The Col du Tourmalet is set to make its first ever appearance in the Vuelta a España next year with a summit finish.
Already included in the route for the Tour de France 2023 and Tour de France Femmes, the climb is reported to also be featuring in the Vuelta at the end of a mountain test in the Pyrenees also featuring climbs such as the Col d’Aubisque.
According to a report by Spanish newspaper El Périodico, the climb is set to be included after initially being axed from the 2020 Vuelta route due to Coronavirus restrictions in France preventing the race from crossing over from Spain.
Stage six of the Vuelta was due to finish on the slopes of the Tourmalet but instead finished on the Formigal climb, still within the borders of Spain.
If the climb is confirmed in the Vuelta route for 2023, it will be the first time that it has ever been included as a summit finish.
Little is currently known about the planned route for the 2023 Vuelta, other than that it will begin in Barcelona with a team time trial similar to this year's edition which began in the Netherlands.
Once the race returned to the roads of Spain this year, Remco Evenepoel emerged victorious to take his first ever grand tour title and set tongues wagging as to what his next grand tour would be in 2023.
The routes for the 2023 Giro d’Italia and Tour de France have already been announced, with the former including over 70 kilometres of time trialling. Including three individual time trial stages in the route is seen as race organisers attempting to sway the decision making of Evenepoel and Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl boss Patrick Lefevere as they look to plan his next move.
According to a report by VeloNews, the 2023 Vuelta is also set to make a return to the Angliru climb which is widely touted as being one of the most difficult climbs in professional cycling.
Great Britain's Hugh Carthy took a memorable victory on the Angliru at the 2020 Vuelta.
The full route for the 2023 edition is set to be announced in early January.
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