Hopes that the Vuelta a España will host the highest Grand Tour summit finish in cycling history in the Sierra Nevada mountains this September reportedly hinge on a local government decision over whether the race can enter a national park.

According to local newspaper IDEAL, race organizer Unipublic wants the 15th stage of the 2022 Vuelta a España to end on September 4 near the Pico Bereta weather station, 2,805 meters above sea level.

This is 300 meters higher than the 2,504 meter elevation finish listed on the race's website, near the university youth hostel. That low point is about 500 meters lower than the actual summit of Veleta, which is where Miguel Angel Lopez won the last time the Vuelta visited the Sierra Nevada in 2017. Veleta is the second highest climb in the 150-km-long Sierra Nevada range and one of its most iconic peaks.

If a new finish is agreed upon, it will be the highest point reached in Grand Tour history, albeit by 3 meters. Bonnet L'Estephon, the highest pass in the Tour de France, is only 2,802 meters above sea level, while the Giro d'Italia's Stelvio, used as a summit finish in 2012, is 2,758 meters above sea level. More important than the bragging rights among organizers is that the toughest stage of the 2022 Vuelta will also be quite tough, with a significant increase in elevation gain and an estimated 3 km of steady climbing averaging around 7%.

However, the Vuelta's stage extension reportedly directly conflicts with the ban on sporting events in the Sierra Nevada National Park. Vuelta first visited the Sierra Nevada in 1979 and has reportedly never been on the permit list because it does not enter the Sierra Nevada every year.

However, the newly proposed finish has sparked a new debate about the pros and cons of Vuelta's using the national park again.

A definitive decision is expected next month after the Sierra Nevada Commission, which oversees the park, meets and prepares a report. However, the committee is said to be split down the middle on whether to give the go-ahead to the new finishes in Vuelta. A study report prepared by 45 scientists and the government's scientific research institute, CSIC, also stated that a new Vuelta finish in the Sierra Nevada would be "a serious risk to these peaks, which are considered the biodiversity center of the world, and would go against efforts by the (regional) administration and Andalusian society in general to protect this area. It is considered to be counterproductive to the efforts being made."

Ecological organizations, mountaineers' associations and sports federations also oppose the idea, says IDEAL.

However, park director Francisco de Assis Munoz insists that the race should go ahead. He told IDEAL that the divisive issue boils down to a mere 1 kilometer section of mountain road where cars are banned, but which he claimed is used by an estimated 20,000 cyclists each year.

Plans are apparently afoot that only four of the 150 Vuelta a España race convoys will be allowed to ride to the new summit finish on race day. Before that can happen, the regional government will have to decide "for" or "against" the finish, which could be the best finish in Grand Tour history. And that decision will not be made before mid-July.