When: August 25 to September 16 2018
Where: Spain
UCI category: WorldTour

>>> Vuelta a España route 2018

The 2018 Vuelta a España will include nine summit finishes, as well as an opening time trial and a long 32.7km race against the clock in week three.

The organisers Unipublic were keen to keep the racing punchy – and the route for the 2018 Vuelta a España looks to be exactly that – with only one stage over 200km.

Teams for the 2018 Vuelta a España

The full start list is yet to be released – but confirmed teams are:

Ag2r-La Mondiale – France
Astana Pro Team – Kazhakstan
Bahrain-Merida – Bahrain
BMC Racing Team – USA
Bora-Hansgrohe – Germany
Dimension Data – RSA
EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale – USA
Groupama-FDJ – France
Lotto-Soudal – Belgium
Mitchelton-Scott – Australia
Movistar Team – Spain
Quick-Step Floors – Belgium
Team Katusha-Alpecin – Switzerland
Team LottoNL-Jumbo – Netherlands
Team Sky – Great Britain
Team Sunweb – Germany
Trek-Segafredo – USA
UAE-Team Emirates – UAE

Wild card teams for Vuelta a España 2018

Burgos-BH (Spain)
Caja Rural (Spain)
Euskadi Basque Country (Spain)
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (France)

Final general classification for 2017 Vuelta a España

1. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, in 82-30-02
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 2-15
3. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 2-51
4. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 3-15
5. Alberto Contador (Esp) Trek-Segafredo, at 3-18
6. Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, at 6-59
7. Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac, at 8-27
8. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana, at 9-13
9. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 11-18
10. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, at 15-50

King of the Mountains: Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac)

Combined classification: Chris Froome (Team Sky)

Points classification: Chris Froome (Team Sky)

The race as it unfolded in 2017

Stage 21: Arroyomolinos – Madrid (117.6km)

Final Podium from the 2017 Vuelta a España

The final stage of the 2017 Vuelta a España saw Chris Froome (Team Sky) confirm his place as the overall winner, a victory he said secured his place in cycling history.

The win takes Froome’s Grand Tour win count to five, and is his first Vuelta win.

Joining him on the podium were Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), finishing third in his first Grand Tour.

Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step) claimed the stage in a sprint final. A break did make an attempt to escape during the final finishing laps of the 5.5km circuit.

Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) and Nicholas Schultz (Caja Rural) managed to forge a gap, but they were caught with one lap to go.

Read the full report from the final stage of the Vuelta a España here

Stage 20: Corvera de Asturias – Alto de l’Angliru (117.5km)

Alberto Contador wins stage 20 of the Vuelta a España

Chris Froome (Team Sky) not only survived the 2017 Vuelta’s final mountain battle with his lead intact, but he also managed to extend his advantage over second-placed Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida).

Froome was surrounded by his Sky team-mates as the squad collectively ensured that Froome kept the perfect position throughout the stage to the fearsome Angliru climb.

Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) attacked on the lower slopes of the final climb to ride to a memorable victory in his final Grand Tour and on his final mountain stage.

Sky’s Wout Poels led Chris Froome home to claim second and third on the stage. Barring disaster on the final stage into Madrid, Froome has achieved the rare feat of winning the Tour de France and Vuelta a España in the same season.

>>> Full Vuelta a España stage 20 report

Stage 19: Caso – Gijón (149.5km)

Thomas De Gendt wins stage 19

The stage win went to Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), who secured his victory from the day’s break group – which formed early on and consisted of no fewer than 27 riders.

Climbs during the route meant that the break group fragmented – but with no one keen to be left in no-man’s land between the front of the race and the peloton they were together with 50km to go.

Ivan Garcia (Bahrain-Merida) launched an attack with 34km remaining, almost reaching the line solo, but a chase group of four including De Gendt made the catch in time for the Lotto rider to take the win.

Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) put in a concerted attack but was unsuccessful, resulting in no change to the GC.

View the report from stage 19 of the Vuelta a España here

Stage 18: Suances – Santo Toribio de Liébana (169km)

Chris Froome regained lost time with three stages of the Vuelta left to go, distancing second place GC rider Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) on the final climb to take his lead to 1-37.

The stage was won by Sander Armée (Lotto-Soudal) – it was his first professional win.

Armée was part of what started as a 20 rider break. The select group splintered on the final slopes, with the Lotto rider breaking away with Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) – who he was eventually able to distance.

Behind, Fabio Aru (Astana) was allowed to break from the peloton with 40km to go, but was never able to reach the break group. His move served to splinter the GC hopefuls, with Froome, Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) and Cannondale-Drapacs Michael Woods chasing, leaving Nibali to struggle up the final climb 21 seconds behind the Tour leader.

Read the full report from stage 18 of the Vuelta a España here

Stage 17: Villadiego – Los Machucos (180.5km)

Chris Froome at the 2017 Vuelta a España

Stefan Denifl (Aqua Blue Sport) took an emotional win in Spain – a victory for the team at its first Grand Tour.

Denifl was part of a break group of six that escaped early on. The group splintered on the slopes towards the end of the stage, but the Aqua Blue Sport rider was able to leave his companions behind to take the win.

Behind him was Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), a full 28 seconds back.

The climbs towards the end of the stage put race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) in difficulty, and he lost time on his rivals – but still managed to maintain the red jersey. His closest rival is Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) at 1-16.

Read the full report here

Stage 16: Circuito de Navarra – Logroño (ITT), 40.2km

Chris Froome on stage three of the 2016 Tour de Romandie

Chris Froome (Team Sky) won the stage 16 time trial, with a lead of 29 seconds ahead of second place rider Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb).

Froome’s commanding performance saw him double his race lead, to 1-58, distancing himself from Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) who maintains his second place on the GC.

Negative splits saw Froome gather speed throughout the course. At the first check point, he was 23 seconds down on Kelderman, but by the second he was up by seven seconds.

The four-time Tour de France winner crossed the line in 47-00-51, with an average speed of 51.310km/h.

>>> Full report 

Stage 15: Alcalá la Real to Sierra Nevada, 129.5km

Chris Froome on stage 15 of the Vuelta a España 2017 (Sunada)

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) took a fine stage win atop Sierra Nevada as Chris Froome and Team Sky neutralised attacks on a cagey stage 15 of the 2017 Vuelta a España.

Lopez went clear with Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) on the long ascent to the high altitude summit finish to Sierra Nevada, pushing on alone in the final five kilometres to catch and pass earlier attacker Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) to take his first Grand Tour stage win.

Behind Team Sky set a brutal pace to quickly neutralise an attack by Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), before catching and dropping Contador in the final two kilometres.

Froome then matched the final burst of Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) to finish fifth on the stage, extending his lead at the top of the general classification by a few second as Nibali was gapped in the final final throes of the day.
>>> Full report

Stage 14: Écija to La Pandera, 175km

Chris Froome on stage 14 of the Vuelta a España (Sunada)

Chris Froome (Team Sky) lost a handful of seconds but defended his red jersey on the especial summit finish of stage 14 the Vuelta a España.

Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe), who had been in the day’s main breakaway, took a sensational stage victory after riding much of the final climb solo to finish 27 seconds ahead of second place Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana).

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) crossed the line in third to take four bonus seconds, with Froome just behind, leaving the gap between first and second at 55 seconds at the end of the stage.

>>> Full report

Stage 13: Coín to Tomares, 197km

Matteo Trentin celebrates winning stage 13 of the 2017 Vuelta a España. Photo: Yuzuru Sunada

Being the last sprinters stage before the race Matteo Trentin and Quick-Step Floors pulled out all the stops to ensure they got their third and fifth stage win of the race, respectively.

Stage 13 was a relatively smooth day for the GC contenders who were all eyeing up the next two days of racing. Chris Froome (Team Sky) finished seventh on the day with rival Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) edging him out in sixth, both way ahead of their GC colleagues.

Trentin’s third win furthers his grasp on a green jersey that few will contest he rightfully deserves.

>>> Full report

Stage 12: Motril to Antequera, 160.1km

Chris Froome on stage 12 of the 2017 Vuelta a Espana. Photo: Yuzuru Sunada

Chris Froome (Team Sky) suffered at the end of stage 12, crashing twice in quick succession and finding himself having to chase to try and catch up with his rivals.

The two incidents happened just after the stage’s two categorised climbs, and after Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) had attacked from the bunch. As Contador forged ahead, the GC group chased him – with Froome chasing them, assisted by team-mates Mikel Nieve and Wout Poels.

Away from the battle for general classification time, Polish rider Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto-Soudal) took his second stage victory of the race after attacking from the day’s escape group.

>>> Full report

Stage 11: Lorca to Calar Alto – 187.5km

Miguel Ángel López takes the stage win as Nicolas Roche put in substantial time on his rivalsPhoto : Yuzuru SUNADA

Chris Froome (Team Sky) extended his overall lead on a gruelling day in the mountains on Vuelta a España stage 11 as Astana’s Miguel Angel Lopez took the stage victory.

Race leader Froome finished second on the stage’s category one summit finish to take six bonus seconds ahead of Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), with the pair letting Lopez ride off for the stage win with a kilometre to go with the Colombian posing no threat on GC.

The day’s biggest losers were second place Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott), who slips to third after losing nearly two minutes on the final climb, and third place Nicolas Roche (BMC) who slips to eighth place after being dropped with over 11km to go.

>>> Full report

Stage 10: Caravaca Jubilar – Elpozo Alimentacion – 164km

Matteo Trentin took his second stage win at this year’s Vuelta a España Photo : Yuzuru SUNADA

Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors) took his second stage win of the 2017 Vuelta a España as he escaped with José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) on a technical descent to the finish, before out-sprinting his Spanish rival to the line.

Five minutes back down the road and the technical final descent provided the launching pad for a telegraphed move by Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), who made good use of the narrow road and numerous hairpins to open a small gap on his rivals, including the red jersey of Chris Froome (Team Sky).

However Nibali hadn’t counted on the descending skills of Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) who led the rest of the GC contenders back onto the Italian’s wheel, before pushing on alone to grab time at the finish, moving to the same time as second-placed Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) on GC, only 36 seconds behind Froome.

>>> Full report

Stage nine: Orihuela to Cumbre del Sol – 174km

Chris Froome rides ahead of Esteban Chaves to win stage nine of the Vuelta a España (Sunada)

Chris Froome (Team Sky) emphatically showed his strength in the red jersey at the Vuelta a España with victory on the summit finish of stage nine.

Froome attacked within the final 800m of the steep climb to Cumbre del Sol from a group of GC hopefuls, with Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) the only one to come close to catching the Brit.

In the end though, Chaves rolled over the line in second and Michael Woods (Cannondale) just behind. Froome now leads the Vuelta by 36 seconds over Chaves, with everyone else over a minute behind at the end of the first week of racing.

>>> Full Report

Stage eight: Hellín to Xorret de Catí – 199.5km

Julian Alaphilippe wins stage eight of the 2017 Vuelta a España. Photo: Yuzuru Sunada

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) took his first Grand Tour stage victory, winning the sprint against two fellow escapees.

Behind Alaphilippe, the battle for overall time saw Chris Froome (Team Sky) extend his overall lead after he attacked with Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) on the final climb of Alto Xorret de Catí.

Froome gained time on key rivals such as Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott), Nicolas Roche (BMC) and Fabio Aru (Astana) to extend his lead to 28 seconds over Chaves.

>>> Full report

Stage seven: Llíria to Cuenca – 207km

Matej Mohoric wins stage seven. Photo: Yuzuru Sunada

Team Sky shepherded Chris Froome safely through stage seven to retain the overall lead, as Slovenian Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates) took his first Grand Tour stage win.

Mohoric had been part of the day’s large escape group, attacking over the final climb of Alto del Castillo and soloing to the line over the final nine kilometres.

There was no major change in the general classification, although Jetse Bol (Manzana Postobon) capitalised on being in the escape and finishing ahead of the contenders group, moving up to seventh overall.

>>> Full report

Stage six: Vila-real to Sagunt – 204.4km

Chris Froome on stage six of the 2017 Vuelta a España

Chris Froome (Team Sky) survived another day in the overall race lead at the Vuelta a España after Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) attempted to apply pressure on the stage six’s final classified climb.

Froome managed to match Contador’s accelerations on the category two Puerto del Garbi to finish safely in a group of favourites and retain the red jersey of general classification leader, extending his lead.

Ahead of the fight for overall time, Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto-Soudal) took the stage victory ahead of Polish compatriot Pawel Poljanski (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Spaniard Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors). The trio had been part of the day’s original 37-rider break.

>>> Full report

Stage five: Benicassim – Ermita Santa Lucía  – 175.5km

Chris Froome and Alberto Contador ride in together, putting time into Vincenzo Nibali and Fabio Aru Photo : Yuzuru SUNADA

Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) won on the summit finish of stage five of the Vuelta a España after attacking from the day’s breakaway.

Meanwhile Chris Froome (Team Sky) held onto the overall lead and put time into the likes of Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Fabio Aru (Astana).

Kazakhstan rider Lutsenko won the day after leaving behind his breakaway companion Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin) on the steep slopes of the final climb after the pair had escaped from a larger breakaway group.

Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data) finished second after he’d pursued the front pair with Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r La Mondiale), but was unable to catch Lutsenko on the final 3.4km climb which averaged 10 per cent and reached up to 20 per cent in gradient.

Over four minutes behind, Sky led the peloton onto the climb with Gianni Moscon putting in a huge turn to set things up for Froome.

Once he’d pulled off, Froome accelerated and only a select group of riders could follow, including Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott), Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) and a seemingly rejuvenated Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) who led the four across the line.

Vincenzo Nibali, one of the main favourites for overall victory, lost 26 seconds on the climb and now sits in sixth place on GC at 36 seconds. Fabio Aru lost 11 seconds, while Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) lost 49 seconds, which will come as a blow to any GC aspirations he might have.

>>> Full report

Stage four: Escaldes – Tarragona – 198.2km

Matteo Trentin goes into the Green Jersey after securing his first stage win of the Vuelta in a sprint finish. Photo : Yuzuru SUNADA

Quick-Step Floors took their second stage of the Vuelta a España on stage four as Matteo Trentin sprinted to the win in Tarragona.

The Belgian team took their first win through Yves Lampaert on stage two, where Trentin finished second.

The Italian went one better though as he beat Juan José Lobato (LottoNL-Jumbo) to the line after the Spaniard had begun his sprint with 250m to go.

Trentin stayed tucked in behind Lobato, and was able to jump to the left nearer to the finish to easily take the victory.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) retained his overall lead as the general classification top-10 remained unchanged after the stage.

>>> Full report

Stage three: Prades to Andorra la Vella – 158.5km

Vincenzo Nibali took the win in a GC sprint contest (Credit: Sunada)

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) won stage three of the 2017 Vuelta a España as Chris Froome (Team Sky) went on the attack on the final climb and took the leader’s red jersey on the line.

Froome attacked with 7.7km to go, with only Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) able to follow on the slopes of the Alto de la Comella. That duo led over the top of the climb and onto the descent towards the finish, where they were joined first by Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Fabio Aru (Astana), and then by a larger chasing group including Nibali, Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing), and others.

Making the junction within the final kilometre, Nibali took a few seconds to recover in the wheels before accelerating clear. The Italian crossed the line a few bike lengths ahead of his rivals for a relatively comfortable win.

Behind it was David de la Cruz (Quick-Step Floors) who was the best of the rest, while Froome crossed the line third to pick up four bonus seconds which, in addition to the three seconds he won at the intermediate sprint, were enough to move him into the leader’s red jersey.

>>> Full report

Stage two: Nîmes to Gruisson – 203.4km

Yves Lampaert wins stage two of the Vuelta a España (Sunada)

Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step) took a sensational victory and the overall lead on stage two of the Vuelta a España, soloing away off the front with just under a kilometre to go.

The Belgian made the attack from a small front group which had broken away in crosswinds with just over 2km to go, with Quick-Step the instigators in pulling the peloton apart.

Vincenzo Nibali was able to gain eight seconds on Chris Froome in the overall classification.

>>> Full report

Watch: Vuelta a España essential guide

Stage one: Nîmes TTT – 13.7km

BMC win the opening team time trial of the 2017 Vuelta (Sunada)

BMC Racing emerged victorious from the opening team time trial of the 2017 Vuelta a España as Rohan Dennis took the first leader’s red jersey of the race.

The American team looked smooth throughout the technical 13.7km course, avoiding any crashes which affected a number of other teams.

BMC Racing were the only team to go under 16 minutes, with Rohan Dennis leading them across the line in a time that was six seconds faster than Quick-Step Floors.

As for the GC contenders, there were few major gaps, with Chris Froome and Team Sky losing just nine seconds. Fabio Aru was the only red jersey contender to lose significant time, as Astana finished in 16th place, 41 seconds behind BMC.

>>> Full report

Vuelta a España 2017 stages

Stage one, Saturday August 19: Nîmes (France) (TTT), 13.8km
Stage two, Sunday August 20: Nîmes (France) – Gruissan (France), 201km
Stage three, Monday August 21: Prades Conflent Canigó (France) – Andorra la Vella (Andorra), 158.5km
Stage four, Tuesday August 22: Escaldes-Engordany (Andorra) – Tarragona (Spain), 193km
Stage five, Wednesday August 23: Benicàssim – Alcossebre, 173.4km
Stage six, Thursday August 24: Villareal – Sagunt, 198km
Stage seven, Friday August 25: Lliria – Cuenca, 205.2km
Stage eight, Saturday August 26: Hellín – Xorret de Cati, 184km
Stage nine, Sunday August 27: Orihuela – Cumbre del Sol, 176.3km
Rest Day, Monday August 28
Stage 10, Tuesday August 29: Caravaca Jubilar – Elpozo Alimentación, 171km
Stage 11, Wednesday August 30: Lorca – Observatorio Astronómico de Calar Alto, 188km
Stage 12, Thursday August 31: Motril – Antequera, 161.4km
Stage 13, Friday September 1: Coín – Tomares, 197km
Stage 14, Saturday September 2: Écija – Sierra de la Pandera, 185.5km
Stage 15, Sunday September 3: Alcalá la Real – Sierra Nevada, 127km
Rest Day, Monday September 4
Stage 16, Tuesday September 5: Circuito de Navarra – Logroño (ITT), 42km
Stage 17, Wednesday September 6: Villadiego – Los Machucos, 180km
Stage 18, Thursday September 7: Suances – Santo Toribio de Liébana, 168.5km
Stage 19, Friday September 8: Parque Natural de Redes – Gijón, 153km
Stage 20, Saturday September 9: Corvera de Asturias – Alto de l’Angliru, 119.2km
Stage 21, Sunday September 10: Arroyomolinos – Madrid, 101.9km

Essential info: Vuelta a España 2017 route | Start list

Vuelta a España history

Spanish for, quite simply, the Tour of Spain, the Vuelta is the annual Spanish grand tour that represents the final three week event of the year after the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France.

Now a UCI World Tour event, the race was launched in 1935, but was paused for the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Since 1955, it’s taken place every year.

Vuelta a Espana 2011

The race was originally held in the spring, but in 1995 it moved to September to avoid competition with the other key events. As a result, it’s often seen as a key event in the lead up to the UCI Road World Championships. 

As per most Grand Tours, riders compete in four different categories, with the leader of each wearing a coloured jersey that represents his position. The jersey is awarded after every stage – changing shoulders if a change in the standings has taken place.

The jerseys of the Vuelta a España are:

Vuelta a España 2016

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) sealed the overall victory in the 2016 Vuelta a España, with Chris Froome (Sky) placing second.

Chris Froome (second), Nairo Quintana (winner), Esteban Chaves (third) on the final Vuelta a Espana podium

Quintana won stage 10 of the race to take the coveted red jersey of general classification leader, and never relinquished his lead despite a spirited challenge from Froome, Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff).

The biggest breakthrough in the race for Quintana came on stage 15, when he put himself into an escape group with Contador and team-mates to gain over two and a half minutes on Froome, who found himself without team support.

Froome clawed back over two minutes as he convincingly won the key time trial stage to set up a thrilling final day in the mountains on stage 20. Froome repeatedly attacked Quintana on the final climb, but Quintana held firm – actually gaining a couple of second on Froome on the line.

Froome clapped his hands as he crossed the finish in recognition of Quintana’s effort, and that the Movistar leader had effectively sealed overall victory.

Quintana adds the 2016 Vuelta victory to his 2014 Giro d’Italia overall win, establishing himself as one of the world’s leading three-week race contenders at the age of 26.

The Colombian finished the race 1-23 ahead of second-placed Froome, with Chaves in third at 4-08. Contador finished fourth, with British rider Simon Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) in sixth, establishing himself as a future Grand Tour contender despite spending some of the race supporting Chaves.

Orica-BikeExchange’s successful Vuelta continued in the finale in Madrid with a second sprint stage win for Magnus Cort Nielsen. Coupled with Chaves and Yates top 10 GC positions, and stage wins for Yates and Jens Keukeleire, the Australian squad showed off its exciting young talent.

Italian Fabio Feline (Trek-Segafredo) took the points classification jersey, with Spaniard Omar Fraile (Dimension Data) ending a ding-dong climbing battle with Frenchman Kenny Elissonde (FDJ) with the mountains classification win.

Vuelta a España 2016 Final general classification

1. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar in 83-31-28
2. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 1-23
3. Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange at 4-08
4. Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff at 4-21
5. Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac at 7-43
6. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange at 8-33
7. David de la Cruz (Esp) Etixx-QuickStep at 11-18
8. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Movistar at 13-04
9. Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac at 13-17
10. George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 14-07