The Vuelta a España is an annual road bicycle race. Established in 1935 by the Spanish newspaper Informaciones, the Vuelta is one of cycling's three "Grand Tours", along with the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia.[1] Initially, the race was held in April/May, but in 1995 it was moved to September.[2] The race usually covers approximately 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi), although this has varied, passing through Spain and countries with a close proximity in Europe.[3] The race is broken into day-long segments called stages. Individual finishing times for each stage are totalled to determine the overall winner at the end of the race. The course changes every year, but has traditionally finished in Madrid.[4]
Individual times to finish each stage are totalled to determine the winner of the general classification at the end of the race. The rider with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each day wears the leader's jersey. Since 2010 this has been a red jersey; previously it was gold.[5] Other classifications have been calculated: those still in use are the points classification, in 2010 represented by a green jersey; the mountains classification, in 2010 represented by a blue dotted jersey; and the young rider classification, in 2019 represented by a white jersey.[6]
Roberto Heras and Primož Roglič hold the record for most victories with four. Heras's win in 2005 was subject to a successful appeal in court which overturned his initial disqualification for EPO in the 2005 race.[7]Alberto Contador and Tony Rominger have won three times. Angelino Soler is the youngest winner of the Vuelta at 21 years and 168 days old when he won in 1961. Chris Horner is the oldest winner of the Vuelta, winning the 2013 edition at the age of 41 years and 328 days old.[8] Spanish cyclists have won the most Vueltas; 23 cyclists have won 32 Vueltas between them. French cyclists are second with nine victories and Belgian riders are third with eight wins.[9] The current champion is Roglič of Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe, who won the 2024 Vuelta a España.[10]
History
Alberto Contador in the gold jersey, which was replaced by a red jersey for 2010, representing the leader in the general classification.
The Vuelta a España was established in 1935 by the newspaper Informaciones following on from the success of the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia which had also been established by newspapers.[9] The first race was won by Gustaaf Deloor, who won again the following year.[11] The Vuelta was suspended for four years from 1937 to 1940 due to the Spanish Civil War. The first race after the civil war in 1941 was won by Julián Berrendero, who also won the following year. The Vuelta was suspended between 1943 and 1944 due to the Second World War. Delio Rodríguez won the first Vuelta after the war, Spanish riders won two more Vueltas in 1946 and 1948. The Vuelta was not held in 1949. Emilio Rodríguez was the victor in 1950, before the Vuelta was suspended from 1951 to 1954 as Spain's isolation during this period led to dwindling international interest in the race.[9]
Jean Dotto won the first Vuelta after the four-year suspension in 1955.[12]Angelo Conterno was the victor the following year, by a margin of 13 seconds over Jesús Loroño.[13] Loroño was victorious in 1957 with Conterno absent.[14]Rudi Altig became the first German to win the Vuelta in 1962. Frenchman Jacques Anquetil won in 1963, in doing so he became the first cyclist to win all three Grand Tours.[15] Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx matched Anquetil's achievement in winning all three Grand Tours when he won the Vuelta in 1973.[16] The following year José Manuel Fuente won the Vuelta by 11 seconds.[17]
Swiss riders dominated the 1990s; Tony Rominger won a record three Vueltas in succession from 1992 to 1994.[9]Laurent Jalabert was victorious in 1995, he also won the points and mountain classification becoming only the third person to win all these classifications in a single Grand Tour.[11]Alex Zülle won two Vueltas in succession in 1996 and 1997.[20] German Jan Ullrich was the victor in 1999.[21]Roberto Heras won his first Vuelta in 2000; he won a further two in 2003 and 2004.[22] In 2005 he appeared to have won a record fourth Vuelta, however he was later stripped of his title after failing a drug-control test. Second place Denis Menchov became the victor.[23]
Contador won his second Vuelta in 2012.[31] American Chris Horner, became the oldest Grand Tour winner at the age of 41, when he won the Vuelta in 2013.[32] Contador won the race for the third time in 2014, as he beat Chris Froome by one minute and ten seconds.[33] Fabio Aru beat Tom Dumoulin by 57 seconds in 2015 to win the Vuelta.[34]Nairo Quintana won the 2016 Vuelta, one minute and twenty-three seconds ahead of Froome.[35] Froome was successful the following year to become the first rider since Hinault in 1978 to win the Tour and Vuelta in the same year.[36]Simon Yates won the 2018 Vuelta. It was the third victory by a British rider in a Grand Tour in 2018 and the first time three different riders from the same country had won all three races in one year.[37]Primož Roglič won the 2019 Vuelta to become the first Slovenian rider to win a Grand Tour.[38] Roglič won again the following year, beating runner-up Richard Carapaz by 24 seconds.[39] Roglič became the first rider since Heras to win three consecutive Vueltas, when he won the 2021 edition.[40]Remco Evenepoel won the 2022 Vuelta a España.[41]Sepp Kuss won the 2023 Vuelta by 17 seconds from his teammate Jonas Vingegaard.[42] Roglič won the Vuelta the following year to equal Heras's record for most victories with four.
^Roberto Heras was the winner at the podium ceremony in Madrid on the last day of the 2005 Vuelta a España, but subsequently was found to have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during stage 20 of the race. The Spanish cycling federation found him guilty of using erythropoietin during the race and stripped him of his title, awarding the win to Denis Menchov.[23] However, in 2012 Roberto Heras was reinstated as the 2005 Vuelta a España champion when Spain's supreme court ruled in favor of Heras, citing procedural violations relating to the storage and handling of the urine samples.[43]
References
General
"Palmares". Vuelta a España (in Spanish). Unipublic. Archived from the original on 6 September 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
"Por años". Vuelta a España (in Spanish). Unipublic. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
Specific
^"FAQ". Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 23 July 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2009.
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