This year's Vuelta España Femenina (May 3-9) is set to finish atop the Alto de L'Angliru for the first time in the race's history, according to reports in El País ahead of the official route presentation on Monday.
The route of the seven-day women's Grand Tour will be made public on Monday evening – though Cyclingnews understands teams have already been given the details for the race that is only two months away – but rumours are already swirling about what the peloton will tackle.
The most eye-catching detail among those rumours and reports is that the final stage will finish atop the Angliru. The climb is one of the most fearsome and challenging Vuelta climbs, thanks to its average 9.7% gradient across 13km, although many sections are much, much steeper. The last 6km average 12%, and some sections tip over 20%.
This would be the first time that the women's Vuelta has tackled the climb. The race, which started as the one-day Madrid Challenge and has grown incrementally into a week-long race, is considered one of the women's Grand Tours and has steadily been increasing in difficulty.
Last year's most difficult stages featured the Lagunas de Neila and the Alto de Cotobello, the latter of which is in the same Asturias region as the Angliru.
Men's Vuelta director Javier Guillén said as far back as 2024 that he wanted to see the women's race take on the Angliru, and it looks like that may come true in 2026.
"Bit by bit we're going to dispel the idea that the women can't climb these mountains," UAE Team ADQ's Spanish star Paula Blasi told El País.
"I've only heard scary things from everyone who has done it, because you only have to look at the profile to realise that any gear set-up is going to be touching the limit. I'm really excited to ride it."
Big mountains have featured in women's races for decades, perhaps even more commonly than now in the 80s and 90s, but in recent years, the three Grand Tour equivalents have made a point of tackling iconic climbs.
The Tour de France Femmes has taken on the Tourmalet and L'Alpe d'Huez with Mont Ventoux on the cards in 2026, whilst recent editions of the Giro d'Italia Women have featured the Zoncolan, Mortirolo and Blockhaus, and it will head to the Colle delle Finestre this year.
"These kinds of stages add so much excitement to the races, and this is what we need," Blasi said.
The seven-day Vuelta will start in Galicia – that's already been announced, though not the details of the stages, of which El País reports there will be four. The Spanish newspaper then reports that the race will travel east, visiting Léon before a two-header final weekend in Asturias, taking on the climb to Les Praeres on stage 6 and the Angliru on stage 7.
This year's race is set to miss defending champion Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez), who is turning her attention to the Giro d'Italia Women instead. However, it should feature Tour winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), and 2025 runner-up Marlen Reusser (Movistar).
