Vuelta a España

Infobox Cycling race
name = Vuelta a España
current_event = 2008 Vuelta a España


date = September (since 1995)
region = Spain
english = Tour of Spain
localnames = Vuelta Ciclista a España es icon
nickname = The "Vuelta"
discipline = Road
competition = UCI ProTour
type = Grand Tour
organiser = Unipublic
director = Víctor Cordero
first = 1935
number = 63 (as of 2008)
last =
firstwinner = flagicon|BEL Gustaaf Deloor
mostwins = flagicon|SUI Tony Rominger
flagicon|ESP Roberto Heras
(3 wins)
mostrecent = flagicon|ESP Alberto ContadorThe Vuelta a España (English: "Tour of Spain") is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI ProTour circuit.

History

" instigated the race to increase his circulation.

It was formerly held in the spring, but since 1995 the race has been run in September. The course includes two individual time trials. The finish of the Vuelta is traditionally the Spanish capital, Madrid.

In 1999, for the first time, the course crossed the Alto de El Angliru in Asturias, which climbs 1,573 meters (5,160 feet) over 12.9 km (8 mi.) with grades as steep as 23.6 percent (at "Cueña les Cabres") making it one of the steepest in Europe. Credit for the discovery of this climb and its addition to the Vuelta goes to Miguel Prieto.

The overall leader wears the 'Jersey de Oro' (a Golden Jersey)—the Spanish counterpart to the yellow jersey of the Tour de France. Other jerseys honour the best climber (King of the Mountains) and the best sprinter (points competition) [awarded a "blue with yellow fish jersey" that is sponsored by Spain's fishing and marine industry] . Usually there are other cycling jerseys awarded, such as for points leaders in the "Metas Volantes" (intermediate sprints) and for the combination category (a point system that honours the best rider in combined totals for best overall, points and mountains classification).

The record for most wins is held jointly by Switzerland's Tony Rominger, who won three consecutive Vueltas in 1992, 1993 and 1994; and Roberto Heras of Spain, winner in 2000, 2003 and 2004. Heras also won the 2005 event, but was disqualified for a doping offense. Spaniards have dominated, winning 28 of the 63 runnings of the Vuelta. France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Colombia, Ireland (Sean Kelly in 1988), Russia and most recently Kazakhstan have also had first place finishers.

2004 event

The 2004 Vuelta a España was won by Roberto Heras. Halfway through the 2004 Vuelta, it appeared it would become an easy win for Heras, but in the last week his fellow countryman Santiago Pérez won two heavy mountain stages, thus becoming an important rival. Eventually Heras won with only 30 seconds advantage on Pérez. Francisco Mancebo, also from Spain took third. The first non-Spaniard was Stefano Garzelli from Italy in 11th. The points jersey was won by Erik Zabel from Germany, the mountain jersey was won by Félix Cárdenas from Colombia and the combination jersey was won by Roberto Heras. Kelme was the winner of the team ranking. Alessandro Petacchi, an Italian sprinter won four stages, but he didn't finish the Vuelta. Pérez Fernández won three stages.

2005 event

The 2005 Vuelta was won originally by Roberto Heras becoming the first four-time winner. Two months after the end of the race, Vuelta officials announced Roberto tested positive for the banned "blood-boosting" drug EPO. The positive tests were from urine samples taken before the start of Stage 20. He was then disqualified from the Vuelta and the victory was awarded to Denis Menchov from Russia. Menchov originally won the lead after the time trial, and did not let Heras escape until the last of the great mountain stages. At that stage, Heras had multiple strong team members leading in a breakaway, and used these to build a large lead once he managed to escape Menchov. Menchov was significantly handicapped by having a much weaker team, which was not able to help minimize the time loss to Heras.

Winners of the Vuelta a España

[http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/races/results/results_vuelta_a_espana.txt]

ee also

*Golden jersey statistics

External links

* [http://www.lavuelta.com/ La Vuelta (Official site in Spanish, English, and French)]
* [http://www.cyclingfans.com/ Cyclingfans.com ] : Guide to live race coverage, video and audio streaming
* [http://www.cyclingpost.com/predictions/ Vuelta a España prediction game at Cyclingpost]
* [http://www.steephill.tv/2008/vuelta-a-espana/ 2008 Vuelta a España Dashboard] : links to live coverage, profiles, maps, results, photos and video