The Vuelta a España is an annual road bicycle race currently held over 23 days in August and September. Up until the 1995 edition the race was held during April and May. Established in 1935, the Vuelta is one of the most well-known and prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours"; the others are the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. The race usually passes through Spain and neighboring countries. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages. Individual finishing times for each stage are totaled to determine the overall winner at the end of the race.
^Roberto Heras was the winner at the podium ceremony in Madrid on the last day of the 2005 Vuelta a España, but subsequently was found to have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during stage 20 of the race. The Spanish cycling federation found him guilty of using erythropoietin during the race and stripped him of his title, awarding the win to Denis Menchov. However, in 2012 Roberto Heras was reinstated as the 2005 Vuelta a España champion when Spain's supreme court ruled in favor of Heras, citing procedural violations relating to the storage and handling of the urine samples.[1]
^ Juan José Cobo was the winner of the 2011 Vuelta a España, but had been found guilty of an anti-doping violation, according to findings from his biological passport. As a result, the UCI penalised him with a three-year period of ineligibility. Cobo was officially stripped of the title on 18 June 2019.[2] On 17 July 2019, as the time for Cobo to appeal the decision expired with no application, the UCI announced it recognised Chris Froome as the 2011 champion, making him retroactively the first Briton to win a Grand Tour[3]
^The start of the Vuelta 2020 was planned in Utrecht (the Netherlands), but due the COVID-19 pandemic it was moved to Irun[4]
