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2004 Vuelta a España
Race details
Dates	4–26 September
Stages	21
Distance	2,925 km (1,818 mi)
Winning time	77h 42' 46"
Results
	Winner
	Second
	Third
	Points
	Mountains
	Combination
	Team
	← 2003 2005 →

The 59th edition of the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 4 September to 26 September 2004. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of 2,925 km (1,818 mi), and was won by Roberto Heras of the Liberty Seguros cycling team.

Halfway through the 2004 Vuelta, it appeared it would become an easy win for Heras, but in the last week his fellow countryman Santiago Pérez won two heavy mountain stages, thus becoming an important rival. Eventually Heras won with only 30 seconds advantage on Pérez. Pérez and Phonak hearing systems teammate Tyler Hamilton would later test positive for blood doping from blood samples taken during the race.^[1] Francisco Mancebo, also from Spain took third. The first non-Spaniard was Stefano Garzelli from Italy in 11th. The points classification was won by Erik Zabel from Germany, the mountains classification was won by Félix Cárdenas from Colombia and the combination classification was won by Roberto Heras. Kelme was the winner of the team ranking. Alessandro Petacchi, an Italian sprinter won four stages, but he did not finish the Vuelta.

Teams and riders

Route

List of stages^[2]^[3]
Stage	Date	Course	Distance		Winner
1	4 September	León – León	28 km (17 mi)	Team time trial	U.S. Postal Service
2	5 September	León – Burgos	207 km (129 mi)		Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)
3	6 September	Burgos – Soria	156 km (97 mi)		Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
4	7 September	Soria – Zaragoza	167 km (104 mi)		Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)
5	8 September	Zaragoza – Morella	186.5 km (116 mi)		Denis Menchov (RUS)
6	9 September	Benicarló – Castellón de la Plana	157 km (98 mi)		Óscar Freire (ESP)
7	10 September	Castellón de la Plana – Valencia	170 km (106 mi)		Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)
8	11 September	Almussafes – Almussafes	40.1 km (25 mi)	Individual time trial	~~Tyler Hamilton~~ Víctor Hugo Peña (COL)
9	12 September	Xàtiva – Alto de Aitana	162 km (101 mi)		Leonardo Piepoli (ITA)
10	13 September	Alcoy – Xorret de Catí	174.2 km (108 mi)		Eladio Jiménez (ESP)
11	14 September	San Vicente del Raspeig – Caravaca de la Cruz	165 km (103 mi)		~~David Zabriskie~~
	15 September			Rest day
12	16 September	Almería – Calar Alto Observatory	145 km (90 mi)		Roberto Heras (ESP)
13	17 September	El Ejido – Málaga	172 km (107 mi)		Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)
14	18 September	Málaga – Granada	167 km (104 mi)		Santiago Pérez (ESP)
15	19 September	Granada – Sierra Nevada	29.6 km (18 mi)	Individual time trial	Santiago Pérez (ESP)
	20 September			Rest day
16	21 September	Olivenza – Cáceres	190.1 km (118 mi)		José Julia (ESP)
17	22 September	Plasencia – La Covatilla	170 km (106 mi)		Félix Cárdenas (COL)
18	23 September	Béjar – Ávila	196 km (122 mi)		Javier Pascual Rodríguez (ESP)
19	24 September	Ávila – Collado Villalba	142 km (88 mi)		Constantino Zaballa (ESP)
20	25 September	Alcobendas – Puerto de Navacerrada	178 km (111 mi)		José Enrique Gutiérrez (ESP)
21	26 September	Madrid – Madrid	28 km (17 mi)	Individual time trial	Santiago Pérez (ESP)
	Total		2,925 km (1,818 mi)

Jersey progress

Stage (Winner)	General classification	Points Classification	Mountains Classification	Combination Classification	Team Classification
0Stage 1 (TTT) (U.S. Postal Service)	Floyd Landis	Floyd Landis	Floyd Landis	Floyd Landis	U.S. Postal Service
0Stage 2 (Alessandro Petacchi)	Max van Heeswijk	Erik Zabel
0Stage 3 (Alejandro Valverde)	Benoît Joachim	Stuart O'Grady
0Stage 4 (Alessandro Petacchi)	Benoît Joachim	Erik Zabel
0Stage 5 (Denis Menchov)	Manuel Beltrán	Stuart O'Grady	Juan Manuel Gárate
0Stage 6 (Óscar Freire)		Stuart O'Grady	Francisco Mancebo	Manuel Beltrán
0Stage 7 (Alessandro Petacchi)		Erik Zabel		Denis Menchov
0Stage 8 (Tyler Hamilton)	Floyd Landis			Floyd Landis
0Stage 9 (Leonardo Piepoli)			David Fernández	Francisco Mancebo
0Stage 10 (Eladio Jiménez)		Stuart O'Grady	José Miguel Elías	Francisco Mancebo	Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme
0Stage 11 (David Zabriskie)			José Miguel Elías	Alejandro Valverde
0Stage 12 (Roberto Heras)	Roberto Heras		Roberto Heras	Roberto Heras
0Stage 13 (Alessandro Petacchi)		Erik Zabel
0Stage 14 (Santiago Pérez)
0Stage 15 (ITT) (Santiago Pérez)
0Stage 16 (José Julía)
0Stage 17 (Félix Cárdenas)			Félix Cárdenas
0Stage 18 (Javier Pascual Rodríguez)
0Stage 19 (Constantino Zaballa)
0Stage 20 (José Enrique Gutiérrez)
0Stage 21 (ITT) (Santiago Pérez)
Final	Roberto Heras	Erik Zabel	Félix Cárdenas	Roberto Heras	Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme

General classification (final)

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Roberto Heras (ESP)	Liberty Seguros	77h42'46"
2	Santiago Pérez (ESP)	Phonak	30"
3	Francisco Mancebo (ESP)	Illes Balears–Banesto	2'13"
4	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)	Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme	3'30"
5	Carlos García Quesada (ESP)	Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme	7'44"
6	Carlos Sastre (ESP)	Team CSC	8'11"
7	Isidro Nozal (ESP)	Liberty Seguros	8'32"
8	José Ángel Gómez Marchante (ESP)	Paternina–Costa de Almería	13'08"
9	Luis Pérez (ESP)	Cofidis	13'24"
10	David Blanco (ESP)	Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme	15'15"
11	Stefano Garzelli (ITA)	Vini Caldirola–Nobili Rubinetterie	16'33"
12	Marcos Serrano (ESP)	Liberty Seguros	17'14"
13	Manuel Beltrán (ESP)	U.S. Postal Service	17'43"
14	Francisco José Lara (ESP)	Paternina–Costa de Almería	24'16"
15	Samuel Sánchez (ESP)	Euskaltel–Euskadi	29'23"
16	Damiano Cunego (ITA)	Saeco	29'51"
17	Jorge Ferrío (ESP)	Paternina–Costa de Almería	30'49"
18	David Plaza (ESP)	Cafe Baque	31'24"
19	Eladio Jiménez (ESP)	Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme	34'35"
20	Luis Pasamontes (ESP)	Relax–Bergasol	37'49"
21	Unai Osa (ESP)	Illes Balears–Banesto	38'06"

References

^ "Perez vows to continue". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
^ "59th Vuelta a España". Cycling News. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
^ "59ème Vuelta a España 2004". Memoire du cyclisme. Archived from the original on 12 January 2005.