Vuelta Ciclista a España

The Vuelta Ciclista a España (also Vuelta a España, or simply Vuelta) is a long-distance bicycle race. The first race was in 1935. The Tour de France and Giro d'Italia were both very successful, and both run by newspaper companies. A newspaper called Informaciones in Spain decided to start a similar race in Spain. It is now one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and, after the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, is the third most important road cycling stage race in the world.

The leader of the Vuelta wore a golden jersey from 1998 until 2010, when it was changed to red

The leader of the race wears the red jersey. This is the same as the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. The leader of the combination classification wears a white jersey. The leader of the mountain climbers' competition wears a white jersey with blue polka-dots. The leader of the sprinters' competition wears a green jersey.

The race was run in the spring until 1995. Since 1995 it has been run in September.

Winners of the Vuelta a España

Vuelta	Year	Winner	Nationality	Team
68	2013	Chris Horner	United States	RadioShack-Leopard
67	2012	Alberto Contador	Spain	Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank
66	2011	Juan José Cobo	Spain	Geox–TMC
65	2010	Vincenzo Nibali	Italy	Liquigas–Doimo
64	2009	Alejandro Valverde	Spain	Caisse d'Epargne
63	2008	Alberto Contador	Spain	Astana
62	2007	Denis Menchov (2)	Russia	Rabobank
61	2006	Alexandre Vinokourov	Kazakhstan	Astana
60	2005	Denis Menchov	Russia	Rabobank
59	2004	Roberto Heras	Spain	Liberty Seguros
58	2003			U.S. Postal
57	2002	Aitor González		Kelme
56	2001	Ángel Casero		Festina
55	2000	Roberto Heras		Kelme
54	1999	Jan Ullrich	Germany	Team Telekom
53	1998	Abraham Olano	Spain	Team Banesto
52	1997	Alex Zülle	Switzerland	Team ONCE
51	1996
50	1995	Laurent Jalabert	France	Team ONCE
49	1994	Tony Rominger	Switzerland	Mapei-Clas
48	1993			Clas-Cajastur
47	1992
46	1991	Melchor Mauri	Spain	Team ONCE
45	1990	Marco Giovannetti	Italy	Seur
44	1989	Pedro Delgado	Spain	Reynolds-Banesto
43	1988	Seán Kelly	Ireland	Kas-Mavic
42	1987	Luis Herrera	Colombia	Café de Colombia
41	1986	Álvaro Pino	Spain	Zor - BH
40	1985	Pedro Delgado		Orbea-MG
39	1984	Éric Caritoux	France	Skil-Reydel-SEM-Mavic
38	1983	Bernard Hinault		Renault-Elf-Gitane
37	1982	Marino Lejarreta	Spain	Teka
36	1981	Giovanni Battaglin	Italy	Inoxpran
35	1980	Faustino Ruperez		Zor-Vereco
34	1979	Joop Zoetemelk	Netherlands	Miko-Mercier-Vivagel
33	1978	Bernard Hinault	France	Renault-Gitane-Campagnolo
32	1977	Freddy Maertens	Belgium	Flandria-Velda-Latina
31	1976	José Pesarrodona		Kas
30	1975	Augustin Tamames		Super Ser
29	1974	José Manuel Fuente		Kas-Kaskol
28	1973	Eddy Merckx	Belgium	Molteni
27	1972	José Manuel Fuente		Kas-Kaskol
26	1971	Ferdinand Bracke	Belgium	Peugeot-BP-Michelin
25	1970	Luis Ocaña		Bic
24	1969	Roger Pingeon	France	Peugeot-BP-Michelin
23	1968	Felice Gimondi	Italy	Salvarani
22	1967	Jan Janssen	Netherlands	Pelforth-Sauvage-Lejeune
21	1966	Francisco Gabica		Kas-Kaskol
20	1965	Rolf Wolfshohl	Germany	Mercier-BP-Hutchinson
19	1964	Raymond Poulidor	France
18	1963	Jacques Anquetil		St.Raphael-Gitane
17	1962	Rudi Altig	Germany	St.Raphael-Helyett
16	1961	Angelino Soler		Faema
15	1960	Franz De Mulder	Belgium	Groene Leeuw
14	1959	Antonio Suarez		Licor 43
13	1958	Jean Stablinski	France	Essor-Leroux
12	1957	Jesus Loroño		Gamma
11	1956	Angelo Conterno	Italy	Bianchi-Pirelli
10	1955	Jean Dotto	France	Vampire-d'Alessandro
1951-1954 No competition held
9	1950	Emilio Rodriguez		Sangalhos
0	1949	No competition held
8	1948	Bernardo Ruiz		Peugeot-Dunlop
7	1947	Edouard Van Dyck	Belgium	Alycon-Dunlop
6	1946	Dalmacio Langarica		Galindo-Cicles Tabay
5	1945	Delio Rodriguez
1943 and 1944 No competition held (World War II)
4	1942	Julian Berrendero		Informaciones
3	1941
1937-1940 No competition held (Spanish Civil War)
2	1936	Gustaaf Deloor	Belgium
1	1935