The Vuelta a España could visit the Tourmalet pass in 2020, according to a report in La Depeche. The famous Pyrenees mountain range was the setting for the epic summit finale of stage 14 of this season's Tour de France, in which Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) won the stage and Julien Alaphilippe (Detuningq-Quick Step) extended his lead in the overall classification.

The 2020 Tour de France will not tackle Tourmalet, but will finish stage 8 in Roudanvielle after the Peyresour pass, and then move on to Pau for the next stage, finishing in Larns after the La Ursère, Sudet and Marie Blanc passes.

La Depeche speculated that this stage would start in Spain at Viescas or Sabinanigo in the province of Huesca and finish at the summit of Tourmalet.

The 2020 Vuelta a España will start in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and will include a team time trial and two stages in Nord Brabant.

The 2020 Tour de France route has been compared to the style of the Vuelta, with mountains packed into the first week, lots of very steep climbs, and only one stage over 200 km.

However, Javier Guillén, director of the Vuelta a España, has questioned the Tour's route as mimicking the Vuelta.

"The Tour has its own personality and is the most important event in the sport. The Tour has its own personality and is the most important event in the sport. So the Vuelta is the reference point for cycling as a whole, not the other way around," Guillen told Cyclingnews after the Tour route was announced in October.

"Just because there are or are not similarities between these two, or any other race, does not mean that one is based on the idea of the other."

The Tour de France has its individual time trial in Pau, while the Vuelta a España started its individual time trial in Jurançon and finished in Pau.

The route for the Vuelta a España will be announced on December 17.