Vuelta a España Stats
Historical stats
– The race was created in 1935 and saw Belgium’s Gustaaf Deloor take the victory in the inaugural edition
– Alberto Contador, Roberto Heras and Tony Rominger share the record for the most overall wins, with three each
– Spain leads the nations standings (32), followed by France (9) and Belgium (7)
– Julian Berrendero (1942), Freddy Maertens (1977) and Tony Rominger (1994) have led the race from the first until the last stage
– Seven riders won the general classification without taking a stage along the way: Jean Dotto (1955), Rolf Wolfshohl (1965), Ferdinand Bracke (1971), Jose Pessarodona (1976), Marco Giovannetti (1990), Angel Casero (2001) and Alejandro Valverde (2009)
– Agustin Tamames (1970), Domingo Perurena (1975), Hennie Kuiper (1976), Oscar Sevilla (2001) and Roberto Heras (2002) are the cyclists who lost the race in the last day
– Delio Rodriguez holds the record for the most stage wins, 39, which he got between 1941 and 1947
– Switzerland’s Alex Zülle has the most days spent in the leader’s jersey, 48
– Sean Kelly and Laurent Jalabert are the only riders to have won the points classification four times
– Jose Luis Laguia is the cyclist with the most victories in the mountains classification, which he took five times
– Iñigo Cuesta rode in 17 editions, an all-time record of the Vuelta
– Jose Vicente Garcia Acosta and Federico Echave have the most completed editions, 14
– Three riders from outside of Europe have won the trophy: Luis Herrera (Colombia), Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) and Chris Horner (U.S.A.)
– Smallest ever time gap between first and second was recorded in 1984, when Eric Caritoux came home just six seconds ahead of Alberto Fernandez
– 1945 saw the biggest winning margin, with 30 minutes and 8 seconds separating Delio Fernandez and Julian Berrendero
– Spain’s Domingo Perurena is the only rider to lead the GC in six editions
– Freddy Maertens has the most stage wins at a single edition: 13 in 1977
– Lowest average speed was recorded in 1948: 25,72 km/h; highest average speed was in 2003: 42,5 km/h
– Longest drought without a GC win for the hosts was between 1991 and 1998
– The inaugural edition (1935) had the fewest number of stages, 14; the 1947 edition had the most number of stages, 24
– 34 countries gave at least a stage winner, while 20 nations have had a cyclist at the top of the overall standings
– The three most visited cities are Madrid (117), Zaragoza (90) and Barcelona (89)
– Last world champion to take the victory in the race was Freddy Maertens, in 1977
– Angelino Soler is the youngest ever winner – 21 years and 166 days – while Chris Horner is the oldest one – 41 years and 327 days
– At first, the leader’s jersey was orange, then white, orange again, white with red stripe, yellow, back to orange, yellow, gold and red
– There have been 1356 stages so far and 1357 leaders, because in 1948, Bernardo Ruiz and Julian Berrendero finished in a dead heat
– Delio Rodriguez holds the record for the most consecutive stage victories: six, in 1941
– Only two foreign countries have hosted the start of the Vuelta: Portugal (1997) and The Netherlands (2009)
– In 1995, the race saw a change of dates, being moved from April to September
– 204 cyclists got to wear the leader’s jersey since the inception of the event
2015 stats
– 22 teams will ride this year’s edition (17 World Tour and 5 Pro Continental)
– Not only that Colombia-Coldeportes is the sole one making its debut in the Vuelta, but it will be the only team with all riders from the same country
– The 70th running of the race has 3357,1 kilometers, a team time trial, an individual time trial, five summit finishes (La Alpujarra, Cortals d’Encamp, Fuente del Chivo, Sotres, Ermita de Alba) and a total of 44 categorized climbs
– Alto Els Cortals – which will host the finish of stage 11 – is the highest point of this year’s race – 2100 meters
– Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde are the two former winners to line-up at the start
– Chris Froome will try to become the third rider, following Jacques Anquetil (1963) and Bernard Hinault (1978), to make the Tour de France-Vuelta a España double in the same season
– The cyclists who came to Puerto Banus have won a combined total of 7 Grand Tours, 16 Monuments, 4 world titles and more than 150 Grand Tour stages
– Lotto-Soudal’s Adam Hansen is racing his 13th consecutive Grand Tour, after completing the previous 12
– Carlos Barbero, Caleb Ewan, Olivier Le Gac, Ilia Koshevoy, Lorrenzo Manzin, Simon Pellaud, Brayan Ramirez, Timo Roosen and Mike Teunissen are the nine neo-pros making their debut in a Grand Tour
– Matej Mohoric is the youngest cyclist in the race (20 years and 307 days), while Haimar Zubeldia is the oldest one (38 years and 143 days)
– Surprisingly, France is the nation with the most riders at the start (30), ahead of Spain (27) and Italy (20)
– The Vuelta will have 12 new arrival cities: Caminito del Rey, Vejer de la Frontera, Alcala de Guadaira, Sierra de Cazorla, La Alpujarra, Cumbre del Sol, Cortals d’Encamp, Fuente del Chivo, Sotres, Ermita de Alba, Riaza and Cercedilla
Cafe Roubaix 