How many teams participated in Vuelta a Espana in 2012?
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.
2014 Vuelta a España
The 18 UCI World Tour teams were automatically entitled to start the race; four wildcard teams were also invited.
2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
There were no changes in the classification until another summit finish on the sixth stage, when Rodríguez and Froome were the two contenders for the stage victory. Froome had attacked to bring himself and Rodríguez, but a second attack from Rodríguez brought him clear, and with time bonuses on the line, extended his lead to ten seconds. In Andorra, it again came down to the main favourites for the race; for a time, Alberto Contador attacked off the front and maintained a lead of around ten seconds – looking for his first victory since his return from a doping ban – before tying up and Valverde and Rodríguez beat him to the line, with Froome having cracked further back. Rodríguez put another twenty seconds into his lead the following day after attacking on the final climb, and his advantage of around a minute prior to the individual time trial was sufficient for him to maintain the lead after the stage; he put in the seventh-fastest time on the stage to keep the leader's jersey, but by only a second from Contador, who moved ahead of Froome in the classification. As a result, Rodríguez topped the overall standings with the more mountainous second half of the Vuelta still to race.For the third year in succession, the Vuelta began with a team time trial; on this occasion, it began in the Navarre city of Pamplona, hosting the Vuelta for the first time since 1994 when France's Laurent Jalabert won the thirteenth stage of that year's race. The stage itself was in and around Pamplona, with the final kilometre of the stage following the route of the Running of the Bulls, held as part of the festival of San Fermín the month before. Just like the bull-run, the stage finished in the middle of the Plaza de Toros, the city's main bullring. were the first of the race's 22 squads to begin the stage, wearing a different team kit to normal; having received dispensation from the Union Cycliste Internationale, the team wore white and red skin-suits instead of their customary green. However, with a time of 20' 18", the squad ultimately finished the stage in last place.
2015 Vuelta a España
Vincenzo Nibali, who had won the Vuelta in 2010, had struggled in the opening stages of the Tour, but had recovered to take a stage victory in the final week. The Astana team also included Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa, second and third respectively at the Giro d'Italia; while this made a strong team, it was unclear which rider would be favoured by the team and given the assistance of his teammates. There was a similar situation at Movistar, as Valverde, who had won the Vuelta in 2009 and had finished on the podium on four other occasions, was also in strong form and was well suited to the course. Also among the general classification contenders were Joaquim Rodríguez (), Rafał Majka () and Tejay van Garderen ().
List of teams and cyclists in the 2015 Vuelta a España
At the end of the final stage, there were 158 riders left in the race, with 40 riders failing to finish. Froome and Nibali were both among the riders who left the race before it reached Madrid: Froome abandoned the race after breaking his foot on stage 11; Nibali was disqualified after receiving illegal assistance from his team car during stage 2. The race was won by Fabio Aru (Astana). He first took the red jersey (indicating the lead of the general classification) following the mountainous stage 11. He lost it first to Joaquim Rodríguez () on the uphill finish of stage 16, then to Tom Dumoulin () in the individual time trial on stage 17. Aru was six seconds behind Dumoulin going into the penultimate stage of the race; an attack on the final climb of the Vuelta dropped Dumoulin and Aru was able to take the overall victory in the race. Rodríguez finished second, 57 seconds behind Aru, with Rafał Majka () a further 12 seconds behind in third. Valverde won the points classification and Rodríguez the combination classification. The mountains classification was won by Omar Fraile (). Movistar won the team classification.
1992 Vuelta a España
The 47th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 27 April to 17 May 1992. It consisted of 20 stages covering a total of , and was won by Tony Rominger of the Clas-Cajastur cycling team.
2017 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
The 2017 Vuelta a España began on 19 August, with Stage 21 scheduled for 10 September. The 2017 edition of the cycle race began with the only team time trial stage of the race.
2001 Vuelta a España
The 21 teams invited to the race were:
2000 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
The 2000 Vuelta a España was the 55th edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Vuelta began in Málaga, with an individual time trial on 26 August, and Stage 12 occurred on 7 September with a stage from Zaragoza. The race finished in Madrid on 17 September.
2011 Volta a Catalunya
24 teams were invited to the 2011 Volta a Catalunya. The teams were:In the 2011 Volta a Catalunya, three different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding the finishing times of the stages per cyclist, the leader received a white jersey with green stripes on the sleeves, midsection, and collar. This classification was considered the most important of the Volta a Catalunya, and the winner of the general classification was considered the winner of the Volta a Catalunya.
2010 Vuelta a España
Sixteen teams were automatically selected due to previous agreements and there were six wildcard places. Three of these were given to UCI Professional Continental teams, and three to UCI ProTour teams.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2017 Vuelta a España
The 198 riders that are competing in the 2017 Vuelta a España originated from 33 different countries.
1956 Vuelta a España
The 11th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 26 April to 13 May 1956. It consisted of 17 stages covering a total of , and was won by Angelo Conterno of the Bianchi cycling team. Rik Van Steenbergen won the points classification and Nino Defilippis won the mountains classification.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2014 Vuelta a España
*: Pro Continental teams given wild card entry to this event.
2016 Vuelta a España
The route of the 2016 Vuelta was announced on 9 January 2016. In contrast to the two previous editions of the Vuelta, which had begun in Andalusia, this edition spent its first week in Galicia in the north-west of Spain. The first stage was a team time trial to Castrelo de Miño. The first significant climb of the race was at the end of the third stage, which was the first of ten summit finishes in the race. The route travelled through Asturias before coming to the Basque Country; the fourteenth stage, described by "Cyclingnews.com" as the hardest of the race, took place mainly just across the border in France. The route continued down the eastern coast of Spain over the next few days, with several mountainous stages, with the race's only individual time trial coming on stage 19. One more mountainous stage followed, finishing on the Alto de Aitana, before the riders travelled to Madrid for the closing stage on a circuit in the city centre.
2017 Volta a Catalunya
As the Volta a Catalunya is a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI WorldTeams were invited automatically and obliged to enter a team in the race. Seven UCI Professional Continental teams competed, completing the 25-team peloton. Two of the Professional Continental teams, and , made their début at UCI World Tour level.
2018 Volta a Catalunya
As the Volta a Catalunya was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI WorldTeams were invited automatically and obliged to enter a team in the race. Seven UCI Professional Continental teams competed, completing the 25-team peloton. Two of the Professional Continental teams, and , made their début at UCI World Tour level.
2017 Vuelta a España
The race was the 25th of the 38 events in the UCI World Tour, with riders from the WorldTeams competing for individually and for their teams for points that contributed towards the rankings. Riders from both the WorldTeams and Professional Continental teams also competed individually and for their nations for points that contributed towards the UCI World Ranking, which included all UCI races. The points accrued by Chris Froome moved him up to second from tenth in the World Tour and rose to third from sixth in the World Ranking. Greg Van Avermaet () held the lead of both individual rankings. took the lead of the World Tour team ranking and Belgium remained top of the World Ranking nation ranking.
2011 Vuelta a España
It was the first Vuelta since 33 years that visited the Basque Country. The 33-year absence of the region was due to fear of political protests. Separatists of the Basque Country were unhappy with the return of the Vuelta and calling the come of the Vuelta 'A Waste of Money'. Although the criticism of several Separatists on the route of this year, the organizers of the Vuelta announced on 8 September that the 2012 event will start in the Navarrese city of Pamplona.
2010 Giro d'Italia
The race's 22 teams were:
The Giro, like the 2009 Vuelta a España before it and the forthcoming Tour de France, began in the Netherlands. The two Dutch Professional Continental teams, and , had both ridden Grand Tours in 2009. Throughout the season, the two teams tried to prove their combativeness in the hopes of securing Grand Tour invites, trying especially to outdo one another. Since the openings to the Giro and the Tour were partly financed by Dutch tax money, Vacansoleil's team manager called for political help to get invites for his team, but neither Dutch team made it into either the Giro or the Tour. Consequently, neither made the Vuelta a España teams selection, either. The teams' disappointment at their non-invitation led to communications with UCI President Pat McQuaid, which may result in reforms to how teams are selected for the Grand Tours.
1975 Vuelta a España
The 30th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 22 April to 11 May 1975. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of , and was won by Agustin Tamames of the Super Ser cycling team. Andres Oliva won the mountains classification while Miguel Maria Lasa won the points classification.
1984 Vuelta a España
Thirteen teams were invited by the race organizers to participate in the 1984 edition of the Vuelta a España, six of which were based outside of Spain. Each team sent a squad of team riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 130 cyclists. From the riders that began the race, 97 made it to the finish in Madrid.
2012 Vuelta a España
Riders who could have made the top ten included Froome's Colombian teammates at , Rigoberto Urán and Sergio Henao, 's Bauke Mollema, 's Maxime Monfort, 's Thomas De Gendt and 's Nicolas Roche.
2008 Vuelta a España
The 19 teams invited to the race were:
†: Invited Pro-continental teams
2001 Vuelta a España
A total of 21 teams were invited to participate in the 2001 Vuelta a España. Fifteen of the competing squads were UCI Division I teams, while the other six teams were UCI Division II. Mercury–Viatel, who were previously scheduled to ride, didn't start. Each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the Vuelta began with a peloton of 189 cyclists, a total of 139 riders made it to the finish in Madrid.
2016 Vuelta a Asturias
A total of 14 teams and one national combined team raced in the 2016 Vuelta a Asturias: one UCI World Team, another UCI Professional Continental team and 12 UCI Continental teams.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2011 Vuelta a España
These are the 22 teams and 198 cyclists who are participating in the 2011 Vuelta a España, which started on the 20 August and finishes on 11 September:
2012 Vuelta a Murcia
The 2012 Vuelta a Murcia was the 28th edition of the Vuelta a Murcia cycle race and was held on 3 March to 4 March 2012. The race started in Archena and finished in Murcia. The race was won by Nairo Quintana.
2012 Tour of Turkey
There are 25 teams in the 2012 Tour of Turkey. Among them were 9 UCI ProTeams, 14 UCI Professional Continental teams, and 2 Continental teams. Each team was allowed eight riders on their squad, giving the event a peloton of 194 cyclists at its outset.
2011 Vuelta a España
All 18 teams in the UCI's Proteam category are entitled, and obliged, to enter the race. Four UCI Professional Continental teams are also invited.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2014 Vuelta a España
The 2014 Vuelta a España was the 69th edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Vuelta a España features 198 riders competing from 22 cycling teams; the race took place from 23 August to 14 September 2014, starting in Jerez de la Frontera and finishing in Santiago de Compostela.
Juan José Cobo
After folded at the end of 2011, Cobo joined for the 2012 season. He had a year without victories, participating in the Tour de France and landing a 30th general classification placing. He was slated to be his team's leader at the Vuelta a España to defend his title, but the leadership was soon shifted to Alejandro Valverde, after the latter performed better than Cobo in the early stages. Cobo helped Valverde finish in second position, while he finished 67th.
1982 Vuelta a España
The 37th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 20 April to 9 May 1982. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of , and was won by Marino Lejarreta of the Teka cycling team.
List of teams and cyclists in the 1962 Vuelta a España
For the 1962 Vuelta a España, the field consisted of 90 riders; 48 finished the race.
2012 Vuelta a Castilla y León
The 2012 Vuelta a Castilla y León was the 27th edition of the Vuelta a Castilla y León cycle race and was held on 13 April to 15 April 2012. The race started in Salamanca and finished in Segovia. The race was won by Javier Moreno.
2012 Eneco Tour
As the Eneco Tour was a UCI World Tour event, all eighteen UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Three other squads were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 21-team peloton. Among the competitors was Alberto Contador, in his first race since returning from a doping ban.
2011 Vuelta a España
The Vuelta was one of 27 events throughout the season that contributed points towards the 2011 UCI World Tour. Points were awarded to the top 20 finishers overall, and to the top five finishers in each stage. Only riders on UCI ProTour teams were eligible to receive rankings points, so winner Juan Cobo was not rewarded in this table.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2012 Vuelta a España
All eighteen UCI ProTeams were automatically invited and were obliged to attend the race. Four UCI Professional Continental teams were given wildcard places into the race, to complete a 22-team peloton.
List of teams and cyclists in the 1955 Vuelta a España
For the 1955 Vuelta a España, the field consisted of 106 riders; 63 finished the race.
2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
's Javier Aramendia once again took up a position in the breakaway of a stage, and was joined out front by the most combative rider of the 2011 edition of the race, Adrián Palomares, representing the team. The duo managed to establish a maximum lead of around seven minutes at one point during the stage, before the rest of the field gradually brought the time gap down. They managed to survive off the front until the finishing circuit, where they were brought back around a quarter of the way around the lap. The sprinters' teams moved forward towards the end of the lap, where , and all looked to set it up for their respective sprinters. Ultimately, it was Degenkolb that was able to out-sprint his rivals – despite having to launch his sprint earlier than he wanted – to take his fourth stage victory of the race, becoming the first rider to do so since countryman André Greipel in 2009. Degenkolb finished ahead of 's Nacer Bouhanni and rider Daniele Bennati.The only individual time trial stage of the Vuelta, the halfway point was marked with an itinerary of , with the parcours split into three distinct sections; the first section was relatively flat all the way from the start in Cambados, to the intermediate time-check at the point of the stage, just outside the town of Barrantes. The second consisted of a long, 4.4% average gradient climb of the third-category Alto Monte Castrove, where points for the mountains classification were on offer for the top three riders to that point, before the descent down to Pontevedra. As was customary of time trial stages, the riders set off in reverse order from where they were ranked in the general classification at the end of the previous stage. Thus, Joost van Leijen of , who, in 193rd place – of the 198 riders who started the race – trailed overall leader Joaquim Rodríguez () by one hour, thirty-eight minutes and fifty-seven seconds, was the first rider to set off on the stage.
2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
The 2012 Vuelta a España began on 18 August, and stage 11 occurred on 29 August. The 2012 edition began with a team time trial stage – where each member of a team started together racing against the clock – in Pamplona, Navarre with the race remaining in Spain until the finish to the eighth stage, with a summit finish at the Collada de la Gallina in Andorra. After the ninth stage, the race's first rest day saw the riders travel across Spain by air from Barcelona to Ponteareas; a road stage was followed by the only individual time trial of the race, where each remaining member of the starting peloton of 198 riders competed against the clock.
List of teams and cyclists in the 1982 Vuelta a España
For the 1982 Vuelta a España, the field consisted of 100 riders; 76 finished the race.
2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
It was not until the final team to start the stage that the time – and the 19-minute barrier – was beaten. had the honour of starting last due to Juan José Cobo – the winner of the 2011 edition of the race for – being amongst their nine riders. The team were only two seconds slower than to the intermediate time-check, kept their pace up and recorded a time of 18' 51" for the course, to record the first Grand Tour team time trial victory for a Spanish squad in nine years. As the first rider to cross the line, Jonathan Castroviejo assumed the first red jersey of the race for the general classification leader, with four of his team-mates in the same time and Cobo in sixth place, having been distanced, by four seconds, in the closing metres.The opening road stage of the 2012 Vuelta saw the riders head south from Pamplona, via a loop around Tafalla – where the race's first intermediate sprint point was held – and the first categorised climb, the third-category Alto de la Chapela, before heading towards Viana. In Viana itself, there was an intermediate sprint point on the first passage through the town, before the finish second time around. With most of the parcours being flat, it was expected to ultimately result in a sprint finish at the stage end. Three riders – Spanish pairing Javier Aramendia of and rider Javier Chacón, along with Mikhail Ignatiev () – went clear around after the start of the stage, making the early breakaway from the field, and the trio managed to extend their advantage over the main field to around five minutes. Niki Terpstra had also been a part of the breakaway at one point, but as he trailed overnight leader Jonathan Castroviejo of the by just ten seconds, the breakaway were not allowed to gain a substantial advantage at that point. Terpstra ultimately dropped back into the main field to allow the gap to increase.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2012 Vuelta a España
The 22 teams that competed in the race were:
2012 Vuelta a España
The race was won for the second time by Alberto Contador of , taking his first overall victory since returning from a doping suspension. Contador, who won the seventeenth stage of the race after a solo attack, won the general classification by 1' 16" over runner-up Alejandro Valverde of the team. Two-time stage winner Valverde also won two sub-classifications on the final day; by taking a sixth-place finish on the stage into Madrid, he overhauled the points tally of Joaquim Rodríguez () in that classification, and their resultant switch of positions, allowed Valverde to take the combination classification – where the lowest cumulative score across the general, points and mountains classifications wins – as well.
2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
Four riders – Javier Aramendia (), 's Pablo Lechuga, Bert-Jan Lindeman of and rider František Raboň – provided the breakaway for the day, moving away from the rest of the field after only of racing. They established a maximum advantage of around five minutes in the opening half of the stage, providing no threat to the overall lead of Joaquim Rodríguez () as Lechuga was best-placed at over 26 minutes behind. However, Lechuga was the first of the lead quartet to be dropped as the peloton started to bring the leaders back with around remaining. The breakaway was eventually halted halfway towards the finish, and it eventually resulted in a sprint finish at the circuit, despite trying to break the peloton, with Chris Froome, Ian Stannard and Ben Swift being part of a six-rider group off the front of the field. Ultimately, points leader John Degenkolb continued his good form in the sprint finishes, taking his third stage victory of the week, after a lead-out from team-mate Koen de Kort. Rodríguez maintained his overall lead of the race, by ten seconds, over Froome.The only stage finish outside of Spain in this year's Vuelta, the eighth stage saw the peloton head north from the start city of Lleida in Catalonia towards the Catalan-speaking microstate of Andorra. After carrying out a loop around the capital Andorra la Vella, via the second intermediate sprint point – the first coming just before the border between Spain and Andorra, in the town of La Seu d'Urgell – and the second-category climb of the Alto de la Comella. After several kilometres of descending, the first-category Collada de la Gallina awaited the riders; the climb had an average gradient of 8% – with the gradient reaching 15% in certain places of the climbs – while there were also 18 hairpin bends on the climb, drawing comparisons to Alpe d'Huez, where that climb has 21 such corners.
2012 Giro d'Italia
All 18 UCI ProTeams were automatically invited and were obliged to attend. In addition four UCI Professional Continental were announced in January 2012. The full list of participating teams is:
2011 winner Alberto Contador was banned for two years on 6 February for doping during 2010 Tour de France and therefore did not start in the Giro. Ivan Basso, winner of the Giro of 2006 and 2010, announced on 13 November 2011 that he was aiming for a third pink jersey.
2012 Vuelta a España
For details see 2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11 and 2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
2013 Volta a Catalunya
The 22 teams that competed in the race were:
2002 Vuelta a España
The 57th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 7 September to 29 September 2002. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Aitor González of the Kelme-Costa Blanca cycling team.
2016 Vuelta a España
The teams entering the race were:
List of teams and cyclists in the 2000 Vuelta a España
For the 2000 Vuelta a España, the field consisted of 179 riders; 124 finished the race.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2013 Vuelta a España
Among the 22 teams that participated in the 2013 Vuelta a España, 19 were UCI World Tour teams, and 3 were Professional Continental teams. The list below contains 198 cyclists entered in the 2013 Vuelta a España, which began on 22 August and finished on 15 September.
2012 Volta ao Algarve
20 teams competed in the 2012 Volta ao Algarve. Among them were 11 UCI ProTour teams, four UCI Professional Continental teams, and five Continental teams.
2012 Vuelta a Andalucía
The 2012 Vuelta a Andalucía was the 58th edition of the Vuelta a Andalucía, a regional Spanish road bicycle race. It was rated as a 2.1 event and was the 13th race of the UCI Europe Tour. The race was held over 19–23 February.
2005 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
The 2005 Vuelta a España was the 60th edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Vuelta began in Granada, with an individual time trial on 27 August, and Stage 12 occurred on 8 September with a stage from Logroño. The race finished in Madrid on 18 September.
2015 Volta a Catalunya
The Volta a Catalunya is part of the UCI World Tour, which meant that the 17 UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited and obliged to send a team. The race organisers also made seven wildcard invitations to UCI Professional Continental teams. The peloton was therefore made up of 24 teams.Notes:
In the 2015 Volta a Catalunya, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses in intermediate sprints (3, 2 and 1 seconds) and at the finish in mass-start stages (10, 6 and 4 seconds respectively for the first three finishers), the leader received a white and green jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2015 Volta a Catalunya, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.
2015 Vuelta a España
The team presentation took place in Benahavís on the evening before the first stage. The number of riders allowed per squad was nine, therefore the start list contained a total of 198 riders. The riders represented 37 different countries, with the largest numbers coming from France (30), Spain (27) and Italy (20). The average age of riders in the Vuelta was 29.13 years, ranging from the 20-year-old Matej Mohorič () to the 38-year-old Haimar Zubeldia ().
List of teams and cyclists in the 1975 Vuelta a España
For the 1975 Vuelta a España, the field consisted of 90 riders; 54 finished the race.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2013 Vuelta a España
*: Pro Continental teams given wild card entry to this event.
1976 Vuelta a España
The 31st Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 27 April to 16 May 1976. It consisted of 19 stages covering a total of , and was won by José Pesarrodona of the Kas-Campagnolo cycling team. Andres Oliva won the mountains classification while Dietrich Thurau won the points classification.
Caja Rural–Seguros RGA
Caja Rural was invited to participate in the 2012 Vuelta a España, which departed from Pamplona where the team is based. The 2012 Vuelta saw Caja Rural rider Antonio Piedra, take Stage 15, a high mountain affair finishing atop the Lakes of Covadonga climb. Piedra dropped his breakaway companions on the first "Hors Category" climb of the Vuelta, and finished with 2 minutes and 2 seconds advantage over his nearest competitor. The team's enthusiasm for competition in their Vuelta début was highlighted by a heartbreaking episode in the 4th stage. Marcos García valiantly fought to the head of the peloton, sprinted to the finish line and threw kisses to the crowd as he crossed it triumphantly. However, owing to miscommunication with the team car, he was unaware that three escapees had crossed the line before him.
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.
2012 Vuelta a España
The 2012 Vuelta a España started on 18 August 2012 and was the 67th edition of the race. The race began in Pamplona with a team time trial and ended on 9 September, as traditional, in Madrid. The 2012 edition saw the return of the Bola del Mundo mountain top finish. It was the venue of an exciting battle between winner Vincenzo Nibali and runner-up Ezequiel Mosquera in the 2010 edition. It was the first time since 1994 that the race visited the region of Navarre. The previous time that Pamplona was visited by a Grand Tour in 1996, when the city hosted the finish of a memorable stage of the 1996 Tour de France. On that occasion, the race paid homage to Miguel Indurain by passing through his home village of Villava en route.
2011 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
These are the profiles for the individual stages in the 2011 Vuelta a España, with Stage 1 on 20 August, and Stage 11 on 31 August.The Vuelta started with a team time trial in the coastal town of Benidorm. The first team on the route was , and they stopped the clock at 16' 48", a time that kept them in eighth place after the stage. did the best time at the intermediate point, a second faster than . eventually won the stage by four seconds ahead of . was the negative surprise of the day, finishing 20th of the 22 teams. A number of events left the team at one point with four riders, with a team's time recorded when a fifth rider passes the finish line. Xabier Zandio recovered to join his four teammates out front, limiting any further time loss. 's leader, the defending champion, Vincenzo Nibali gained 21 seconds on Joaquim Rodríguez with finishing 10th, 24 seconds on Igor Antón's and 28 seconds on Michele Scarponi's .
1994 Vuelta a España
The 17 teams that took part in the race were:
List of teams and cyclists in the 2016 Vuelta a España
The 2016 Vuelta a España was the 71st edition of the race. It was the last of cycling's three Grand Tours to take place during the 2016 road cycling season. The race started in Ourense on 20 August and finished in Madrid on 11 September.
2017 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
25 teams were invited to take part in the race. These included twelve UCI WorldTeams, seven UCI Professional Continental teams, five UCI Continental teams and a Spanish national team.
In the 2017 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, five different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers at intermediate sprints and at the finish of mass-start stages, the leader received a yellow jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2017 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.
2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
Rain started to fall at the halfway point of the stage, but the gap between the leaders and the pack continued to gradually fall until they were eventually caught with remaining. An accelerated pace by the helped to split the peloton in Navas de Riofrío, with Valverde and Rodríguez both eventually taking bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint point in Hontoria. Several late-race attacks came and went, before Gilbert's stage-winning attack out of the peloton in the closing kilometre. He held on to his second victory of the race ahead of Valverde, Daniel Moreno () and Rodríguez. The rest of the field were led in three seconds later by 's Gianni Meersman; among the group was race leader Alberto Contador (), who lost 17 seconds on the day to Valverde, but remained 1' 35" clear overnight in the general classification.The penultimate stage of the Vuelta was seen as the final chance for the riders to take substantial amounts of time in the race, with the final stage being the customary ride into Madrid. The parcours of contained no fewer than five categorised climbs, all rated as a second-category climb or higher, with the summit finish – the tenth of the race – to Bola del Mundo being the highest-categorised of the five, as a "Categoria Especial"; the Bola del Mundo was also the highest point of the race, with the stage winner receiving the Cima Alberto Fernández award. The peloton climbed up to a height of above sea level, via an long climb at an average gradient of 8.6%. The Bola decided the race for overall honours on its previous appearance in the race – in 2010 – as Vincenzo Nibali shadowed Ezequiel Mosquera up the climb, therefore winning the race by 41 seconds from Mosquera; Mosquera was later stripped of his results in late 2011.
2012 Volta a Catalunya
As the Volta a Catalunya was a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Five other squads were given wildcard places into the race, and as such, formed the event's 23-team peloton.
1972 Vuelta a España
The 27th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 27 April to 14 May 1972. It consisted of 17 stages covering a total of , and was won by José Manuel Fuente of the Kas-Kaskol cycling team. Fuente also won the mountains classification while Domingo Perurena won the points classification.
2015 Vuelta a Andalucía
22 teams were selected to take part in the 2015 event, including 10 UCI World Tour teams.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2017 Vuelta a España
The 18 UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited to participate in the Vuelta. In addition, the race organisers, invited four wildcard teams. These included , the only Spanish-registered UCI Professional Continental team. Also invited were the French team , Irish team and Colombian team .
The following teams and cyclists took part in the 2017 Vuelta a España:
1996 Vuelta a España
The 51st Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 7 September to 29 September 1996. It consisted of 22 stages covering a total of , and was won by Alex Zülle of the ONCE cycling team.
2009 Vuelta a España
29 teams sought places in the race, of which 21 were initially invited to compete. , one of two UCI ProTour teams omitted from the list of invited teams, appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and were subsequently granted the right to enter. are thus the only ProTour team absent from the race.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2018 Vuelta a España
The 176 riders that are competing in the 2018 Vuelta a España originated from 30 different countries.
2013 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
The 2013 Vuelta a España began on 24 August, and stage 12 occurs on 5 September. The second half of the race takes in most of the mountain stages, with 5 occurring in the last 9 days. This part of the race is where the winner should be confirmed, with large time gaps expected to appear during the mountain stages.
2012 Tour de Pologne
The twenty-five teams that competed in the race were:The opening stage of the Tour began with of riding, prior to entering a loop around Karpacz and Jelenia Góra, where the riders would complete four laps before the finish. Included on each lap was a first-category climb at the Karpacz Orlinek, a site for ski jumping during the winter months, while on the third full lap of the circuit, there was an intermediate sprint in Karpacz offering bonus seconds towards the general classification. A five-rider breakaway was initiated in the early kilometres of the stage; the move consisted of 's Sylvain Georges, rider Jarosław Marycz, Daniel Teklehaymanot of , Federico Rocchetti () and Bartłomiej Matysiak, riding for the representative Team Poland BGŻ.
2012 Tour of Utah
In July, the Tour of Utah announced a 17-team field, made up of six ProTeams (up from five), five UCI Professional Continental teams (up from four) and six UCI Continental teams (down from seven), thus giving the race a total of 17 teams (up from 16). In total, eight of the 16 teams that competed in 2011 were invited to return to this event, as well as a ProTeam that merged into another ProTeam (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek) and a team that competed in 2010, but did not get a place in 2011 (Bontrager-Livestrong). EPM-UNE is based in Colombia, and four of the five Professional Continental teams are not US-based, coming from Canada, China, the Netherlands and Germany.
In addition to all of the last four champions of the race -- (Jeff Louder (UnitedHealthcare), Francisco Mancebo (Competitive Cyclist) and two-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)) -- the race included potential contenders Tom Danielson (Garmin), Christian Vande Velde (Garmin), David Zabriskie (Garmin) and Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek). The race was held during the 2012 Summer Olympics, and 11 current or former Olympians competed. Although each of the 17 teams was permitted to bring up to 8 starters (for a maximum of 136), the race included only 129 starters, because 3 of the ProTour teams (BMC, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, and Liquigas-Cannondale) brought only 6 and a fourth (Rabobank) brought only 7.
2016 Vuelta a España
The eighteen UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited and obliged to attend the race. The organiser of the Vuelta, Unipublic, was also able to invite four UCI Professional Continental teams – the second tier of professional cycling teams – as wildcards.
List of teams and cyclists in the 1956 Vuelta a España
For the 1956 Vuelta a España, the field consisted of 90 riders; 40 finished the race.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2015 Vuelta a España
All 17 UCI World Tour teams were automatically entitled to start the race. In March 2015, five UCI Professional Continental teams were awarded wildcard places in the race by the organisers, . As each team was entitled to enter nine riders, the peloton at the beginning of the first stage consisted of 198 riders. The riders came from 37 countries; France, Spain and Italy all had 20 or more riders in the race. The startlist included all of the top four riders from the 2015 Tour de France: Chris Froome (), Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde (both ), and Vincenzo Nibali (). The riders had an average age of 29.13 years: the oldest rider to start the race was 38-year-old Haimar Zubeldia () and the youngest was 20-year-old Matej Mohorič ().
2015 Vuelta a España
The first five stages took place in and around Andalusia in southern Spain; the 2014 Vuelta had also started there. The first stage was a team time trial along the coast from Puerto Banús to Marbella. The next four stages were fairly flat, although Stage 2 finished on a moderately difficult climb. The sixth stage started in Córdoba and finished in Sierra de Cazorla in Jaén on another moderately difficult climb. The seventh stage then returned to Andalusia for the first major difficulty of the race: the first-category summit finish at La Alpujarra. The route then continued along the eastern coast of Spain, with a medium-mountain seventh stage and another first-category summit finish at Benitachell on Stage 9. There was one more medium-mountain stage on Stage 10, taking the riders into the Province of Castellón. This was followed by a transfer that took the riders into Andorra for a three-day spell, beginning with the first rest day. The eleventh stage took place entirely in Andorra; though it was only in length, it included six categorised climbs, including a summit finish, and was described by Eusebio Unzué (the manager of the Movistar team) as "the toughest Vuelta stage that he has seen in more than 30 years". Stage 12 took the riders back into Spain for a fairly flat stage, before three consecutive stages with summit finishes. These took place in the mountains of Cantabria and Asturias and were followed by the race's second rest day. The final week of the race included no summit finishes: the first stage was a individual time trial in Burgos and was then followed by three mixed stages that took the riders nearer to the final stage of the race, a sprint stage in Madrid. For the first time, the race organisers also held a women's race on the same day as the final stage, using the same circuit. This race – called La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta – was won by Shelley Olds.
2012 Vuelta a España
Completing an all-Spanish podium, Rodríguez finished the race third overall, 21 seconds behind Valverde and 1' 37" behind Contador, having led the race for 13 days between the fourth and sixteenth stages. Rodríguez also achieved three stage victories, a tally second only to sprinter John Degenkolb who won five stages, the most by a German at the Vuelta. 's Simon Clarke became the second Australian to win the mountains classification in a Grand Tour, while the comfortably won the teams classification.
2018 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
The 2018 Vuelta a España is the 73rd edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Vuelta began in Málaga, with an individual time trial on 25 August, and Stage 12 occurred on 6 September with a stage from Mondoñedo. The race finishes in Madrid on 16 September.
2013 Strade Bianche
The start list includes 17 teams – 11 ProTeams and 6 Professional Continental Teams – and a total of 136 riders. Among them were the 2012 winner Fabian Cancellara (), talents Peter Sagan and Moreno Moser, the 2006 Milan – San Remo winner Filippo Pozzato of , the 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans () and the 2009 Vuelta a España winner Alejandro Valverde of the .
2012 Vuelta a España
The 18 UCI ProTour teams were automatically entitled to start the race and were joined by four teams that received a wildcard in April 2012.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2014 Vuelta a España
All eighteen UCI ProTeams were automatically invited and were obliged to attend the race. In April 2014, four UCI Professional Continental teams were given wildcard places into the race, to complete a 22-team peloton. 's inclusion in the race was the first instance of an African-licensed team appearing at a Grand Tour.
2012 Tour de San Luis
Twenty one teams were invited to the 2012 Tour de San Luis: 5 UCI ProTeams, 7 Professional Continental teams, 6 Continental teams and 7 national selection teams.
2011 Vuelta a España
Among the top ten contenders were several promising talents, including Dan Martin (winner of the 2010 Tour de Pologne, runner up of the 2011 Tour de Pologne and third overall at the 2011 Volta a Catalunya), Steven Kruijswijk (ninth in the 2011 Giro, third overall and a mountain stage win at the 2011 Tour de Suisse), Bauke Mollema (twelfth at the 2010 Giro d'Italia and fifth overall at the 2011 Tour de Suisse) and Rein Taaramäe (twelfth at the 2011 Tour de France, third overall at the 2011 Critérium International and fourth overall at the 2011 Paris–Nice. Other contenders for the top ten were Garmin's co-leader Christophe Le Mével and Ag2R's Nicolas Roche. 
The full route for the 2011 Vuelta was unveiled in Benidorm on January 12, 2011. The climbers immediately liked the route of the race with six mountain stages with uphill finishes and another two flat stages with steep uphill finishes. Among the uphill finishes were the infamous Alto de L'Angliru and the climb to the Sierra Nevada. Two finishes were on climbs that have never been featured in the Vuelta before. These are to Estacion de Montaña Manzaneda in Galicia on stage 11 and La Farrapona in the Asturias region on stage 14. Olympic Road Champion Samuel Sánchez pointed out that the lack of Time Trial kilometres make the race very interesting because there are not enough of them for GC riders with good time trialing ability to take advantage for the variety of mountain stages.
2016 Vuelta a Burgos
A total of 21 teams with 8 riders each will race in the 2016 Vuelta a Burgos: 13 UCI ProTeams, 6 UCI Professional Continental Teams and 2 UCI Continental Teams.
1967 Vuelta a España
The 22nd Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 27 April to 14 May 1967. It consisted of 18 stages covering a total of , and was won by Jan Janssen of the Pelforth cycling team. Janssen also won the points classification and Mariano Diaz won the mountains classification.
2017 Vuelta a Andalucía
21 teams were invited to take part in the race. These included nine UCI WorldTeams, ten UCI Professional Continental teams and two UCI Continental teams.
In the 2017 Vuelta a Andalucía, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, the leader received a red jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2017 Vuelta a Andalucía, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.
2008 Vuelta a España
The 2008 Vuelta a España was the 63rd edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race began with a team time trial on 30 August in Granada. The Vuelta came to a close twenty-three days later with a flat stage, which brought the peloton into the streets of Madrid. Nineteen teams entered the race, which was won by the Spaniard Alberto Contador of . Second and third respectively were the American Levi Leipheimer of and the Spanish Carlos Sastre of .
List of teams and cyclists in the 2016 Vuelta a España
All 18 UCI World Tour teams were automatically entitled to start the race. In May 2016, four UCI Professional Continental teams were awarded wildcard places in the race by the organisers, Unipublic.
2012 Volta a Portugal
In total, 17 teams are set to compete.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2017 Vuelta a España
All 18 UCI World Tour teams were automatically entitled to start the race.
List of teams and cyclists in the 1992 Vuelta a España
For the 1992 Vuelta a España, the field consisted of 188 riders; 139 finished the race.
2013 Vuelta a Burgos
16 teams were invited to participate in the tour: 9 UCI ProTeams, 5 UCI Professional Continental Teams and 2 UCI Continental Teams.
List of teams and cyclists in the 2010 Vuelta a España
The 2010 Vuelta a España is the 65th edition of Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. This Vuelta features 22 cycling teams. Seventeen of the teams invited to the Vuela are a part of the UCI ProTour, the other five teams are Professional Continental teams. The Vuelta will begin in Seville on August 28 and finish on in Madrid on September 19.
2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
In the peloton, 's Igor Antón initially attacked without chase, before Alejandro Valverde () forced an attack on his rivals, trying to get clear before he was closed down. De Weert was dropped by his two lead companions, while the overall leaders had managed to break out into a group of their own with Valverde, Alberto Contador () and Joaquim Rodríguez being paced by Rodríguez's 's team-mate Daniel Moreno. Their team-mate Menchov won the stage – 's fourth of the race – as he dropped Porte in the closing metres; six other members of the breakaway also crossed the line before the race contenders. Rodríguez was ninth on the stage, taking 25 seconds on Valverde – who was tenth – and he claimed back 44 seconds on Contador, who finished twelfth. In the general classification, Contador maintained his race lead, by a reduced margin of 1' 16", over Valverde, with Rodríguez another 21 seconds in arrears.The Vuelta concluded with the now-customary stage finish in the centre of Madrid. The stage had an easy start – with a long and gradual descent from the start town of Cercedilla – before ten high-speed laps of a circuit, followed by the sprint finish. In keeping with tradition, the final stage began at a slow pace, and was a largely ceremonial procession on the run into Madrid. Shortly after the riders reached the circuit in the centre of the city, an intermediate sprint was held at the first passage through the line; David Moncoutié of and 's Grischa Niermann were allowed to pass through before the main field, as a gesture, ahead of their respective retirements from the professional peloton. After that, the main break was initiated by six riders on the opening lap of the Madrid circuit. The group – consisting of pairing Sergio Carrasco and Javier Chacón, 's Kevin Seeldraeyers, Javier Aramendia of , Mikel Astarloza () and Sergey Lagutin for – were never allowed to gain more than half a minute in their exploits and were eventually caught with around remaining.