Where does this year’s Vuelta a España begin? It starts on Saturday, so it shouldn’t be too oblique a question. It’s not a Spanish city, like Bilbao, Barcelona or Burgos, it’s not even a city on the Iberian peninsula, like it was last year, with Lisbon. No, it’s Turin, in Italy.

If you knew that already, then congratulations. If you didn’t, don’t feel too disheartened – the fact surprises me every time I remember it. It’s the sixth time the Vuelta has started overseas, but the third time in four years (after Utrecht in 2022 and Lisbon in 2024, who could forget), as the race tries to make a mark for itself. There is the Grand Départ in Turin, but then three more stages in Italy, and even France, before the race enters Spain itself, and then there is a further excursion to Andorra acr

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