La Vuelta – the Tour of Spain is one of the three “Grand Tours“ in cycling sports and one of the most important stage races worldwide, following the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia.
In 1935, La Vuelta took place for the first time. In the course of three weeks it leads across Spain and its adjacent countries with differing routing and 21 stages. The Tour of Spain takes place in September.
The course of the race is diverse and comprised of several flat and moderately difficult stages as well as high mountain stages and two individual time trials. The Vuelta ends in the Spanish Capital of Madrid.
The colours of the official classification jerseys are red, green, white or with dots and have the following meaning:
- Red jersey: The overall leader receives the red jersey (Maillot Rojo). The overall leader is determined by adding all times of all stages.
- Green Jersey: Since 2009, the leader of the points classification receives the green jersey (Maillot Verde). On arrival at a finish line, whether on a mountain stage, a flat stage or a time trial, the winner receives 25 scoring points – the cyclist with the highest amount of points wears the green jersey.
- Dotted Jersey: The best mountain cyclist receives a white jersey with blue dots (Maillot Lunares). Depending on the length of the uphill stage and the difficulty of the slope different numbers of points are awarded.
- White Jersey: The jersey of the leader in the combined classification is the white jersey (Maillot Blanco). This classification is a combination of the overall classification, the points classification and the mountain classification.
Among the participating teams we find professional cycling teams such as Trek-Segafredo, Movistar, ASTANA QAZAQSTAN TEAM, Visma Lease a Bike and INEOS Grenadiers.