It’s just 40 kilometres from Arnuero to Santander, but the peloton adds roughly 100 kilometres to it by taking a detour in southerly direction. This is also where the climbs are. The riders reach the summit of the Alto de la Estranguada after 54.8 kilometres of action. The climb is 7.8 kilometres long and averages 6,2%, although that statistic is not very significant, as there are sections up to 13% but also a short downhill.
The descent of the Alto de la Estranguada coincides with the start of the second ascent. The Alto del Caracol is 5.1 kilometres long and the average gradient sits at 6,6%. The hardest part is situated in the middle, when the road rises at double digits for quite awhile.
The riders are halfway when they reach the summit of Alto del Caracol. The remainder of the route is mostly flat, so – in theory – the teams of the sprinters have ample time to escort their golden boys back to the front of the race.
Santander hosted 35 stage finishes at La Vuelta, although the last one dates back to 2003. Alessandro Petacchi took the win that day, outsprinting Erik Zabel and Tom Boonen.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while the intermediate sprint comes with 6, 4 and 2 seconds.
Ride the route yourself? Download GPX 17th stage 2024 Vuelta.
Another interesting read: results 17th stage 2024 Vuelta a España.
Vuelta a España 2024 stage 17: routes, profiles, more
Click on the images to zoom
