Back to Spain

The Vuelta Ciclista a España, also known as the Vuelta a España or simply La Vuelta, is a professional cycling stage race en route disputed throughout the Spanish geography, between the end of August and mid-September. It is one of the three Grand Tours and belongs to the UCI WorldTour calendar.

La Vuelta was held for the first time in 1935. Since its creation, the race has been suspended four times: from 1937 to 1940 due to the Spanish Civil War, from 1943 to 1944 due to World War II and bad economic situation of Spain, in 1949 and from 1951 to 1954.

With four victories (2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005), Roberto Heras is the most successful rider in the race.

History

1932-1936

The G. P. República was held and the first races that were held at a national level were promoted by the Éibar bicycle manufacturers. Thus, the Éibar-Madrid-Éibar route was completed, receiving the name Gran Premio de la República.

1935-1960

Promotional Sheet of the first edition de la Vuelta, del diario Informaciones. Museu de Joguet de Verdú, Lérida.

At the beginning of 1935, Clemente López Dóriga, in collaboration with Juan Pujol, director of the newspaper Informaciones, organized the I Cycling Tour of Spain with a route of 14 stages and a total of 3,431 km. The first stage was played between Madrid and Valladolid. That year saw the first great duel in the history of the Vuelta between the Belgian Gustaaf Deloor, who ultimately won, and the Spanish Mariano Cañardo, runner-up. The second edition of the Vuelta, which was held despite the delicate political situation in the country, meant the revalidation of Deloor's title, which held the lead from the first to the last day. After these first two editions, the Spanish round suffered a break due to the Spanish civil war.

In 1941 the test was resumed with an almost totally Spanish participation and with very little foreign representation. That year the first time trial stage of the Vuelta took place. Julián Berrendero was proclaimed the winner of the Spanish round, a title that he revalidated a year later. Likewise, Berrendero became king of the mountain for three consecutive editions.

Due to the Second World War and the country's precarious economic situation, there was another stoppage in the cycling tour.

In 1945, the Diario Ya took over the organization and the competition was held again, although again with poor foreign participation. On this occasion it was Delio Rodríguez who claimed the final victory. That year, the classification by points was also established for the first time, although it was not stable until 1955. Four more editions were held until 1950, at which time the "Diario Ya" gave up definitively organizing the Tour of Spain.

It was not until 1955 that the Spanish round was held again, and from that year on it was taken over by the newspaper El Correo Español/El Pueblo Vasco. Since then, the Tour of Spain has been held annually. In addition, the Vuelta began to be held stably between the months of April and May, while previously its celebration had oscillated between the months of April and August. Another variation was the number of participants, until then very low, which doubled, as well as a greater attendance of great foreign and national figures.

1960-1970

The prestige of the Vuelta grew and, more and more, it had the presence of cycling stars from the international scene. During the late 1950s the first triumphs in the general classification of Italian and French cyclists took place. In the 1960s German and Dutch cyclists also did it. In 1963, Jacques Anquetil managed to lead the general classification and became the first cyclist to win all three Grand Tours. Five years later, in 1968, Felice Gimondi would do the same. Only Eddy Merckx, in 1973, Bernard Hinault who won in 1978 and 1983, Alberto Contador who won in 2008, Vincenzo Nibali who won in 2010 and Chris Froome who won in 2017 managed to repeat the feat.

Antonio Karmany dominated the mountain classification for three consecutive years and was replaced by Julio Jiménez, who won it for another three years.

The Kas formation of those years with Karmany, Angelino Soler, Julio Jiménez and Gabica began the journey of a great team that was born in 1958 and continued until the mid-80s.

Rik van Looy became the first cyclist to repeat victory in the points classification in 1965. Jan Janssen in 1968 and Domingo Perurena in 1974 did the same and led the classification twice.

In the mid-1960s, the organizer of the Vuelta, El Correo Español/El Pueblo Vasco, went through some financial difficulties that put the competition in jeopardy. However, all the editions ended up being played in the normal way. In 1968 the Vuelta was affected by a terrorist attack and other demonstrations and the fifteenth stage had to be cancelled. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

1970-1980

The 1970s began with the triumph of Luis Ocaña, who was already consolidated in the international peloton as one of the great figures of cycling.

José Manuel Fuente, with his victories in 1972 and 1974, became the third cyclist to win two Vueltas a España. A few years later, Bernard Hinault repeated the feat, something Pedro Delgado also accomplished during the 1980s.

Team Kas in the 70s innovated in modern cycling with its way of running. Cyclists like Domingo Perurena, Miguel María Lasa, Vicente López Carril, José Pérez Francés, José Pesarrodona and many others cheered up the race with their yellows and blues.

El Super Ser was another Spanish team from that time. Agustín Tamames and Luis Ocaña led the team.

In 1973 the Belgian Eddy Merckx managed to win the Vuelta and he did it in an overwhelming way, winning six stages and all the individual classifications with the exception of the mountains, in which he finished second. Over time, it was the only time in the entire history of the Vuelta that there were three Tour de France winners on the podium: Eddy Merckx, Luis Ocaña and Bernard Thévenet.

Freddy Maertens repeated in 1977 a dominance similar to that shown by Merckx a few years before, winning thirteen stages and the rest of the individual classifications except for the one in the mountains. Andrés Oliva also managed to win the mountains classification in three editions of the Vuelta in the mid-1970s.

Spain saw the birth of Bernard Hinault in 1978 as a star of international cycling. Hinault won his first Tour de France that same year. It was also necessary to suspend the last stage of that edition, due to riots and barricades that prevented its normal course.

In 1979 El Correo Español/El Pueblo Vasco stopped sponsoring the Spanish round, which was once again in danger of disappearing. However, the company Unipublic (which continues to organize the different editions of the Vuelta today) with the support of the city of Jerez de la Frontera, took over the competition. This fact, together with an increase in advertising and television broadcasts, further increased the level of the Vuelta.

1980-1990

It was the most popular time of the Tour of Spain. At the beginning of the 1980s, two names stood out in the supplementary classifications: José Luis Laguía, who would win five times in the mountains classification, and Sean Kelly, who won four times in the points classification and the general classification in 1988.

In 1982 the first case of dispossession of the title due to doping occurred. Two days after the end of the competition, Ángel Arroyo —along with a few other cyclists— was disqualified and lost his victory in favor of Marino Lejarreta. Despite the request for a counter-analysis, it came back positive.

The following year's edition marked the first appearance of the Covadonga Lakes at the end of a stage, an ascent that would become, over the years, the most emblematic climb of the Tour of Spain. In 1984, the edition that ended with the smallest difference between the first and second place was played. Eric Caritoux, a complete unknown until then, managed to win the Vuelta with just six seconds ahead of Alberto Fernández, second classified, who would die in December of that same year in a traffic accident and in whose honor the organization of the Vuelta decided to From the following edition onwards, the summit of the race will be baptized as the Cima Alberto Fernández in homage to this great cyclist.

From 1985 and until a little after the end of the 80s, a boom in Colombian cycling was observed (with the permission of Álvaro Pino in 1986), which presented a strong dominance, especially in the mountain stages. Names like Francisco Rodríguez (third in 1985) or Oscar de Jesús Vargas, third in 1989, are beginning to gain strength. However, the leaders of Colombian cycling were Lucho Herrera, winner of the race, the mountain classification and several partials in 1987, and Fabio Parra (2nd in 1989), winner of the novice classification in 85, 5th on four other occasions and winner of some stages. Despite the outstanding role of the Colombians, the main dominator of the lap at that time was Pedro Delgado with two victories (1985 and 1989), a second place and two third places.

Note that during this decade there were good domestiques and good runners to remember, such as Federico Echave, Iñaqui Gastón, Julián Gorospe, Vicente Belda, Alberto Fernández, Raymon Dietzen, Blanco Villar, Pepe Recio, Eduardo Chozas, Marino Lejarreta, and Enrique Aja; and teams like Teka, Dormilón, Huesitos, Reynolds, Bh, and Orbea, which during those years raced on Spanish roads.

1990-2000

The first half of the 1990s was marked by the dominance of the Swiss Tony Rominger, the first cyclist to win the race three times in a row, between 1992 and 1994. In 1993 Tony Rominger won the individual classifications. In those 1990s, La Vuelta could count on the potential of two of the best Spanish teams that have ever existed: La Once and Banesto, with outstanding teams of good national and international riders. Clas Cajastur can also be highlighted, which was later absorbed and ended up being Mapei.

The fiftieth edition of the Vuelta, held in 1995, coincided with the change of dates. The Tour of Spain began to be held in September, near the end of the season. That year, Laurent Jalabert managed to win in all the classifications, something that no one else has achieved in the Spanish round. The Frenchman was also a four-time winner of the points classification, equaling the record set by Kelly in the 1980s.

The next two years would be dominated by another Swiss, Alex Zülle, who still holds the record for having donned the most yellow jerseys to date (48).

In 1997, the Vuelta began for the first time in a foreign country. He did it in Lisbon, on the occasion of Expo & # 39; 98.

The ascent to Alto de l'Angliru is part of a stage for the first time in 1999, with the triumph of José María Jiménez, four times winner of the mountain classification. The fame of the pass grew rapidly because of its hardness and the spectacularity of the climb. As of this edition, the gold jersey was introduced to identify the leader of the general classification. The winner, the German Jan Ullrich, was the first to win it.

2000-2010

Spain in Malaga

The first editions of the 2000s were marked by the dominance of Roberto Heras, who also managed to win three times, and even in 2005 he did so for the fourth time. However, and as was the case with Ángel Arroyo in 1982, he was disqualified days after the end of the competition when he failed an anti-doping control, this time for EPO use. Said positive was ratified days later by counter-analysis and Roberto Heras was stripped of his fourth title, for the benefit of Russian Denís Menshov.

On June 24, 2011, the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León annulled the sanction for doping imposed on February 7, 2006 and issued by the National Committee for Competition and Sports Discipline of the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation, leaving The door was open to the recovery of the title of the Vuelta a España 2005 for Roberto Heras.

On December 21, 2012, the Supreme Court of Justice confirmed the annulment of the penalty for the Bejarano broker for a series of irregularities in the practice of analysis, including the fact that the samples were delivered almost 40 hours later, at room temperature, by person or company that was unknown, with which Roberto Heras reappears in the list of winners of the Vuelta a España as the winner of the 2005 edition, being also the only cyclist to have won this race in four editions.

In 2006, and after a hard battle with the then leader of the UCI Pro Tour, Alejandro Valverde from Murcia, the Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov emerged as the winner. In the 2007 edition, Denís Menshov once again won the overall victory followed, more than three minutes later, by the Spanish Carlos Sastre and Samuel Sánchez. In 2008, the winner was Alberto Contador from Madrid, winner of the Giro d'Italia that same year, thus becoming the first Spaniard to win all three Grand Tours. In 2009, the Vuelta started in Drenthe, the Netherlands, passing through Belgium and Germany. The final winner was the Murcian Alejandro Valverde, who adopted a conservative stance without winning any stage and sprinting in the final meters to get bonuses. His main rivals were Samuel Sánchez (second classified), Cadel Evans (third), Ivan Basso, Robert Gesink and Ezequiel Mosquera. All of them suffered decisive crashes or untimely punctures like the one suffered by Evans in Monachil, which paved Valverde's conquest of the last gold jersey.

The 2010 edition witnessed the reinstatement of the red jersey, which went to Vincenzo Nibali after winning his duel with Ezequiel Mosquera after the fall of Igor Antón, in a year in which the World Ball was raised for the first time.

2010-2020

The editions after 2010 brought a change in the Vuelta model. The endings with stops or explosive climbs increased, raising the interest of the spectators at the cost of reducing the intermediate hardness, which was not so great up to that moment. In addition, the color of the leader's jersey was changed, which from then on was the red jersey.

Thus, figures such as Christopher Froome, Vincenzo Nibali, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Joaquim Rodríguez, Nairo Quintana, Fabio Aru and Bradley Wiggins contributed to internationalize the Vuelta. Despite not as many large ports being promoted as in the transalpine country, the Vuelta ranks as the second race in participation by top figures of the three big ones. It was due to the fact that the runners could run the Tour and the Vuelta as they were run by the same organizers: Amaury Sport Organization, and offered a favorable route for it: little global hardness but many high finishes. It should be noted that the organization improved the routes looking for new endings with routes through very interesting secondary roads. Thanks to this desire to improve the routes, new ports or stops were included, such as La Camperona, Ancares, Santuario de la Virgen de Alba, Jitu de Escarandi, Mas de Costas, or La Zubia, all of them ending at the top except Ancares.

Apart from the audience success, this decade brought the disappearance of cycling teams like Euskatel. The panorama of Spanish sponsors was notably complicated and there are hardly any local teams. Many cyclists cannot find equipment in Spain.

The last two editions of the decade saw the confirmation of the Slovenian Primož Roglič (winner in 2019 and 2020) and the appearance of his young compatriot Tadej Pogačar (third in the 2019 Tour and winner of the 2020 and 2021 Tour). On the other hand, the 2020 Vuelta was marked by COVID-19, which forced the race to be delayed until autumn. From an organizational point of view, despite the minimal public presence on the roads due to the pandemic, the race was completed satisfactorily, and no cases of infection were recorded among the participating cyclists.

• 2010. The victory was for Vicenzo Nibali. Great Vuelta cheerleader in recent years. Pundonor and strategist runner, and very skillful with the bike.

• 2011. He won the Cobo Bell at a mythical stage at the Angliru. They accompanied him in the podium Wiggins and Froome, not being able to double the Spanish. The Farrapona, the Covatilla, and Peña Cabarga stopped beautiful stages of cycling. Later, in 2019, Cobo was dispossessed of his title by demonstrating that he had made use of doping substances so Froome became the winner of this edition.

• 2012. La Vuelta went to Contador thanks to the stage of Fuente Dé. Joaquín Rodríguez, a great animator, could not with the Pinto corridor. They highlighted the stages of the Black Cuit and the Ball of the World, with great deniveles.

• 2013. The turn was won by Horner, the oldest racer until then to win a Spin. At the Angliru stage the American imposed Nibali on a titanic duel.

• 2014. The victory was for Alberto Contador, who scored his third return to Spain, approaching the record of Roberto Heras. This edition was the frame of the duel between Froome and Contador on the ramps of the port of Los Ancares.

• 2015. La Vuelta was for Fabio Aru, who imposed Tom Dumoulin on the stage of the Sierra de Guadarrama. La Vuelta was full of emotion where she highlighted the stage of Andorra in which Froome reached the finish with a broken foot phalange.

• 2016. This year's Round brought new show and tours of great beauty. The stage of Urdax was one of the most outstanding next to the one that ended in the Aubisque, mythical summit of the Tour de France. The final victory for Nairo Quintana, second Froome and third Chaves. It was a beautiful edition with final brooch at the Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid.
  Contador, Quintana and Aru should be highlighted as protagonists, in stages with softer ends, as in the absence of extreme hardness stages of their own for climbers of great resistance, runners such as Alberto Contador or Fabio Aru had to perform far-off attacks to try to win the race. Contador won the 2012 edition after attacking 50 km of goal in Colláu Joz (2nd category), and Aru the 2015 edition after attacking 55 km of goal in La Morcuera (1.a category). And in the 2016 edition, again Contador attacked to reach the podium (finally, he obtained the fourth place in the individual classification of this round), together with Nairo Quintana, after attacking a few kilometers after the exit of stage 15, more than 110 km from the finish.

• 2017. La Vuelta a España began in Nimes, France. After three stages in French territory the race entered Andorra to arrive in Spain. Already from the beginning Froome took the red jersey without great differences. After the counterreloj of La Rioja, which won Froome, La Vuelta left two beautiful stages to stand out: Los Machucos and El Angliru, where Alberto Contador won, putting a big final punch to his career. Froome took La General, and Nibali and Zakarin accompanied him in the podium of La Cibeles.

• 2018. This edition began in Malaga, from where the Andalusian coast went to Almeria, to go north with mountain stages in Salamanca, Asturias and Pyrenees. The English cyclist Simon Yates made himself with the leadership at the mountain stage that ended in La Covatilla, to lose him three days later and recover him definitively in Las Praderas. At the end of the race in Madrid, he was accompanied by the Spanish Enric Mas (a 1m:46s) and the Colombian Miguel Ángel López (a 2m:04).

• 2019. This year, the tour began in Torrevieja, to go to the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian mountain range, and end after a half-mounted day in the surroundings of Madrid. On this occasion, the Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič imposed his dominion on the tenth stage, a 36 km counterreloj disputed on French soil, allowing him to control the race until the final goal on the Paseo de la Castellena de Madrid. The pódium was completed by Spanish Alejandro Valverde and also Slovenian Tadej Pogačar.

• 2020. The return of this year, like the Tour and the Giro, was marked by the incidence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which after a few months of uncertainty, forced to hold the test between October 20 and November 8, overlapping with the Giro. This circumstance gave an unprecedented autumnal landscape to the race, which was favored by a rather benign climate. The test was marked by the closed struggle between the winner of the 2019 edition, the Slovenian Primož Roglič, and the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, who alternated in the lead of the test up to the 33 km chronometre disputed in Muros with a hard final climb, in which the Slovenian achieved a difference over its sufficient rival to maintain the red leotard despite the last attacks of the evocation. Finally, Roglič was imposed in Madrid, with Carapaz in second position (at 24s) and the British Hugh Carthy (at 1m:15s) in third position.

Departures and arrivals

Since 2009, arrivals in Madrid have been made in Plaza de Cibeles, and not in Plaza de Lima as was the case just before.

Year	Departure	Arrival
1935	Madrid	Madrid
1936	Madrid	Madrid
1937-1940	Editions suspended by the Spanish Civil War
1941	Madrid	Madrid
1942	Madrid	Madrid
1943-1944	Editions suspended by World War II
1945	Madrid	Madrid
1946	Madrid	Madrid
1947	Madrid	Madrid
1948	Madrid	Madrid
1949	Edition suspended
1950	Madrid	Madrid
1951-1954	Editions suspended
1955	Bilbao	Bilbao
1956	Bilbao	Bilbao
1957	Bilbao	Bilbao
1958	Bilbao	Madrid
1959	Madrid	Bilbao
1960	Gijón	Bilbao
1961	San Sebastián	Bilbao
1962	Barcelona	Bilbao
1963	Gijón	Madrid
1964	Benidorm	Madrid
1965	Vigo	Bilbao
1966	Murcia	Bilbao
1967	Vigo	Bilbao
1968	Zaragoza	Bilbao
1969	Badajoz	Bilbao
1970	Cadiz	Bilbao
1971	Almería	Madrid
1972	Fuengirola	San Sebastián
1973	Calpe	San Sebastián
1974	Almería	San Sebastián
1975	Fuengirola	San Sebastián
1976	Estepona	San Sebastián
1977	Dehesa de Campoamor	Miranda de Ebro
1978	Gijón	San Sebastián
1979	Jerez de la Frontera	Madrid
1980	The Manga	Madrid
1981	Santander	Madrid
1982	Santiago de Compostela	Madrid
1983	Almusafes	Madrid
1984	Jerez de la Frontera	Madrid
1985	Valladolid	Salamanca
1986	Palma de Mallorca	Jerez de la Frontera
1987	Benidorm	Madrid
1988	Santa Cruz de Tenerife	Madrid
1989	The Coruña	Madrid
1990	Benicasim	Madrid
1991	Merida	Madrid
1992	Jerez de la Frontera	Madrid
1993	The Coruña	Santiago de Compostela
1994	Valladolid	Madrid
1995	Zaragoza	Madrid
1996	Valencia	Madrid
1997	Lisbon	Madrid
1998	Córdoba	Madrid
1999	Murcia	Madrid
2000	Malaga	Madrid
2001	Salamanca	Madrid
2002	Valencia	Madrid
2003	Gijón	Madrid
2004	León	Madrid
2005	Grenada	Madrid
2006	Malaga	Madrid
2007	Vigo	Madrid
2008	Grenada	Madrid
2009	Assen (TT circuit Assen)	Madrid
2010	Sevilla	Madrid
2011	Benidorm	Madrid
2012	Pamplona	Madrid
2013	Villanueva de Arosa	Madrid
2014	Jerez de la Frontera	Santiago de Compostela
2015	Costa del Sol, Puerto Banus	Madrid
2016	Cenlle (Balneario de Laias)	Madrid
2017	Nimes	Madrid
2018	Malaga (Pompidou Museum)	Madrid
2019	Torrevieja (Salinas de Torrevieja)	Madrid
2020	Irún	Madrid
2021	Burgos	Santiago de Compostela
2022	Utrecht	Madrid
2023	Barcelona	Madrid

Vuelta y Tour Winners

The club is small: Jacques Anquetil, Jan Janssen, Felice Gimondi, Roger Pingeon, Luis Ocaña, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Joop Zoetemelk, Pedro Delgado, Jan Ullrich, Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Christopher Froome.

Leader's jerseys

To facilitate the recognition of the leader in the race, he usually wears a jersey with a certain color, as in the Tour de France (yellow jersey) and in the Giro d'Italia (pink jersey). The leader's jersey of the Vuelta a España has not always been the same colour. There were several suspensions of the race and the different organizers who rescued it chose their colors. It started out orange (1935 and 36), then white (1941), orange again (1942), it was even red when the race was picked up by Diario Ya in 1945, although it later changed to white with a horizontal stripe until 1950. In 1955, El Correo revived the Vuelta and chose yellow as the distinction for the first classified of the test, similar to the one used in the Tour de France. Except for the year 1977, in which the color was orange, the yellow jersey remained until 1998 and from 1999 to 2009 it became gold. Since the 2010 edition, the red jersey was established, and the leader's jersey, as well as the pants and the helmet, are red.

Years	Color of the Maillot
1935-1936
1941
1942
1945
1946-1948
1950
1955-1976
1977
1978-1998
1999-2009
2010-

The leaders of the different supplementary classifications have also worn identifying jerseys since 1950 (previously, even though there was an official mountain classification, the leader of the same was not distinguished). The blue color was for a long time associated with the leader of the points classification and the green color with the leader of the mountain classification (in some editions its coloration was red or maroon). The color red was associated for many years with the leadership in the classification of flying goals. Other classifications that have existed during the Spanish round, such as the special sprints or the combined, had different jerseys depending on the edition. From 1994 to 2009 (both inclusive), the regularity (or points) jersey became a maroon hue, while the mountain jersey became white.

The other leaders of the other classifications from the 2010 edition are exactly the same as those of the Tour de France (except the one in the mountains, which has blue polka dots instead of red) to avoid confusion for non-expert fans in cycling.

current leotards.

• From the 2010 edition to the present:
  • Maillot and red trousers is the garment covered by the leader of the classification of the individual general of La Vuelta to Spain at that time.
  • Blue Point Maillot distinguishes the leader of the Mountain Classification
  • Green Maillot identifies the leader of the Points Classification.
  • White Maillot identifies the leader of the combined ranking until 2018, in 2019 becomes the best youngest.

Another differentiating characteristic compared to other Grand Tours is that there was no classification for young people until the 2019 edition and instead the combined classification was used, which takes into account the positions of the riders in the general classification, the classification by points and that of the mountain. In 2019 the combined classification disappears and the white jersey comes to represent the best youngster.

Praise and criticism of current tours

Many high finishes but little overall hardness

Praise for the route model of the Vuelta has focused on the fact that "something happens every day", due to the development of stage routes with some kind of incentive, so that too many days go by without some sort of activity taking place among the race favourites.

Criticism focuses on the proliferation of high finishes, which are argued to prevent long-range attacks because attacking a few kilometers each day without risk is worth saving time; as well as the lack of time trials (a trend that other Grand Tours are also adopting), which forces climbers to attack in the mountains; and the lack of inclusion of mountain passes of similar hardness to those of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, make the tour a minor race. The absence of special category passes that could break the race far from the finish line, since in the 2012 Vuelta there was one (San Lorenzo) and in the 2012 Giro d'Italia and the 2012 Tour de France there were seven and six, respectively, in each one. In fact, the < i>“special passages” of Gavia and Mortirolo (in the Giro d'Italia) or Aubisque, Tourmalet and Galibier (in the Tour de France) while in the Vuelta there are no known ports of these characteristics due to which are almost always used as “high end”, and the highest port of the race is almost always “high end”. In addition, the “queen stage” is located in the last days, so there is no need to risk long-range attacks until after that stage due to the few differences and after that there are hardly any opportunities to do so. All this means that all the stages have a similar development and that the differences are minimal, equating their development to many one-week races.

It is significant that historically the Tour of Spain is the less harsh Grand Tour, when the highest road in Europe is located in Spain (Pico Veleta at 3367 m s. n. m.< /span>, with multiple slopes and ports to access it) and is one of the highest countries in Europe with an average of 650 meters, only behind Switzerland, Andorra, Austria and Liechtenstein with the difference that they do not there is a coast (usually at 0 m s. n. m.). The most significant example is that it can go from 0 meters above sea level on the Almería Coast to more than 2,000 meters above sea level in the Sierra de Los Filabres in less than 50 km.

Ports above 2000 masl

Because the criteria for classifying a port as a special category is subjective, this table shows the ports/highs with more than 2000 masl in the Iberian Peninsula of Spain -islands are omitted for logistical reasons- and the times that have been passed in the Vuelta a España to demonstrate the scarce use of ports of these characteristics, normally with more than 1 hour of ascent, in the Spanish round.

Puerto	Geographical location	Maximum height (m. n. m.)	No. Of times promoted	First year ascension	Last year ascension	Catalogue	Passport?
Pico Veleta	Sierra Nevada (province of Granada)	3367	0	-	-	-
Sierra Nevada	Sierra Nevada (province of Almería and province of Granada)	2520	13	1979	2017	1.a/Special	(by the slope of Pradollano-Hoya de la Mora)
Ball of the World	Sierra de Guadarrama (Province of Segovia, Community of Madrid)	2257	2	2010	2012	Special
Calar Alto	Sierra de los Filabres (Almeria province)	2155	4	2004	2017	1.a/Special
Vallter 2000	Catalan Pyrenees (Gerona Province)	2151	0	-	-	1.a/Special (in the Volta to Catalonia)
Pal	Catalan Pyrenees (Barcelona Province)	2104	0			1.a (in the Volta to Catalonia)/Special (in Catalan Week)
Thetica de Bacares	Sierra de los Filabres (Almeria province)	2078	0	-	-	-
The Bonaigua	Catalan Pyrenees (Lérida Province)	2072	▪10	1980	2013	1. a
The Ragua	Sierra Nevada (province of Granada)	2041	2	1997	2009	1. a
Listen.	Sierra de Baza (province of Almería and province of Granada)	2036	1	2011	2011	1. a
Boí Taüll	Catalan Pyrenees (Lérida Province)	2031	0	-	-	1.a (in the Volta to Catalonia)

The introduction of Alto de l'Angliru

In 1996, the Asturian and information director of ONCE, Miguel Prieto, after visiting El Gamonal, contacted the organizing company of the Vuelta Ciclista a España (Unipublic) proposing said ascent as the end of the stage. This proposal did not fall on deaf ears, as La Vuelta was looking for a final stage of the same renown, resonance and hardness as was the ascent to the Lakes of Covadonga. In 1997 the Riosa City Council fixed the road and in 1999 it was the end of the stage for the first time. Along with the aforementioned Lakes and Sierra Nevada, this pass became one of the traditional Spanish high-end finishes of the Spanish round, as it is usually ascended every 3 or 4 years.

To learn more about this stage, see Alto de l'Angliru

Honours of Prizes

Year	Winner	Second	Third
1935	Gustaaf Deloor	Mariano Cañardo	Antoine Dignef
1936	Gustaaf Deloor	Alfons Deloor	Antonio Bertola
1937-1940 issues suspended by the Spanish Civil War
1941	Julián Berrendero	Fermin Trueba	José Jabardo
1942	Julián Berrendero	Diego Cháfer	Francisco Antonio Andrés
1943-1944 editions suspended by the Second World War
1945	Delio Rodríguez	Julián Berrendero	Juan Gimeno
1946	Dalmacio Langarica	Julián Berrendero	Jan Lambrichs
1947	Edward van Dijck	Manuel Costa	Delio Rodríguez
1948	Bernardo Ruiz	Emilio Rodríguez Barros	Bernardo Capó
1949 suspended edition
1950	Emilio Rodríguez Barros	Manuel Rodríguez Barros	José Serra Gil
1951-1954 suspended editions
1955	Jean Dotto	Antonio Jiménez Quiles	Raphaël Géminiani
1956	Angelo Conterno	Jesus Loroño	Raymond Impanis
1957	Jesus Loroño	Federico Martín Bahamontes	Bernardo Ruiz
1958	Jean Stablinski	Pasquale Fornara	Fernando Manzaneque
1959	Antonio Suárez	José Segú	Rik Van Looy
1960	Frans De Mulder	Armand Desmet	Miguel Pacheco
1961	Angelino Soler	François Mahé	José Pérez Francés
1962	Rudi Altig	José Pérez Francés	Seamus Elliott
1963	Jacques Anquetil	José Martín Colmenarejo	Miguel Pacheco
1964	Raymond Poulidor	Luis Otaño	José Pérez Francés
1965	Rolf Wolfshohl	Raymond Poulidor	Rik Van Looy
1966	Patxi Gabica	Eusebio Vélez	Carlos Echeverría
1967	Jan Jan Janssen	Jean Pierre Ducasse	Aurelio González Puente
1968	Felice Gimondi	José Pérez Francés	Eusebio Vélez
1969	Roger Pingeon	Luis Ocaña	Marinus Wagtmans
1970	Luis Ocaña	Augustine Tamames	Herman Van Springel
1971	Ferdinand Bracke	Wilfried David	Luis Ocaña
1972	José Manuel Fuente	Miguel María Lasa	Augustine Tamames
1973	Eddy Merckx	Luis Ocaña	Bernard Thévenet
1974	José Manuel Fuente	Joaquim Agostinho	Miguel María Lasa
1975	Augustine Tamames	Txomin Perurena	Miguel María Lasa
1976	José Pesarrodona	Luis Ocaña	José Nazabal
1977	Freddy Maertens	Miguel María Lasa	Klaus-Peter Thaler
1978	Bernard Hinault	José Pesarrodona	Jean-René Bernaudeau
1979	Joop Zoetemelk	Francisco Galdós	Michel Pollentier
1980	Faustino Rupérez	Pedro Torres Cruces	Claude Criquielion
1981	Giovanni Battaglin	Pedro Muñoz Machín	Vicente Belda
1982	Marino Lejarreta	Michel Pollentier	Sven-Åke Nilsson
1983	Bernard Hinault	Marino Lejarreta	Alberto Fernández Blanco
1984	Éric Caritoux	Alberto Fernández Blanco	Reimund Dietzen
1985	Pedro Delgado	Robert Millar	Pacho Rodríguez
1986	Alvaro Pino	Robert Millar	Sean Kelly.
1987	Lucho Herrera	Reimund Dietzen	Laurent Fignon
1988	Sean Kelly.	Reimund Dietzen	Anselmo Fuerte
1989	Pedro Delgado	Fabio Parra	Oscar de Jesús Vargas
1990	Marco Giovannetti	Pedro Delgado	Anselmo Fuerte
1991	Melcior Mauri	Miguel Induráin	Marino Lejarreta
1992	Tony Rominger	Jesus Montoya	Pedro Delgado
1993	Tony Rominger	Alex Zülle	Laudelino Cubino
1994	Tony Rominger	Mikel Zarrabeitia	Pedro Delgado
1995	Laurent Jalabert	Abraham Olano	Johan Bruyneel
1996	Alex Zülle	Laurent Dufaux	Tony Rominger
1997	Alex Zülle	Fernando Escartín	Laurent Dufaux
1998	Abraham Olano	Fernando Escartín	José María Jiménez
1999	Jan Ullrich	Igor González de Galdeano	Roberto Heras
2000	Roberto Heras	Angel Casero	Pável Tonkov
2001	Angel Casero	Óscar Sevilla
2002	Aitor González	Roberto Heras	Joseba Beloki
2003	Roberto Heras	Isidro Nozal	Alejandro Valverde
2004	Roberto Heras	Santi Pérez	Paco Mancebo
2005	Roberto Heras	Denís Menshov	Carlos Sastre
2006	Alekszandr Vinokurov	Alejandro Valverde	Andréi Kashechkin
2007	Denís Menshov	Carlos Sastre	Samuel Sánchez
2008	Alberto Contador	Levi Leipheimer	Carlos Sastre
2009	Alejandro Valverde	Samuel Sánchez	Cadel Evans
2010	Vincenzo Nibali	Peter Velits	Joaquim Rodríguez
2011	Chris Froome	Bradley Wiggins	Bauke Mollema
2012	Alberto Contador	Alejandro Valverde	Joaquim Rodríguez
2013	Chris Horner	Vincenzo Nibali	Alejandro Valverde
2014	Alberto Contador	Chris Froome	Alejandro Valverde
2015	Fabio Aru	Joaquim Rodríguez	Rafał Majka
2016	Nairo Quintana	Chris Froome	Esteban Chaves
2017	Chris Froome	Vincenzo Nibali	Ilnur Zakarin
2018	Simon Yates	Enric Mas	Miguel Ángel López
2019	Primož Roglič	Alejandro Valverde	Tadej Pogačar
2020	Primož Roglič	Richard Carapaz	Hugh Carthy
2021	Primož Roglič	Enric Mas	Jack Haig
2022	Event	Enric Mas	Juan Ayuso
2023

Notes:

• In the return to Spain 2001 the corridor Levi Leipheimer was initially third, but due to the sanction imposed in 2012 by doping practices related to the case of the cyclist Lance Armstrong, the results obtained by Leipheimer between 1 January 1999 and 30 July 2006 and between 7 July 2007 and 27 July 2007 were annulled.
• In the Round to Spain 2005 a controversy was presented by which the title of winner was withdrawn to Roberto Heras in favor of Russian Denis Menchov, but after a favorable appeal to Heras for anomalies in the process of handling the samples, the title was finally returned to him (See: Polemic Doping).
• In the Return to Spain 2010, Ezequiel Mosquera was initially second but due to an alleged case of doping, the ICU, after taking the case to the TAS, annulled him this and other results of that year. Finally, the National Court absolved the cyclist and should have recovered those results, but the ICU kept them invalid.
• In the return to Spain 2011 the Juanjo Cobo was initially the winner, but in June 2019 he was dispossessed of his triumph in this edition due to a problem with his biological passport between 2009 and 2011. The winning title was awarded to British cyclist Chris Froome, who initially finished as second classified in that edition.

Other classifications and statistical data

• For the winners of the secondary classifications, see Winners of the Vuelta classifications to Spain
• For statistical data, see Statistical data of the Return to Spain

Human prizes and participation by country

Podiums

• Updated to the 2022 edition.

Country	Victorias	2.o place	3.o place	Total	Last winner
SpainSpain	32	54	39	125	Alberto Contador in 2014
France	9	3	4	16	Laurent Jalabert in 1995
BelgiumBelgium	8	4	8	20	Evenepoel in 2022
ItalyItaly	6	3	1	10	Fabio Aru in 2015
SwitzerlandSwitzerland	5	2	2	9	Alex Zülle in 1997
United KingdomUnited Kingdom	3	5	1	9	Simon Yates in 2018
GermanyGermany	3	2	2	7	Jan Ullrich in 1999
SloveniaSlovenia	3	0	1	4	Primož Roglič in 2021
ColombiaColombia	2	1	4	7	Nairo Quintana in 2016
NetherlandsNetherlands	2	0	3	5	Joop Zoetemelk in 1979
Russia Russia	1	1	2	4	Denís Menshov in 2007
United States	1	1	0	2	Chris Horner in 2013
Ireland	1	0	2	3	Sean Kelly in 1988
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan	1	0	1	2	Aleksandr Vinokúrov in 2006
Portugal	0	1	0	1	-
EcuadorEcuador	0	1	0	1	-
Australia	0	0	2	2	-
Slovakia Slovakia	0	0	1	1	-
PolandPoland	0	0	1	1	-
Sweden Sweden	0	0	1	1	-

Participants

• Updated to the 2020 edition.

No part.	Country (year of first participation)
75	SpainSpain (1935)
70	BelgiumBelgium (1935)
67	France (1935)
66	ItalyItaly (1935)
63	NetherlandsNetherlands (1935)
54	GermanyGermany (1955)
50	Portugal (1945)
45	SwitzerlandSwitzerland (1935)
42	United KingdomUnited Kingdom (1955)
39	ColombiaColombia (1974)
35	DenmarkDenmark (1972) Australia (1975)
34	Russia Russia (1985))
33	AustriaAustria (1935)
31	LuxembourgLuxembourg (1960)
30	United States (1977)
26	PolandPoland (1986)
24	Ireland (1962) Kazakhstan Kazakhstan (1992)
23	Ukraine Ukraine (1992)
22	SloveniaSlovenia (1988)
21	Norway Norway (1981) Sweden Sweden (1982)
19	Czech RepublicCzech Republic (1993)
15	CanadaCanada (1993) South Africa (1999)
14	New ZealandNew Zealand (1980) BelarusBelarus (2001)
12	LithuaniaLithuania (1992) Slovakia Slovakia (2000)
11	EstoniaEstonia (1996) LatviaLatvia (1992)
9	FinlandFinland (1998)
8	EritreaEritrea (2012)
7	BrazilBrazil (1990) UzbekistanUzbekistan (1992) MoldovaMoldova (1998) Argentina (2002) CroatiaCroatia (2002)
5	Mexico Mexico (1988) JapanJapan (2011)
4	Venezuela Venezuela (1995) Costa RicaCosta Rica (2014) EthiopiaEthiopia (2015)
3	HungaryHungary (2004) EcuadorEcuador (2017)
2	Uruguay Uruguay (1980) GuatemalaGuatemala (1997) AlgeriaAlgeria (2015)
1	German Democratic Republic (1990) AngolaAngola (1991) GeorgiaGeorgia (1993) SerbiaSerbia (2002) CuracaoCuracao (2011) BulgariaBulgaria (2012) ChinaChina (2012) NamibiaNamibia (2014) MoroccoMorocco (2017) IsraelIsrael (2020)

Statistics

Most overall wins

Cycling	Victorias	Years
Roberto Heras	4	2000, 2003, 2005
Tony Rominger	3	1992, 1993
Alberto Contador	3	2008, 2012, 2014
Primož Roglič	3	2019, 2020, 2021
Gustaaf Deloor	2	1935, 1936
Julián Berrendero	2	1941, 1942
José Manuel Fuente	2	1972, 1974
Bernard Hinault	2	1978, 1983
Pedro Delgado	2	1985, 1989
Alex Zülle	2	1996, 1997
Chris Froome	2	2011, 2017

Consecutive wins

• Three victories in a row:
  • Tony Rominger (1992, 1993, 1994)
  • Roberto Heras (2003, 2004, 2005)
  • Primož Roglič (2019, 2020, 2021)
• Two victories in a row:
  • Gustaaf Deloor (1935, 1936)
  • Julián Berrendero (1941, 1942)
  • Alex Zülle (1996, 1997)

More podiums

Cycling	1.o	2.	3.o	Total
Alejandro Valverde	1	3	3	7
Roberto Heras	4	1	1	6
Pedro Delgado	2	1	2	5
Luis Ocaña	1	3	1	5
Tony Rominger	3	0	1	4
Julián Berrendero	2	2	0	4
Chris Froome	2	2	0	4
José Pérez-Francés	0	2	2	4
Miguel María Lasa	0	2	2	4
Alberto Contador	3	0	0	3
Primož Roglič	3	0	0	3
Alex Zülle	2	1	0	3
Vincenzo Nibali	1	2	0	3
Augustine Tamames	1	1	1	3
Marino Lejarreta	1	1	1	3
Reimund Dietzen	0	2	1	3
Carlos Sastre	0	1	2	3
Enric Mas	0	3	0	3

Most stage wins

• Updated to 2022

Cycling Stapas Delio Rodríguez 39 Alessandro Petacchi 20 Rik Van Looy 18 Laurent Jalabert 18 Sean Kelly. 16 Gerben Karstens 14 Freddy Maertens 13 Tony Rominger 13 Txomin Perurena 12 Marcel Wüst 12 Alejandro Valverde 12

Cycling Stapas Julián Berrendero 11 Augustine Tamames 11 Roberto Heras 10 Eddy Planckaert 10 John Degenkolb 10 Primož Roglič 10 Eddy Peelman 9 Mathieu Hermans 9 Jean Paul Van Poppel 9 Alex Zülle 9 José María Jiménez 9

Cycling Stapas Joaquim Rodríguez 9 Miguel Gual 8 Dalmacio Langarica 8 Erik Zabel 8 Ramón Sáez 7 Antón Barrutia 7 Bernard Hinault 7 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov 7 Nicola Minali 7 Óscar Freire 7 Philippe Gilbert 7

Most Time Trial Stage Wins

Cycling Stapas Melchor Mauri 6 Tony Rominger 6 Alex Zülle 6 Abraham Olano 6 Raymond Poulidor 4 Primož Roglič 4

Cycling Stapas Luis Ocaña 3 René Pijnen 3 Eddy Merckx 3 Bernard Hinault 3 Peio Ruiz Cabestany 3 David Millar 3

Country stage victories

Riders from 34 countries have managed to claim one or more stage victories.

• Updated to 2022

Country Stapas SpainSpain 561 BelgiumBelgium 227 ItalyItaly 190 France 127 NetherlandsNetherlands 117 GermanyGermany 72 ColombiaColombia 37 SwitzerlandSwitzerland 32 United KingdomUnited Kingdom 31

Country Stapas Ireland 28 DenmarkDenmark 24 Russia Russia 22 Australia 19 United States 16 SloveniaSlovenia 15 Portugal 11 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 8 UzbekistanUzbekistan 7

Country Stapas Czech RepublicCzech Republic 6 Soviet Union 5 Norway Norway 5 Slovakia Slovakia 5 LuxembourgLuxembourg 5 PolandPoland 5 CanadaCanada 4 AustriaAustria 3 EstoniaEstonia 3

Country Stapas South Africa 3 EcuadorEcuador 3 Ukraine Ukraine 2 Sweden Sweden 2 BelarusBelarus 2 Venezuela Venezuela 1 New ZealandNew Zealand 1 Argentina 1

Stage victories by country and edition

• Updated to 2022

Phase-by-country victories and editions
Year
1935	4	7	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1936	11	8	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1941	22	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1942	13	-	3	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1945	17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1946	19	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1947	17	2	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1948	15	4	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1950	17	3	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1955	4	-	9	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1956	4	6	3	5	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1957	7	2	3	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1958	5	8	3	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1959	9	4	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1960	10	7	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1961	10	3	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962	3	-	2	7	1	3	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1963	6	5	-	4	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1964	7	8	-	1	1	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1965	7	9	-	3	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1966	10	-	3	-	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1967	5	2	-	2	9	1	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1968	8	1	3	-	2	3	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1969	11	3	3	2	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1970	8	8	-	1	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1971	3	8	-	2	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1972	12	2	-	-	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1973	3	13	-	2	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	10	8	-	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1975	10	4	6	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1976	3	6	-	-	5	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1977	4	14	1	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978	6	6	1	5	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1979	6	10	-	1	4	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1980	7	1	3	1	1	2	-	-	-	5	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1981	12	-	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	11	7	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
1983	9	3	3	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1984	5	10	4	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1985	8	3	1	-	1	-	3	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	9	2	-	6	-	1	-	-	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1987	11	1	3	2	-	-	4	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1988	8	-	1	-	6	-	1	-	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1989	7	3	3	-	4	2	1	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990	6	2	1	3	1	4	3	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1991	8	-	2	-	5	1	2	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1992	5	3	2	-	5	-	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1993	5	-	-	2	2	-	1	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
1994	1	-	4	7	2	-	1	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1995	3	-	5	5	1	5	-	1	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1996	-	2	11	2	1	-	1	4	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1997	5	-	1	3	3	3	-	1	-	-	1	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	6	-	5	-	2	2	-	3	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1999	5	2	3	1	1	6	-	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
2000	9	-	7	-	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2001	7	-	3	-	-	3	2	1	2	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	10	-	9	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2003	9	-	6	-	-	2	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
2004	11	-	5	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2005	8	-	7	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	6	-	3	-	-	3	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	1	4	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2007	7	-	7	-	1	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2008	7	4	5	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2009	2	-	2	2	1	5	-	2	1	1	-	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-
2010	8	2	1	1	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
2011	6	-	2	1	-	2	-	1	1	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
2012	8	2	2	-	-	5	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
2013	3	1	1	4	1	-	-	1	-	1	1	2	-	2	-	-	1	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
2014	5	-	4	2	-	5	1	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2015	4	1	2	1	4	1	2	-	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016	1	4	2	3	1	-	1	1	4	-	2	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2017	1	3	5	1	-	-	2	-	2	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2018	4	1	4	5	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2019	4	2	-	1	2	1	2	-	-	2	1	-	-	1	4	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2020	2	3	-	2	-	2	-	-	1	2	1	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2021	-	2	1	3	3	-	1	-	-	-	3	2	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2022	2	2	-	-	2	-	2	-	-	2	3	3	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	561	227	190	127	117	72	37	32	31	28	24	19	17	16	15	11	8	7	6	5	5	5	5	5	4	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	1	1	1
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Leader Days

• Updated to 2022

Cycling Leader's Days Alex Zülle 48 Primož Roglič 37 Roberto Heras 36 Gustaaf Deloor 32 Delio Rodríguez 32 Julián Berrendero 31 Txomin Perurena 31 Tony Rominger 31 Manuel Costa 29 Chris Froome 27 Alejandro Valverde 26 Alberto Contador 26 Laurent Jalabert 23 Abraham Olano 23 Freddy Maertens 22 Denís Menchov 22

Cycling Leader's Days Vincenzo Nibali 20 Melcior Mauri 19 Óscar Sevilla 19 Emilio Rodríguez 18 René Pijnen 18 José Manuel Fuente 18 Joaquim Rodríguez 18 Angelo Conterno 16 Bernard Hinault 16 Isidro Nozal 16 Event 16 Dalmacio Langarica 15 Joop Zoetemelk 15 Pedro Delgado 15 Nairo Quintana 15 Rudi Altig 14

Cycling Leader's Days Jacques Anquetil 14 Faustino Rupérez 14 Laudelino Cubino 14 Jean Pierre Ducasse 13 Miguel Mari Lasa 13 Giovanni Battaglin 13 Rik Van Looy 13 Robert Millar 13 Fermin Trueba 12 Bernardo Ruiz 12 Rolf Wolfshohl 12 Lucho Herrera 11 Augustine Tamames 11 Eddy Merckx 11 Alvaro Pino 11 Simon Yates 11

Other data

• Increased number of stage victories in the same edition: Freddy Maertens in Vuelta a España 1977, 13.
• Increased number of stage victories with high arrivals: José María Jiménez, 7.
• Increased number of victories in the ranking of the mountain: José Luis Laguía, 5.
• Increased number of wins in point rankings: Sean Kelly, Laurent Jalabert and Alejandro Valverde 4.
• Increased number of victories in the classification of flying goals: Miguel Angel Iglesias, 5.
• Maximum difference between the first and second class: Delio Rodríguez about Julián Berrendero in 1945, 30' 08".
• Minimum difference between the first and second class: Eric Caritoux about Alberto Fernández in 1984, 6".
• Youngest winner: Angelino Soler with 21 years in 1961.
• Oldest winner: Chris Horner with 41 years in 2013.
• More participations: Íñigo Cuesta, 17 (1994-2010).
• More consecutive participations: Íñigo Cuesta, 17 (1994-2010).
• More Finished returns: Federico Etxabe, Chente García Acosta and Íñigo Cuesta, with 14 each.
• More Rounds finished consecutively: 14, Federico Etxabe, (1982-1995) and Chente García Acosta (1997-2010).

For more information, see Statistical data of the Tour of Spain

References and notes