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
– Roberto Heras has the most overall wins, four (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005)
– 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
– Eight 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), Alejandro Valverde (2009) and Fabio Aru (2015)
– 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 at 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 22 nations had a cyclist at the top of the overall standings
– The three most visited cities are Madrid (119), 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 a red stripe, yellow, back to orange, yellow, gold and red
– There have been 1398 stages so far and 1368 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 date, being moved from April to September
– 213 cyclists got to wear the leader’s jersey since the inception of the event
2017 Stats
– 22 teams will ride this year’s edition (18 World Tour and 4 Pro Continental)
– Of these, only Caja Rural and Manzana Postobon are winless in the World Tour this season
– Aqua Blue Sport is set to become the first ever Irish team to race a Grand Tour
– The 72nd running of the race will cover 3297.7 kilometers and take the riders over 50 classified climbs
– Andorra and France are the two foreign countries which will be visited by the peloton
– The Vuelta will have eight new arrival locations: Nîmes, Gruissan. Grand Narbonne, Alcossebre, ElPozo Alimentación, Antequera, Tomares, Los Machucos. Monumento Vaca Pasiega and Santo Toribio de Liébana
– Sierra Nevada. Alto Hoya de la Mora – which will host the finish of stage 15 – is the highest point of this year’s race – 2510 meters
– Fabio Aru, Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali are the former winners present at the start of the race
– Chris Froome will try to become the third rider in history, after Jacques Anquetil (1963) and Bernard Hinault (1978), to win the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España double in the same season
– The cyclists who’ll line up at the start have won a combined total of 16 Grand Tours, 6 Monuments and over 100 Grand Tour stages
– Lotto-Soudal’s Adam Hansen is racing his 19th consecutive Grand Tour, after completing the previous 18
– Hernan Aguirre, Hernando Bohorquez, Richard Carapaz, Ivan Cortina, Anass Ait El Abdia, Kilian Frankiny, Lennard Hofstede, Enric Mas, Remy Mertz, Antonio Nibali, Domen Novak, Fernando Orjuela, Juan Felipe Osorio, Rafael Reis, Aldemar Reyes, Nikita Stalnov, Bernardo Suaza and Jimmy Turgis are the 18 neo-pros who will make their debut in a Grand Tour
– Youngest cyclist in the race is Lennard Kämna (20 years), while Svein Tuft is the oldest one (40 years)
– Daniel Moreno is the rider with the most editions started (10) and completed (10)
– Spain is the country with the most competitors (31), followed by France and Italy, with 20 each
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