The

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

is an important

cycling race Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling sports in ...

(one of the

Grand Tours In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in fo ...

). The first Vuelta a España was in 1935. As the Vuelta a España is a

stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a racing, race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day race, multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages ...

, a classification based on times is calculated after every stage. The cyclist with the lowest time after a stage is the leader of the general classification after that stage. A jersey is given to that cyclist, which the cyclist wears during the next stage. From 1999 to 2009, this jersey had a golden color and was named the golden jersey. From 2010 onwards, the leader's jersey was red. It has also been black and white at different points in the Vuelta's history. Although the leader of the classification after a stage gets the leader's jersey, he is not considered the winner of that jersey, only the wearer. Only after the final stage, the wearer of the leader's jersey is considered the winner, and therefore the winner of the Vuelta a España. Since the first

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

, there have been 1,491 stages, up to and including the Stage 12 of the 2021 Vuelta a España The race leader following each stage has been awarded a leader's jersey. Although the number of stages is 1,491, there have been 1,492 leader's jerseys awarded, because after the first stage of the

1948 Vuelta a España The 8th ''Vuelta a España'' (Tour of Spain), a long-distance Bicycle racing, bicycle Stage (bicycle race), stage race and one of the three Grand Tour (cycling), grand tours, was held from 13 June to 4 July 1948. It consisted of 20 stages covering ...

Bernardo Ruiz Bernardo Ruiz Navarrete (born 8 January 1925) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer who won the General classification, overall and King of the Mountains, climbers competition at the 1948 Vuelta a España. He went on to become the ...

and

Julián Berrendero Julián Berrendero Martín (born San Agustín del Guadalix, 8 April 1912, died Madrid, 1 August 1995) was a Spanish road racing cyclist. He is most famous for having won the third and fourth editions of the Vuelta a España in 1941 and 1942. He ...

shared the lead and both received the leader's jersey. As of 2021, 1,492 leader's jerseys have been awarded in the Vuelta a España to 226 different riders.

Jerseys per rider

Key:
In previous Vueltas a España, sometimes a stage was split in two. On such occasions, only the cyclist leading at the end of the day is counted. The "Leader's jerseys" column gives the number of days that the cyclist ''wore'' the leader's jersey, the "Vuelta wins" column gives the number of times that the cyclist ''won'' the Vuelta. The next three columns indicate the number of times the rider won the

points classification The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points c ...

, the

mountains classification The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing, Queen of the Mountains (QoM) is used. While the title may be given to the rider who achieves the highest p ...

, and the years in which the rider lead the general classification, with bold years indicating an overall Vuelta win. For example:

Alex Zülle Alex Zülle (born 5 July 1968) is a Switzerland, Swiss former professional road bicycle racer. During the 1990s he was one of the most successful cyclists in the world, winning the 1996 and 1997 Vuelta a España, taking second place in the 1995 ...

has spent 48 days in the leader's jersey, and won the overall classification two times. He wore the leader's jersey in the Vueltas of 1993, 1996, 1997 and 2000, of which he won the 1996 and 1997 Vueltas.

Jerseys per country

The leader's jersey has been awarded to 24 different countries since 1935. In the table below, "Jerseys" indicates the number of leader's jerseys that were given to cyclists of each country. "Vuelta wins" stands for the number of Vuelta wins by cyclists of that country, "Points" for the number of times the

was won by a cyclist of that country and "KoM" for the number of times the

was won by a cyclist of that country. "Combo'" shows the winners of the combination classification, This classification is calculated by adding the numeral ranks of each cyclist in the general, points, and mountains classifications (a rider must have a score in all). The "Most recent" column shows the cyclist of the country that wore the leader's jersey most recently. The "Different holders" column gives the number of different cyclists of the country that wore the leader's jersey.

Stage wins per rider

The table below shows the 17 riders who have won more than 9 stages at the Vuelta. Riders who are still active are indicated in bold. Three riders have won 8 or more stages in a single year: * - 13 (

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, in addition to one 2nd and two 3rd places; only once outside the top 10) * - 12 (

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

, in addition to three 2nd and three 3rd places), - 8 (

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

) * - 8 (

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

)

Stage wins per country

Riders from 36 countries have won at least one stage in the Vuelta. Tables are correct as of ''8 September 2024''

Detailed table

References

External links

Statistics on the official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vuelta a Espana statistics

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

Cycling records and statistics