The last of the three ‘Grand Tours’ in cycling’s race calendar, the Vuelta a España makes up the triumvirate of the annual major international bike races, along with the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.
In brief
The Vuelta started in 1935 and this year’s race is the 72nd edition. Although it is the ‘Tour of Spain’ this year it will visit three countries – Spain, Andorra and France.
It takes place from 26 August to 17 September, starting in Barcelona with a team time trial and rolls into Madrid for the finish 23 days later. In total there are 21 stages consisting of 4 flat stages, 2 flat stages with high-altitude finishes, 6 hilly stages, 7 mountain stages, 1 team time-trial stage and 1 individual time-trial stage and all that with just 2 rest days! The riders will cover just over 3153 kilometres/1959miles in total, which is an average of 150km/ 93 miles per day.
Races and jerseys
The Vuelta, like other multiple day stage races, is actually a series of races within a race. The riders will compete for various jerseys as well as stage wins.
Red Jersey (maillot rojo)- Overall race leader/winner. The winner of the whole race is identified by the sum of time for all stages. Whoever finishes in the shortest cumulative time is the overall winner. This is also known as the General Classification or GC race. The colour of the race leaders’ jersey has changed numerous times over the years but has been red since 2010.
Green jersey (jersey verde) – Sprinter’s jersey goes to the rider with the most sprint points. Points are collected via placing in intermediate sprints (mini sprint races) within the overall day’s stage as well as by winning or placing in the day’s stage.
Polka dot jersey (jersey puntos azules) – King of the Mountains jersey goes to best racer of the hilly and mountain stages. The jersey has blue dots on white, unlike the Tour de France jersey, which is red dots on white.
The winners of the mountain and sprint jerseys are not determined by adding up the time, but by collecting points for winning the stages and intermediate finishes in the stages.
White jersey (jersey blanco) – Best young racer under 26 years of age.
Team prize – Decided by adding the time of the top three riders and the team with the lowest total time is the winner of the classification.
There are also the daily battles for the coveted stage wins, awarded to the first over the stage finish line that day. A daily combativity prize is awarded to the rider who has put up the best fight in the day’s stage. In the case of the Vuelta this is decided by TV viewers.
Who to look out for
There are 23 teams competing, with eight riders in each team. The full start-list has yet to be released but some big names have already been announced. Primož Roglič, racing for Jumbo-Visma is on the start list. He’s won the Vuelta four times and also won this year’s Giro d’Italia, showing he is on great form. Finishing just behind him at the Giro was Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos). Thomas has only raced the Vuelta once in 2015, where he helped Chris Froome win the race so he will be looking to add a Vuleta win to his palmarès. Although Soudal-QuickStep are yet to announced whether he’s racing, last year’s winner and World Champion, Remco Evenepoel will be looking to make it two years in a row. He led in the Giro, until he had to leave the race due to testing positive for COVID, so will be looking to make amends. It’s telling that none of these three riders raced at this year’s Tour de France, indicating that they are looking to be at peak fitness for the Vuelta.
Race profile
The Vuelta is famous for being very mountainous and this year’s edition is no exception with seven stages being described as mountainous and a further six described as hilly! There are nine summit finishes, five of which are ranked category one (second hardest climbing category), and two category spéciale (hardest). The Vuelta categorises climbs slightly differently to the Tour de France – climbs are rated 3,2,1, or ESP – 3 being the easiest and ESP the hardest. The infamous Col du Tourmalet (ESP) in France makes an appearance on stage 13, where it will host the stage finish after 134.7 km of riding! With over 4,000 meters of climbing this stage is considered 2023’s ‘Queen Stage,’ as riders will also have to conquer the Aubisque (ESP) and Spandelles (1) climbs before the Tourmalet.
There are only two time-trials. The first one is a 15km team time trial on the first day in Barcelona and the second a 25km individual time trial starting and finishing in Valladolid, a small and vibrant city a few miles north of the capital of Madrid.
There are probably only four stages where the sprinters can challenge for a stage win – stages 7, 12, 19 and the final day in Madrid.
Where to watch
Unfortunately, ITV4 lost the rights to coverage a couple of years ago, meaning that it’s no longer as easy to see the Vuelta, especially for free. You can however see live coverage, as well as daily highlights via Eurosport platforms including Discovery+. You can also livestream via Global Cycling Network (GCN), but these are all pay to view channels. Last year Quest which is a Freeview channel, broadcast daily highlights, so hopefully that will be the case again this year.
Of course, the best way to watch is at the event! With regular budget flights from the UK to Barcelona and plenty of accommodation options, the capital of Catalonia is a good option. There will be a great buzz in the city as it is hosting the start of the race. The fact that the stage is a team time trial means that there will be regular action through the afternoon as the teams will start in intervals. Stage 2 also finishes in Barcelona, so you’d experience two days full of racing. Again, Madrid is an easy place to reach from the UK, so the race finish is also an option. Both Barcelona and Madrid will however be very busy, so probably best avoided if you don’t like huge crowds. Another option could be to see the three stages in the Costa Blanca and Murcia (Stages 7,8 and 9). Serviced by Alicante and Murica airports, there are plenty of budget airline flights to this region as well as cheap accommodation in resorts such as Benidorm, Alicante or Denia. This is also the region that lots of the world pro teams, as well as keen amateurs train during the winter, so there are plenty of local bike hire companies, if you fancied incorporating some cycling into your stay.
If you are travelling to see the Vuelta don’t forget the importance of Cycling Travel Insurance. SportsCover Direct offer a range of insurance options so that you can have peace of mind and focus on your cycling.
About the author
Helen is the current European Middle Distance and British Quadrathlon Champion. She is also the current GBSUP (Stand Up Paddleboarding) Series winner in the NISCO class. In 2019 she was the Middle Distance World Quadrathlon Champion in her age group and in 2018 the age group World Cup Series winner and Sprint Distance World Champion. Before turning to quadrathlon, Helen was age group World and European Duathlon Champion and European Triathlon Champion. She is a British Canoeing ‘She Paddles’ Ambassador and named as one of this year’s Cycling UK’s ‘100 Women in Cycling’. You can follow her exploits on Twitter via @helengoth