List of teams and cyclists in the 2012 Vuelta a España
The 2012 Vuelta a España was the 67th edition of the Vuelta a España, one of the cycling's Grand Tours. The Vuelta a España features 198 riders competing from 22 cycling teams; the race took place from 18 August to 9 September, starting in Pamplona and finishing in Madrid.
2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
Moreno and Meyer fell away from the group, and it was left to the quartet to battle it out. Froome launched an attack from the front just inside the final kilometre, but was quickly covered by his three Spanish rivals; however, Alberto Contador of launched his own counter-attack having brought Froome back. He held an advantage of several seconds in the closing stages, but he started to slow within sight of the finish line. Froome had been left behind by the other two riders in contention – 's race leader Joaquim Rodríguez and Alejandro Valverde of the – and the pairing caught Contador out of the final corner, with Valverde taking his second stage victory of the race, just ahead of Rodríguez and Contador. Froome crossed the line fifteen seconds in arrears, which combined with eight bonus seconds gained by Rodríguez at the line, gave Rodríguez a 33-second lead over Froome; although Rodríguez remained pessimistic about his chances overall. Valverde took the blue polka-dot jersey for mountains classification leader, by winning the stage.The final stage before the race's first rest day saw the riders return to Spanish soil, after its finish in Andorra the previous day. The parcours – the longest stage of the 2012 edition of the race – was gradually downhill from the start, except for two third-category climbs along the route; the second of which, came within the final of the stage. With the stage finish in Barcelona, the race returned to the city for the first time since 1999, when a strike by riders over stage conditions reduced the fourteenth stage of that year's race by . The finish itself came at Montjuïc – near the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys – which was used for the last Grand Tour stage to finish in the city, when Thor Hushovd won the sixth stage of the 2009 Tour de France.