The course for the Vuelta a Espana will be unveiled on January 10 but gradually we get to know more details. Again it seems that the Northern part of the peninsula will feature prominently and the Basque city of Vitoria-Gasteiz aims to host the start of a stage in the second week.

Acooording to El Correo, "the Procinvial Government of Alava and the race organizers are very close to reaching an agreement." The stage is scheduled for September 5 and will be the 14th leg of the race.

"The Deputy General of Alava, Javier de Andrés, and the director of Unipublic, Javier Guillén, have scheduled an official meeting where they will sign a contract that has already been finalized," the newspaper reports.

Stage 13 will finish in a city in Navarra. Although the Basque Regional Government had hoped to host a stage finish like in 2011 when Daniele Bennati won, they will have to settle for a start that will see the riders ride 40km in the province before they head to a finish in Cantabria or Burgos.

In 2011, the Vuelta retured to the Basque Country with three stages Oion-Peña Cabarga, Noja-Bilbao, with the memorable victory of Igor Anton, Bilbao-Vitoria. In 2012, the race started in Pamplona before travelling to Oion, Arrate and Barakaldo. And in 2014 Navarra hosted a full stage between Pamplona and San Miguel de Aralar which was won by Fabio Aru.

The Spanish race will be held from August 22 to September 14 and will start with a time trial in Puerto Banus. Andorra will host one of the queen stages that will pass the climb of La Gallina and have a new finish.

"The 2015 race will be like in the past three years with explosive summit finishes and new mountaintop finishes," Guillen recently said about the course.