covadonga where the historic battle in the north of Spain against the Islamic rulers led to the “Reconquista” and the eventual conquering of Spain by the Catholic Kings centuries later.

Tonight is our final night in Oviedo and it’s free to enjoy one of the many restaurants in the historic centre.

Meals: Breakfast
Overnight: Oviedo

Wednesday, 7 September 2011
We will leave Oviedo this morning and travel to the pleasant coastal town of Castro Urdiales located close the border of the Cantabria and the Pais Vasco, the country of the Basques. Located in between Santander and Bilboa it’s an ideal place to stay to take in the next few stages of the Vuelta.

The 17th stage of the Vuelta a Espana is a long 212km and travels from Faustino to Pena Carbaga, just south of Santander. The stage finish in Pena Cabarga is a tough one, with a steep but short climb sure to make an exciting mini mountain top finish. After breakfast we will head off to explore one of the most perfectly preserved medieval villages anywhere in Spain, Santillana del Mar. To wander its network of cobbled streets and alleys lined with ancient stone houses is a wonderful way to see the unique architecture of a Spanish village. We can enjoy lunch here before starting our ride of about 50 kms to Pena Cabarga where we can take up a position on the final few kms of the route near the finish line.

Once the race is over we’ll glide back down the climb to meet the bus and travel to our 4 star hotel in Castro Urdiales. Tonight we’ll enjoy dinner together at our hotel by the sea and get ready for a big day tomorrow.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Overnight: Castro Urdiales

Thursday, 8 September 2011
The spa town of Solares hosts the start of todays Vuelta a Espana stage to Noja on the Cantabrian coast. This 170km stage contains 4 mountain passes which although not the most difficult of the tour will certainly prove a challenge. It’s also one of the most scenic stages of the Vuelta so we’ll take the opportunity to ride the race route today with a couple of great ride and race viewing options.

For those wanting a longer ride today we will ride from the hotel this morning on an 85 km route that will take us over the 675 meter Puerto de Alisas, which is the 2nd last climb for the race today. Once over the top of the climb we will descend to Solares where we will see the race come through mid way through the race this afternoon. The shorter option will be to travel to Solares in the bus this morning and ride a 65km loop on the race route taking in the Puerto de Alisas and the smaller climb of Puerto de Fuente di Varas. This ride will also see the race pass through Solares this afternoon. For those wanting an easy day you can of course relax by the sea in Castro Urdiales, or travel with us to see the stage start in Solares perhaps taking a shorter version or our ride after the stage start.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Overnight:Castro Urdiales

Friday, 9 September 2011
La Vuelta returns to the Basque Country after 33 years with a stage finish in Bilbao. The Basque people have preserved unique culture and language, Euskera. The Basque’s are keen cycling fans and are always out in force at the Tour de France decked out in orange colors, cheering on the local team of Euskaltel-Euskadi. With the start in Noja the race includes a few small passes today to break things up and passes through Bilboa twice before the sprinters contest the finish on the streets of Bilbao.

We can have a late start this morning as our rides will take us from the hotel and on to the race route with the choice of a 35km route taking in the climb of Puerto de la Granja, or a longer 60km route that adds on the 2nd climb of the day the Puerto de la Menucas. At 345 and 390 meters these climbs are within everyone’s reach and will make a good place for us to see the race pass early this afternoon before we head back to the hotel to see the rest of the race on TV. If you’ve had enough of the race for one day then head to the beach or head down to the harbour and explore the town centre.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Overnight: Castro Urdiales

Saturday 10 September 2011
The penultimate stage will take the peleton from Bilbao south to Vitoria as the race heads back towards Madrid for the final stage. This morning we will travel to Bilbao by bus and take in the stage start in the capital of the Basque region. This is your chance to see the cyclists up close so be sure to pack your camera this morning.

Bilbao is a city of over one million people and in recent years has undergone a dramatic revitalisation that has become a symbol of the prosperous Basque region. The most famous of the many projects undertaken is the Guggenheim museum, Frank Gehry’s architectural masterpeice that is a big drawcard for visitors to the city who come to marvel at this futuristic building and it’s world class collection of art. As we will arrive in Bilbao early today there will be time for you to visit the Guggenheim before we make our way to the race start.

After the race has departed Biblao we will head off to Burgos, the historic capital of the Castile region, known for it’s magnificent cathedral and fascinating medieval quarter. We’ll make a stop along the way for those wanting a ride today, with a nice easy 50km route that will finish at our hotel in Burgos. Tonight we stay in a historic former palace, now a 5 star hotel. The location is perfect in the heart of the old town, a short walk from the small alleys and streets of this historic “barrio”. We should arrive in Burgos this afternoon to allow plenty of time to explore before enjoying our farewell dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Overnight: Burgos

Sunday 11 September 2011
As it’s our last day on the road we’ll offer a short ride in the cool morning air for those wanting to fit in one last spurt on the bike. We should be able to fit in 30 or 40 kms on the flat roads on the plains south of Burgos before returning for breakfast and a quick shower before heading off to Madrid.

The final stage of the Vuelta a Espana is a 94km stage from the former home of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix, Circuito del Jarama, to Madrid. As with the other grand tours of Europe the final stage is a procession to celebrate the race until the peleton arrive on the streets of Madrid when the cyclists will race along Paseo de la Castellana, Gran Via and Paseo del Prado for the honor of a place on the podium for the last time in the 66th edition of La Vuelta a España.

We should arrive in Madrid early this afternoon in plenty of time to wander down towards Plaza de Cibeles, the traditional finish area for the race in Madrid. After the race there will be plenty of time to see the Jerseys presented to the winners and browse amongst the team vehicles and riders before returning to the hotel or heading off to explore Madrid. The Plaza Mayor is the spot to be on a warm evening in Madrid and the area is worth exploring after the race finish.

Meals: Breakfast
Overnight: Madrid

Monday 12 September 2011
Its farewell to your new friends as our tour comes to an end this morning. Over the past 10 days you’ve experienced the excitement of the Vuelta up close, challenged yourself on some famous climbs and hopefully had an unforgettable Spanish experience with Bikestyle Tours. We hope we see you again one day.

Meals: Breakfast.

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Inclusions
Tour cost is per person twin share and includes:
-Transport throughout by private luxury coach with custom bike trailer.
-Services of our experienced tour guides, plus our coach driver.
-Transfer on Friday 2 September from Madrid airport to hotel.
-Transfer on Monday 12 September from hotel to Madrid airport
-10 night’s accommodation, in selected 5 and 4 star hotels.
-Buffet breakfast daily
-3 course evening meals on 6 nights
-Mechanical assistance with your bike
-Sightseeing as listed
-Maps and Bikestyle guide to the 2011 Vuelta a Espana
-Bikestyle Tours cycling jersey, cap and musette bag

Reserve your Place for the 2011 Vuelta a Espana

NOTE: Please place number of persons attending in box below

• By paying a deposit you are deemed to have accepted our Waiver and Reservation Conditions. If you have any further enquiries please email us at tours@bikestyletours.com.
• Don’t forget it is a requirement of Bikestyle Tours that you have Travel Insurance for your trip.
  Purchase your International Travel Insurance here.
• * We charge for our trips in Australian Dollars (AUD) and prices shown in other currencies are only approximate. We advise that you check the exchange rate before booking.

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