Vuelta a España

Vuelta celebrates 75th anniversary with quality field

The Vuelta a España celebrates its 75th anniversary, and 65th edition, this year and promises to produce three weeks of entertaining racing.


The race has a stellar field, possibly one of the best ever assembled for the last of the Grand Tours.  The General Classification will be hotly contested - with the exception of Alberto Contador - many of the biggest names in the sport are here.  Fränk and Andy Schleck ( Saxo Bank), Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam), Denis Menchov (Rabobank), Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne), Vincenzo Nibali and Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) Oscar Periero (Astana) Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and Christian Vande Valde (Garmin-Transitions),

The Worlds Best Sprinters in Mark Cavendish (HTC - Columbia), Tyler Farrar (Garmin Transitions) Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) and Oscar Freire (Rabobank) are all set to ride.

The race starts with a late-night team time trial in Sevilla on Saturday night under the lights. There are eight mountain stages, including six summit finishes and one long individual time trial.

There was big controversy when the teams were announced with Radioshack left off the list of those invited. Lance Armstrongs team would not guarantee participation of its biggest names and was duly snubbed for some lesser continental teams. 

This should be a cracking race - stage previews to follow.