Image 1 of 2 The final Vuelta podium for 2013 (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 2 of 2 Nicolas Roche (AG2R) leads Frank Schleck on Lagos de Covadonga (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)

Details of the last of the three Grand Tours, the Vuelta a España, are slowly emerging, with two important factors – a reduction in the number of summit finishes and the absence of the Pyrenees from the 2014 race – report by sports daily AS on Friday.

According to AS, after starting in Jerez de la Frontera in Spain’s deep south on August 23rd with a team time trial, the race will head north and east through Andalusia – where it will spend a week – Castilla-La Mancha and Aragon, but will avoid the Pyrenees, Catalonia and the Basque Country.

In a very tough second and third week in the northern regions of Cantabria and Asturias, the Vuelta will feature three summit finishes on successive days from September 6th to 8th: one new ascent, the Camperona; the much better known Lagos de Covadonga, first used in 1983 and home to some of the last wolves in Europe; and the Farrapona.

A lengthy final spell in Galicia will conclude with an ascent of the Ancares (possibly, but not definitively a summit finish) and the last day time trial (reportedly not at nighttime, as was previously thought) through the streets of Galician capital Santiago de Compostela on September 14th.

The Vuelta route is set to be unveiled officially on January 11th, 2014 in Cadiz.

