The Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race will start outside of Spain for the second consecutive year and the sixth time in its history, it was confirmed at the official presentation of the opening stages on Monday.

It was announced in an event held in the Italian city of Turin that the three week 'Grand Tour' alongside the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, will begin in the north-west of Italy, with three full stages in the region of Piemonte, in the foot of the Alps mountains.

The first stage will begin in Turin on August 23rd and finish in Novara after a testing 183-kilometer stage, which could immediately establish time differences between the race favorites.

Stage two begins in Alba and sees a mountaintop finish at Limone Piemonte, while the third stage in Italy will cover 139 kilometers between San Maurizio Canavese and Ceres.

The race leaves Italy to head to Spain in the fourth stage, which starts close to the French border in Susa, before crossing into the south of France towards Spain.

This means the race will presumably pass through four countries (Italy, France, Spain and Andorra) during its 21 stages.

The 2024 edition of the Vuelta, which was won by Primoz Roglic for the fourth time in his career, began in Portugal, while in 2022 the race opened in the Netherlands, with other editions beginning in France.