A plan to hold the finish of stage 20 of the 2025 Vuelta a España atop the Alto de Guarramillas - also known as the "Bola del Mundo" has come under fire from environmentalists who say the crowds, traffic, and infrastructure would damage the fragile high-mountain ecosystem.
The climb begins on the more widely used Puerto de Navacerrada before turning onto the final three-kilometre concrete track with gradients of 23%. First used in the Vuelta a España in 2010, and again in 2012, the finish takes place at a hiking area at 2,247 metres in altitude.
A group, Ecologists in Action, say that the Vuelta organisers did not follow the recommended protections in 2010: claiming they did not have sufficient waste bins, the race allowed vehicles to drive up Bola del Mundo after promising only motorbikes and ambulances would use the road, had staked advertising banners into the ground, and had not prevented the crowds from trampling the park's flora.
"In the opinion of the environmental organization, there shouldn't be a third time because the authorities responsible for protecting the Sierra de Guadarrama shouldn't make the same mistakes over and over again," the group stated.
The group says the Director of the Autonomous Agency for National Parks (OAPN) Javier Pantoja, also expressed concern about the finish. "It seems worrying that the finish line of the race will not take place in an urban area, as specified in the PRUG (master plan for use and management) of the National Park in Annex XII for the Vuelta a España, which suggests possible impacts on the park due to noise, waste, and overcrowding of people and vehicles."
The Vuelta ran into similar objections in 2022 when organisers planned to hold the finish of stage 15 on the Pico Veleta in a similarly remote section of the Sierra Nevada. That finish was rejected, and instead, the stage ended on an equally brutal climb to the Hoya del Mora.
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