The Angliru does not need help to be feared. The Asturian ascent runs 12.5 kilometres at an average gradient of 10.13%, with pitches of 23.6% at Cueña les Cabres three kilometres from the summit. From its 1999 debut in the Vuelta, the ramp has broken the race open stage by stage, and it has done so again and again ever since.

Now there is talk of making it harder.

According to Spanish newspaper AS, José Antonio Muñiz, former mayor of Riosa and current president of the Friends of the Angliru Association, raised the idea with Guillén at an awards ceremony in Asturias on Saturday. The proposal centres on two existing unpaved tracks totalling roughly three kilometres that connect with the main road near Llagos, slotting into the climb before its decisive final five kilometres.

Guillén listens, but keeps distance

The Vuelta director did not slam the door, but he did not throw it open either. He acknowledged in AS that the Angliru was already “at the limit of extreme difficulty” and said the race listens to all ideas, before agreeing to send a technical team to inspect the tracks and judge whether they could be used in a future edition, as reported by Domestique Cycling.

Read also: Kylian Mbappé faces criticism after Real Madrid win: “Everyone who has played football knows”

A successful gravel sector on El Bartolo during the 2026 Vuelta has softened the race leadership’s historic resistance to unpaved finishes. Even so, the current reporting suggests any Angliru revamp would not be ready for the 2027 edition and is more realistically being weighed for a later year.

2027 route unveiled in December

The full 2027 route will be presented in December, after the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia have revealed theirs.

What is already locked in is the Grand Départ. The race starts on 4 September 2027 in Santiago de Compostela, with the opening stage “inspired by the Camino de Santiago” and at least four stages in Galicia.

“There will be at least four stages, and the aim is to cover all four Galician provinces,” Guillén told Domestique Cycling.

Read also: Anderson wanted to retire at Lancashire. He was told the rebuild does not include him

The 2026 edition, which finished barely two months ago, was won by Movistar’s Enric Mas after Tadej Pogačar crashed out of the overall lead on stage 8. Whoever lines up in Asturias in 2027 will tackle the Angliru in its current form, with the gravel question parked, for now, in a technical team’s inbox.

Read also: Bearman makes his pitch: ‘Continuing with Haas is my target’