The Vuelta a España is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the race was first organised in 1935. The race was prevented from being run by the Spanish Civil War and World War II in the early years of its existence; however, the race has been held annually since 1955. As the Vuelta gained prestige and popularity the race was lengthened and its reach began to extend all around the globe. Since 1979, the event has been staged and managed by Unipublic, until in 2014, when the Amaury Sport Organisation acquired control. Since then, they have been working together. The peloton expanded from a primarily Spanish participation to include riders from all over the world. The Vuelta is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly UCI WorldTeams, with the exception of the wild card teams that the organizers can invite.
Óscar Freire Gómez is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the top sprinters in road bicycle racing, having won the world championship three times, equalling Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen, Eddy Merckx and Peter Sagan. In the later years of his career, he became more of a classics rider. He won the cycling monument Milan–San Remo three times, the green jersey and four stages in the Tour de France and seven stages of the Vuelta a España, throughout a successful career.
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the Grand Tours, and all three races are similar in format, being three-week races with daily stages. They have a special status in the UCI regulations: more points for the UCI World Tour are distributed in Grand Tours than in other races, and they are the only stage races allowed to last longer than 14 days, and these differ from major stage races more than one week in duration.
Yuliet Rodríguez Jiménez is a former Cuban racing cyclist. She established herself as one of the most consistent Latin American cyclists in a country that has produced great female racers since the sport was first introduced to Cuban women in the mid-1980s.
Joaquim Rodríguez Oliver is a Spanish cyclist, who competed in road bicycle racing between 2001 and 2016 for the ONCE–Eroski, Saunier Duval–Prodir, Caisse d'Epargne and Team Katusha teams. Following his retirement from road racing, Rodríguez has competed in mountain bike racing and formed his own mountain bike racing team, Andbank–La Purito.
The 56th edition of the Vuelta a España, a long-distance stage race and one of the three Grand Tours, was held from 8 September to 30 September 2001. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of 3,012 km (1,872 mi), and was won by Ángel Casero of the Festina cycling team at a speed of 42.534 km/h (26.429 mph).
Jackson Jesús Rodríguez Ortíz is a Venezuelan professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for amateur team JHS Grupo–Super Ahorro.
Miguel Armando Ubeto Aponte is a Venezuelan road racing cyclist. He turned professional in 2012 with Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela before signing with the UCI World Tour team Lampre–Merida for 2013. In 2011 he won the UCI America Tour.
The 2010 Vuelta a España was held from 28 August to 19 September and was won by Vincenzo Nibali. The race began in Seville and ended, as is tradition, in Madrid.
SpiderTech powered by C10 was a UCI Professional Continental cycling team based in Canada that participated in UCI Continental Circuits races. The team was founded in 2007 by Cycle Sport Management. The team obtained a UCI Continental licence for its first season (2008) under the name of "Team R.A.C.E. Pro" (TRP), "Team Planet Energy" (TPE) in 2009 and SpiderTech powered by Planet Energy (CSM) in 2010. In December 2010 the team was granted a UCI Pro Continental licence for the 2011 and 2012 seasons under the name of SpiderTech powered by C10 (SPI). In October 2012, the team announced that it would take a pause in 2013, since its title sponsor withdrew its sponsorship at the last minute leaving the team without choice to suspend its activities.
Team Manzana Postobón was a UCI Professional Continental cycling team based in Colombia. The team was founded in 2006, becoming a Continental team in 2007. In 2015, the team competed as a club, before returning to Continental status the following year. From 2017 until its disbanding in 2019 the team held Professional Continental status.
Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid is a stage road bicycle race held annually in and around Madrid, Spain. Between 2005 and 2012, the race was organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2013 the event was organised as a single-day race, for economical reasons.
The 2011 Vuelta a España was held from 20 August to 11 September. The bicycle race began in Benidorm with a team time trial and ended, as is traditional, in Madrid. The 2011 Vuelta was the 66th edition of the race and was the first Vuelta in 33 years that visited the Basque Country. The 33-year absence from the region was due to fear of political protests.
Burgos BH is a UCI ProTeam cycling team based in Burgos, Spain. The team was founded in 2006 under the name of "Viña Magna-Cropu".
Perutnina Ptuj is a road cycling team. It was founded in 1985, as Kolesarski klub Ptuj and started as a recreative club. In 1992 Kolesarski klub Ptuj signed a list about permanent collaboration with Perutnina Ptuj and was renamed in Kolesarski klub Perutnina Ptuj. It is based in Ptuj, Slovenia. Senior team participated on professional level and competed at UCI Continental Circuits races 2002–2008 and 2011.
Arnold Alcolea Nuñez is a Cuban former racing cyclist who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico. In 2006 and 2011 he was both the Cuban Road Race Champion and Time Trial Champion. He was born in Santiago de Cuba.
Jonathan Kléver Caicedo Cepeda is an Ecuadorian professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Petrolike.
The 2017 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling stage race that took place in Spain between 19 August and 10 September 2017. The race was the 72nd edition of the Vuelta a España and the final Grand Tour of the 2017 cycling season. The race started in Nîmes, France, and finished in Madrid. It was the first time the race has started in France and only the third time it has started outside Spain, after 1997 (Portugal) and 2009 (Netherlands).
The 2020 Vuelta a España was the 75th edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's three grand tours. It was won for the second consecutive year by Primož Roglič of Team Jumbo–Visma.
The 2020 UCI World Tour was a series of races that was scheduled to include thirty-six road cycling events throughout the 2020 cycling season. However, some of races were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour started with the opening stage of the Tour Down Under on 21 January, and concluded with the final stage of the Vuelta a España on 8 November.
Sergio Martínez (CUB)
