2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Preview
Froome was targeting his second victory in the Tour de France, while Contador was aiming at victory in both the Tour and the Giro d'Italia. Both riders were targeting victory in the race as a test of their form at the beginning of the season. While the riders were seen as being closely matched in the mountains, it was thought that Froome would have an advantage in the time trial.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Preview
Initially, Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) had also intended to start the race at the beginning of his European season, in preparation for the Tour de France. However, following his participation in the Tour de San Luis, Quintana was involved in a crash at the Colombian National Road Race Championships and pulled out of the Vuelta a Andalucía in order to recuperate.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Preview
Other general classification contenders at the race included Jean-Christophe Péraud (AG2R La Mondiale), Bauke Mollema, Fränk Schleck (both Trek Factory Racing) and Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto–Soudal). The favourites for the three likely sprints included John Degenkolb (Team Giant–Alpecin) and Tyler Farrar (MTN–Qhubeka).


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Teams
22 teams were selected to take part in the 2015 event, including 10 UCI WorldTeams.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 1a
Stage 1 was split into two parts: a road stage in the morning and an individual time trial in the afternoon. The morning stage was held over a 118.3-kilometre (74-mile) route from La Rábida to Hinojos. The first part of the course was flat, but the last part was hillier, with the first classified climb of the race and a gradual incline to the finish.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 1a
The early break was formed by Reinier Honig (Team Roompot), Christopher Jones (UnitedHealthcare), Ibai Salas (Burgos BH) and Aleksandr Komin (RusVelo). Their lead never exceeded four minutes, thanks to chasing efforts by the Movistar Team, and they were caught with approximately 40 km (25 mi) remaining. Sander Helven (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise) also put in an attack but was unable to escape from the pack.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 1a
Team Sky led the peloton across the categorised climb and intermediate sprint point, and it seemed likely that the stage would end in a sprint. Crashes, however, eliminated a large number of riders (including all but one of the Lotto–Soudal team) and split the peloton, so none of the sprinters' teams were able to control the conclusion of the race. Pim Ligthart (the one remaining rider from Lotto–Soudal) attacked with approximately 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) remaining and was able to hold off the chasing pack. Fábio Silvestre (Trek Factory Racing) and Grega Bole (CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice) finished second and third. Ligthart took the overall lead of the race and the points competition, while Team Sky took the lead in the mountains classification (with Kanstantsin Sivtsov), the intermediate sprints competition (with Peter Kennaugh) and the team classification.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 1a
Fränk Schleck (Trek Factory Racing) was among the riders affected by the crashes, suffering a muscular injury to his quadriceps, and was forced to abandon the race.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 1b
The afternoon stage was an 8.2-kilometre (5-mile) individual time trial in Coria del Río. Unusually for a time trial, the roads were in poor condition and were very dusty.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 1b
The stage was won by Javier Moreno (Movistar Team), with a time of 9' 51" – his first victory in an individual time trial. Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL–Jumbo) was two seconds back in second place and Jérôme Coppel (IAM Cycling) four seconds back in third. Pim Ligthart lost his race lead; Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo) took the red jersey with Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) on the same time. Chris Froome (Team Sky) finished eight seconds behind Contador in what was the first significant meeting of the two favourites for the 2015 Tour de France.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 2
Stage 2 took the riders 194.7 kilometres (121.0 miles), from Utrera to Lucena. The first part of the course was flat, but it became increasingly hilly towards the end of the race. The one classified climb of the day came within the final 10 kilometres (6 miles), before the riders tackled an uphill section approaching the finish.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 2
There was a five-man breakaway early in the stage, formed of Nicolas Dougall (MTN–Qhubeka), Adrian Honkisz (CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice), Aleksandr Komin (RusVelo), Pirmin Lang (IAM Cycling) and Sjoerd van Ginneken (Team Roompot). They gained a lead of about five minutes, but were caught with 20 km (12 mi) remaining, before the beginning of the final climb.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 2
There were further attacks on the climb, principally from Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), who won the mountains classification points at the summit. Carlos Quintero (Colombia), Mirko Selvaggi (Wanty–Groupe Gobert) and Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) all attacked on the descent, but were controlled by the peloton. Race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo) also attacked on the run to the finish, without success.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 2
John Degenkolb was the favourite to win from the remaining group, but he was surprised by a sprint from 300 metres (980 feet) out by Juan José Lobato (Movistar Team). Degenkolb attempted to chase Lobato, but Lobato won by several bike lengths for his second win of 2015. Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) was in second place before the stage, but could not follow the pace on the final climb and so dropped out of the top 10. Beñat Intxausti (Movistar Team) moved up to second, while Chris Froome (Team Sky) in third place was one of four Team Sky riders in the top 10.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 3
Stage three was a 159.8-kilometre (99-mile) route from Motril to Alto de Hazallanas, the first summit finish of the race. It was regarded beforehand as the first major confrontation between Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo) and Chris Froome (Team Sky). There were two climbs in the first 95 kilometres (59 miles) of the stage, before a long flat section leading up to the final climb. The road got steeper with approximately 15 kilometres (9 miles) remaining, before the climb officially started with 8 kilometres (5 miles) to the finish line.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 3
Tinkoff–Saxo controlled the peloton through most of the day and onto the early slopes of the final climb, reducing the group to 40 riders as they approached the most difficult part. Contador attacked in the early part of the climb, with support from his team mate Ivan Basso. At the moment of Contador's attack, the peloton was in confusion and Froome was not in the main chasing group. Basso and Contador rode away from the rest of the field.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 3
The main chase was led by Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky), Beñat Intxausti (Movistar Team) and Daniel Navarro (Cofidis). After Contador had left Basso behind, he built a lead of 30 to 40 seconds over the group behind, riding without a power meter because of interference from the television motorcycles. Kennaugh was leading this group on behalf of Chris Froome, who had bridged over.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 3
With four kilometres remaining, Froome set off alone in pursuit of Contador, repeating scenes from the 2014 Vuelta a España. Contador won the stage ahead of Froome, who had partially closed the gap, and was now just 19 seconds behind; Bardet was over a minute further back in third place. Contador therefore extended his overall lead to 27 seconds over Froome, still one of four Team Sky riders in the top ten. Contador and Froome, first and second now in general classification, had put significant time into all other competitors. Both leading riders declared themselves pleased with their performances early in the season. Contador was optimistic about retaining his overall lead to the end of the race, while Froome pointed to Contador's plans to ride the 2015 Giro d'Italia as a reason for his better form.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 4
Stage 4 was another summit finish, with the climb of Alto de Allanadas coming after 202.4 kilometres (126 miles) of racing. There were several small climbs before the steep 4.4-kilometre (2.7-mile) climb to the finish, that included sections of around 20% incline. The difficulty was increased by tricky weather conditions, including fog, rain and cold temperatures.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 4
The early part of the stage featured a breakaway of five riders: Edward Theuns (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise), Romain Sicard (Team Europcar), Hugh Carthy (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA), Simon Geschke (Team Giant–Alpecin) and Mirko Selvaggi (Wanty–Groupe Gobert). With 10 kilometres (6 miles) remaining, only Geschke and Selvaggi were left. As Team Sky took up the chase at the foot of the climb, Selvaggi was on his own. Nicolas Roche Team Sky did a long spell riding on the front of the lead group on behalf of Froome; after this, their teammate Peter Kennaugh made a solo attack that brought Selvaggi back. Another Sky rider, Mikel Nieve, then put in a brief attack, before Froome attacked on one of the steepest parts of the climb. Contador was able to stay with Froome for the first 200 metres (656 feet) of his attack, but was then dropped.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 4
Froome then rode solo to the end of the stage, using his power meter to judge his effort, and was able to ride away from Contador. Despite Contador's best efforts, the time gap increased. At the finish line, Froome was 29 seconds ahead of Contador, overturning his 27-second deficit from the start of the stage, thus moving into the overall lead of the race by two seconds. Froome took over the lead in both the overall and mountains classifications, while Contador retained his lead in the points competition.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 5
The final stage of the race was a 170.9-kilometre (106.2-mile) route from Montilla to Alhaurín de la Torre. There was one classified climb on the route, which was fairly hilly throughout. The final part, however, was mostly flat or downhill until the last kilometre, which was uphill.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 5
The day's breakaway was formed by Johnny Hoogerland (Team Roompot), Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA), Songezo Jim, Merhawi Kudus (both MTN–Qhubeka), Rodolfo Torres (Colombia), Maciej Paterski (CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice) and Víctor Martín (Burgos BH). They were unable to form a large advantage, as Movistar Team and Team Giant–Alpecin controlled the race on behalf of Juan José Lobato and John Degenkolb respectively. 7 kilometres (4 miles) from the end of the stage, Paterski was the last rider to be caught by the peloton, then led by Tinkoff–Saxo.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 5
With 1.2 kilometres (0.7 miles) remaining, Edward Theuns (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise) attacked and was able to form a gap back to the peloton, but he was unable to hold on to win the stage. Lobato attacked from the peloton, with Degenkolb following, and was able to take a clear victory. Degenkolb was a second back, with Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) leading the peloton across the finishing line a further second behind.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Stages, Stage 5
Froome and Contador were both towards the front of the peloton in the finale: Contador was prepared to attack if possible, but the climb was not hard enough to allow him to form an advantage. Froome finished sixth on the stage, with Contador on the same time in ninth, so the general classification was unchanged. Froome lost his mountains leadership to Bilbao, who won the sprint at the only climb of the day. Froome, however, did win the points classification by one point ahead of Contador.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Classification leadership table
There were four major classifications in the 2015 Vuelta a Andalucía.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Classification leadership table
The first and most important classification was the general classification. This was calculated by adding together the times of each rider cumulatively across the six stages. There were no bonus seconds awarded. If two riders were tied on the same time, they would be differentiated by the precise time recorded in the individual time trial. The leader of the competition after each stage was awarded a red jersey; the leader of the general classification after the final stage was considered the winner of the race.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Classification leadership table
The second classification was the points classification. After each stage or split stage, the top 15 riders were awarded a number of points (25 for the stage winner, 20 for the rider in second place, down to 1 point for the rider in 15th place). The rider with the most points at the end of the race was the winner of the classification. The points leader wore a blue jersey.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Classification leadership table
The mountains classification was determined by points won at the categorised climbs on the route. There were three categories of climbs: the most difficult climbs won ten points for the first rider to the summit; the winners of second category climbs won six; the winners of third category climbs won three. The rider with the most points was the mountains winner and won the green jersey.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Classification leadership table
There was also an intermediate sprints classification. At each individual sprint, there were points awarded for the first, second and third riders across the line (3, 2 and 1 points respectively). The rider with the most points gained at these intermediate sprints was the winner of the sprints classification, which earned him the white jersey.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Classification leadership table
The teams classification was calculated by taking the best three riders on each team on each stage and adding their times together. The team with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the classification.


2015 Vuelta a Andalucía, Classification leadership table
There were also three minor prizes awarded after the final stage. There were trophies to the best Spanish rider and the best Andalusian rider in the general classification. Finally, here was a trophy for the winner of the combination classification. This was calculated by adding up each rider's position in the general, points and mountains classification. The rider with the lowest number won.


2015 Vuelta a Asturias
The 2015 Vuelta a Asturias was the 58th edition of the Vuelta a Asturias cycling stage race. It was the first edition since 2013, as the race did not take place in 2014 due to financial issues. The race was rated as a 2.1 event as part of the 2015 UCI Europe Tour. The race included two stages: it started on 2 May with a stage from Oviedo to Pola de Lena and finished on 3 May with a stage that started in Soto de Ribera and then finished back in Oviedo. The defending champion was Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA).


2015 Vuelta a Asturias
The race was won by Igor Antón (Movistar Team), who won a solo victory on the first stage then finished in the lead group on the second stage to secure victory by 14 seconds.


2015 Vuelta a Asturias, Stages, Stage 1
2 May – Oviedo to Pola de Lena, 143.6 km (89.2 mi)


2015 Vuelta a Asturias, Stages, Stage 2
3 May – Soto de Ribera to Oviedo, 176 km (109 mi)


2015 Vuelta a Asturias, Classifications
The race included four principal classifications, the leaders of which wore jerseys. The leader in the general classification wore a blue jersey; the leader in the points classification wore a blue jersey; the leader in the mountains classification wore a green jersey; the leader of the intermediate sprints classification wore a black and white jersey.


2015 Vuelta a Burgos
The 2015 Vuelta a Burgos was a men's road bicycle race which was held from 4 August to 8 August 2015. It was the 37th edition of the stage race, which was established in 1946. The race was rated as a 2.HC event and forms part of the 2015 UCI Europe Tour. The race was made up of five stages and was won by Rein Taaramäe of Astana.


2015 Vuelta a Burgos, Teams
A total of 11 teams with 8 riders each will race in the 2015 Vuelta a Burgos: 4 UCI ProTeams, 5 UCI Professional Continental Teams and 2 UCI Continental Teams.


2015 Vuelta a Castilla y León
The 2015 Vuelta a Castilla y León was the 30th edition of the Vuelta a Castilla y León cycling stage race. It started on 17 April in Ávila and ended on 19 April on the climb of Alto de Lubián, after three stages. The race was part of the 2015 UCI Europe Tour, and was rated as a 2.1 event. The defending champion was David Belda (Burgos BH).


2015 Vuelta a Castilla y León
The race was won by Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar), who won a solo victory on the summit finish on the final stage. The Movistar Team riders Beñat Intxausti and Igor Antón were second and third.


2015 Vuelta a Castilla y León, Teams
17 teams were invited to take part in the race. One of these (Movistar Team) was a UCI WorldTeam; three were UCI Professional Continental teams; twelve were UCI Continental teams. The final team was a Spanish national team of track cyclists.


2015 Vuelta a Colombia
The 65th edition of the Vuelta a Colombia was held from 2 to 15 August 2015. The race was won by Óscar Sevilla.


2015 Vuelta a Colombia, Teams
Eighteen teams entered the race. Each team had a maximum of ten riders.


2015 Vuelta a España
The 2015 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling race. The race was the 70th edition of the Vuelta a España and took place principally in Spain, although two stages took place partly or wholly in Andorra, and was the 22nd race in the 2015 UCI World Tour. The 3,358.1-kilometre (2,086.6 mi) race included 21 stages, beginning in Marbella on 22 August 2015 and finishing in Madrid on 13 September. It was won by Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team), with Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) second and Rafał Majka (Tinkoff–Saxo) third.


2015 Vuelta a España
The early leaders of the race were Esteban Chaves (Orica–GreenEDGE) and Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant–Alpecin), who exchanged the leader's red jersey several times during the first ten days of racing, with both riders winning summit finishes in the first week. Aru took over the race lead following the mountainous Stage 11, which took place entirely within Andorra. He kept his lead for five stages as the race entered the mountains of northern Spain, but lost it to Rodríguez on Stage 16.


2015 Vuelta a España
Dumoulin took the lead back on Stage 17 – the race's only individual time trial – with Aru three seconds behind in second place. Aru attacked throughout the final stages and, on the penultimate day, finally dropped Dumoulin, who fell to sixth place overall. Aru therefore took the first Grand Tour victory of his career.


2015 Vuelta a España
The points classification was decided during the final stage and was won by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), while Rodriguez won the combination classification. The mountains classification was won by Omar Fraile (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA). Dumoulin won the combativity award, while Movistar won the team prize.


2015 Vuelta a España, Teams
The seventeen UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited and obliged to attend the race. The organiser of the Vuelta, Unipublic, was also able to invite five UCI Professional Continental teams – the second tier of professional cycling teams – as wildcards. These were announced on 20 March 2015. Caja Rural–Seguros RGA, the only Spanish-registered Professional Continental team, was one of those invited, along with two French teams, Cofidis and Team Europcar. MTN–Qhubeka were invited for the second consecutive year after also securing their first ever entry into the Tour de France. The final team to be invited was Colombia. One prominent team to miss out on an entry was UnitedHealthcare.


2015 Vuelta a España, Teams
The team presentation took place in Benahavís on the evening before the first stage. The number of riders allowed per squad was nine, therefore the start list contained a total of 198 riders. The riders represented 37 different countries, with the largest numbers coming from France (30), Spain (27) and Italy (20). The average age of riders in the Vuelta was 29.13 years, ranging from the 20-year-old Matej Mohorič (Cannondale–Garmin) to the 38-year-old Haimar Zubeldia (Trek Factory Racing).


2015 Vuelta a España, Pre-race favorites
The top four riders from the 2015 Tour de France all chose to start the Vuelta. These were Chris Froome (Team Sky), Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde (both Movistar Team) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), all of whom had previously won Grand Tours. The most notable absentee from among the general classification contenders was Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo), the winner of the 2014 Vuelta. Oleg Tinkov, the owner of the Tinkoff-Saxo team, had challenged Contador, Froome, Nibali and Quintana to attempt to ride all three Grand Tours in 2015; none of the riders took up the challenge. Froome, Nibali and Quintana all declined to ride the Giro and, as Contador was attempting to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour, he did not aim to ride the Vuelta. Valverde and Nibali were the only two previous winners of the race to start the 2015 edition.


2015 Vuelta a España, Pre-race favorites
Froome, who had been second in the 2011 and 2014 Vueltas, had had a strong season, with victories in the Vuelta a Andalucía, the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France. He was attempting to become the first rider since Bernard Hinault in 1978 to win both the Tour and the Vuelta in the same season, though it was expected that he would be tired following his victory in the Tour. The individual time trial was expected to favour Froome, who is strong in the discipline.


2015 Vuelta a España, Pre-race favorites
Before the race, however, Froome was uncertain about his form and his ability to win the race. Quintana's only stage race victory of the season had come in the Tirreno–Adriatico, but he had performed strongly in the Alps in the Tour's final stages, and the mountainous route of the Vuelta was expected to suit him.


2015 Vuelta a España, Pre-race favorites
Vincenzo Nibali, who had won the Vuelta in 2010, had struggled in the opening stages of the Tour, but had recovered to take a stage victory in the final week. The Astana team also included Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa, second and third respectively at the Giro d'Italia; while this made a strong team, it was unclear which rider would be favoured by the team and given the assistance of his teammates.


2015 Vuelta a España, Pre-race favorites
There was a similar situation at Movistar, as Valverde, who had won the Vuelta in 2009 and had finished on the podium on four other occasions, was also in strong form and was well suited to the course. Also among the general classification contenders were Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), Rafał Majka (Tinkoff–Saxo) and Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team).


2015 Vuelta a España, Pre-race favorites
Other notable riders to take part in the race included several sprinters. One of these was Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo), four times the winner of the points classification in the Tour de France and winner of three stages in the 2011 Vuelta, who was preparing for the World Championships road race the following month. Sagan was considered particularly strong on the easier uphill finishes in the first week. John Degenkolb (Team Giant–Alpecin) had won four stages and the points classification in 2014 as well as five stages in 2012. Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), who had crashed out of the Tour, was expected to compete with Degenkolb in the flat sprints.


2015 Vuelta a España, Route and stages
The first announcement of the route for the 2015 Vuelta a España came in October 2014, when Javier Guillén, the race director, announced that the first stage would take place in Puerto Banús near Marbella on 22 August. It had been decided that the stage would be either an individual time trial or a team time trial. More news came the following month, when Guillén revealed that he had been involved in conversations with Chris Froome and had promised him that the race would include a fairly flat individual time trial of around 40 kilometres (25 mi). He also said that the race would feature "explosive finals and summit finishes". The official route announcement came on 10 January 2015 in Torremolinos, along the coast from the start of the first stage in Puerto Banús.


2015 Vuelta a España, Route and stages
The first five stages took place in and around Andalusia in southern Spain; the 2014 Vuelta had also started there. The first stage was a team time trial along the coast from Puerto Banús to Marbella. The next four stages were fairly flat, although Stage 2 finished on a moderately difficult climb. The sixth stage started in Córdoba and finished in Sierra de Cazorla in Jaén on another moderately difficult climb. The seventh stage then returned to Andalusia for the first major difficulty of the race: the first-category summit finish at La Alpujarra.


2015 Vuelta a España, Route and stages
The route then continued along the eastern coast of Spain, with a medium-mountain seventh stage and another first-category summit finish at Benitachell on Stage 9. There was one more medium-mountain stage on Stage 10, taking the riders into the Province of Castellón. This was followed by a transfer that took the riders into Andorra for a three-day spell, beginning with the first rest day.


2015 Vuelta a España, Route and stages
The eleventh stage took place entirely in Andorra; though it was only 138 kilometres (86 mi) in length, it included six categorised climbs, including a summit finish, and was described by Eusebio Unzué (the manager of the Movistar team) as "the toughest Vuelta stage that he has seen in more than 30 years". Stage 12 took the riders back into Spain for a fairly flat stage, before three consecutive stages with summit finishes. These took place in the mountains of Cantabria and Asturias and were followed by the race's second rest day.


2015 Vuelta a España, Route and stages
The final week of the race included no summit finishes: the first stage was a 38.7-kilometre (24.0 mi) individual time trial in Burgos and was then followed by three mixed stages that took the riders nearer to the final stage of the race, a sprint stage in Madrid. For the first time, the race organisers also held a women's race on the same day as the final stage, using the same circuit. This race – called La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta – was won by Shelley Olds.


2015 Vuelta a España, Route and stages
The 2015 Vuelta included nine summit finishes, none of which had previously been used in the race. Unusually, the principal difficulties of the race came in the first two weeks, including all nine summit finishes. It was therefore expected that the climbers would need to attack early in the race, in order to build up a significant lead ahead of the lengthy time trial on Stage 17. The race organisers also hoped to encourage sprinters to take part by including seven fairly flat stages.


2015 Vuelta a España, Route and stages
Each road stage (that is, all the stages except the team time trial and the individual time trial) included an intermediate sprint. This was a point where the leading riders in the stage were awarded points in the points classification and time bonuses in the general classification. Many of the stages also included climbs that were categorised by the race organisers according to their difficulty; the leading riders over each of these climbs were awarded points in the mountains classification, with the most difficult climbs earning the most points.


2015 Vuelta a España, Route and stages
In the days before the beginning of the race, there was controversy over the first stage. On arriving at the start, the teams discovered that the route used a variety of road surfaces, crossed sandy sections and included several ramps. As a result, the race organisers decided to neutralise the stage: the teams therefore competed only for the stage victory and for the team classification, not for the general classification.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
The team time trial was won by BMC Racing Team and Peter Velits took the red jersey as the first rider across the line. Since the stage had been neutralised for the general classification, all 198 riders began the second stage on the same time. The stage finished on a moderate climb, where Esteban Chaves (Orica–GreenEDGE) attacked early and took both the stage victory and the lead of the race.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
A major crash in the final 30 kilometres (19 mi) brought down several riders and most riders in the peloton (the main group) were held up, including Fabio Aru and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana). Aru quickly rejoined the peloton; Nibali was forced to chase for a long time. After the stage, a video emerged of Nibali holding on to his team car as it accelerated him back to the peloton. Nibali was therefore fined and excluded from the race.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
The next stage was a moderately difficult stage that ended in a bunch sprint. Peter Sagan won his first Grand Tour stage in over two years ahead of Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin). The fourth stage again included an uphill finish. This stage was also decided in a sprint finish, this time won by Alejandro Valverde. Sagan, who came second, took over the lead of the points classification. A third consecutive bunch sprint came on the fifth stage, which ended on a slight incline.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
The relatively straightforward stage was won by Caleb Ewan (Orica–GreenEDGE), who was riding his first Grand Tour, ahead of Degenkolb and Sagan. There were splits in the peloton at the finish; Chaves lost six seconds to Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant–Alpecin), who therefore took over the red jersey of the race leader by one second. This lead did not last long. The sixth stage finished on another moderate climb. Chaves again attacked early in the climb and took his second stage victory, with Dan Martin (Cannondale–Garmin) second and Dumoulin third. Chaves therefore took back the red jersey.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
The seventh stage was the most significant uphill finish of the race so far, finishing on the climb of the Alto de Capileira. It was won by Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL–Jumbo) from the breakaway. Most of the general classification favourites finished together, though Fabio Aru gained seven seconds in the final kilometre and Chris Froome lost nearly half a minute. The following stage was a moderately difficult stage: it was too difficult for the pure sprinters to reach the finish line with the main group of riders, but not difficult enough to create gaps between those riding for the overall victory.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
The most notable event was a large crash 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the finish. Four riders were immediately forced to withdraw from the race with injuries, including Dan Martin, who had been in the top ten. The stage was won in a reduced bunch sprint by Jasper Stuyven (Trek Factory Racing), who had been among the riders injured in the earlier crash. He was forced to withdraw from the race after the stage with a broken scaphoid. Stage 9 ended with a difficult climb.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
There was a series of attacks on the early part of the mountain, with many riders dropped from the lead group. Tom Dumoulin eventually took a solo win in the stage, two seconds ahead of Chris Froome, and took back the red jersey as Chaves lost significant time. Froome had originally been dropped, but rode at a steady tempo and came close to the stage victory. Stage 10, the final stage before the first rest day, ended in another bunch sprint, which was won by Kristian Sbaragli (MTN–Qhubeka).


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
The eleventh stage, the first after the rest day, was the difficult stage in Andorra, with six difficult climbs and almost no flat roads. The stage was won from a breakaway by Mikel Landa (Astana). Fabio Aru, Landa's teammate, took second place and moved into the race lead. Chris Froome fell from his bike at the beginning of the stage and lost several minutes to Aru; the following morning it was revealed that he had broken his foot in the fall and he withdrew from the race. Nairo Quintana also lost several minutes on the stage.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
The following stage, which took the riders from Andorra back into Spain, was won in a sprint by Danny van Poppel (Trek Factory Racing) after the day's breakaway was caught in the final kilometre. Van Poppel won the stage despite puncturing his tyre with 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) remaining. The thirteenth stage – the last one before a series of three consecutive summit finishes – was won from a breakaway by Nelson Oliveira (Lampre–Merida), with no impact on the general classification.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
The first of the three summit finishes – Stage 14 – was won by Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing Team), who had been in the day's breakaway. Quintana gained several seconds back, while Aru, Rodríguez, Chaves and Majka all gained time on Dumoulin. Rodríguez attacked strongly on the final climb to win Stage 15 and gained time on all his rivals, putting himself just one second behind Aru. Dumoulin lost further time to Aru, Majka and Chaves.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
The final stage with a summit finish was Stage 16: it was a difficult stage including seven climbs and was won by Fränk Schleck (Trek Factory Racing). On the final climb, Rodríguez gained two seconds on Aru in the final metres to put himself into the race lead for the final rest day, while Dumoulin lost more time and was nearly two minutes back.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
After the rest day came the race's individual time trial. It was won by Dumoulin, who was more than a minute ahead of all the other riders in the race. His time was good enough to put him into the overall race lead. Aru rode strongly, and was only three seconds behind Dumoulin in the general classification after the stage. Rodríguez lost over three minutes to Dumoulin. Majka also lost significant time to Aru and Dumoulin and fell to fourth place.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
Following the time trial, there were three mountainous stages, although none of them had a summit finish. All three were won by riders from breakaways. Nicolas Roche (Sky) won Stage 18, beating Haimar Zubeldia (Trek Factory Racing) in a two-man sprint. After his team had put pressure on the peloton through the whole stage, Aru attacked Dumoulin six times on the final climb, and Valverde put in three more attacks. Dumoulin, however, did not lose any time and retained his three-second lead. Stage 19 ended with a short, cobbled climb into Ávila.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
It was won by Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), who had escaped from the breakaway group on the previous climb. The day's racing also produced another crash: this time Aru fell to the ground. Although he had to make several trips to the medical car, he did not seem seriously injured. At the end of the stage, Dumoulin used his team to put him in a strong position for the cobbled climb and he increased his lead over Aru to six seconds. Stage 20 was the final day of mountainous terrain, including four difficult climbs.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
It was won by Rubén Plaza (Lampre-Mérida) after a 117-kilometre (73 mi) solo breakaway that lasted over three hours. Aru's Astana team rode hard in the second half of the stage and, with a strong team effort, they were eventually able to drop Dumoulin on the penultimate climb of the day; he dropped further back on the final climb and lost nearly four minutes, dropping to sixth place overall. Quintana and Majka gained nearly a minute on the other general classification rivals. This meant that Aru took the race lead, with Rodríguez second and Majka third.


2015 Vuelta a España, Race overview
The final stage of the race was a flat stage that finished in Madrid. It was won in a sprint by Degenkolb. During the stage, Valverde took advantage of a puncture for Rodríguez and won the intermediate sprint to give him the points jersey. Although Aru lost a little time in a split in the peloton at the finish line, the rest of the standings were unchanged. Aru therefore won the race, his first Grand Tour victory.


2015 Vuelta a España, Classification leadership
The 2015 Vuelta a España included four principal classifications. The first of these was the general classification, which was calculated by adding up each rider's times on each stage and applying the relevant time bonuses. These were 10 seconds for the stage winner, 6 seconds for the rider in second, and 4 seconds for the rider in third, and 3, 2 and 1 seconds for the first three riders at each intermediate sprint; no bonuses were awarded on the time trial stages. The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered the overall winner of the Vuelta. The rider leading the classification wore a red jersey.


2015 Vuelta a España, Classification leadership
The second classification was the points classification. Riders were awarded points for finishing in the top fifteen places on each stage and in the top three at each intermediate sprint. The first rider at each stage finish was awarded 25 points, the second 20 points, the third 16 points, the fourth 14 points, the fifth 12 points, the sixth 10 points, down to 1 point for the rider in fifteenth. At the intermediate sprints, the first three riders won 4, 2 and 1 points respectively. The rider with the most points won the classification and wore a green jersey.


2015 Vuelta a España, Classification leadership
The third classification was the mountains classification. Most stages of the race included one or more categorised climbs. Stages were categorised as third-, second-, first- and special-category, with the more difficult climbs rated higher. The most difficult climb of the race, the Alto Ermita de Alba on Stage 16, was given its own category as the Cima Alberto Fernández. Points were awarded for the first riders across the summit of each climb; the rider with the most accumulated points won the classification and wore a white jersey with blue polka dots.


2015 Vuelta a España, Classification leadership
The final individual classification was the combination classification. This was calculated by adding up each rider's position on the other three individual classifications. The rider with the lowest cumulative score was the winner of the classification and wore a white jersey.


2015 Vuelta a España, Classification leadership
The final classification was a team classification. This was calculated by adding together the times of each team's best three riders on each stage. The team with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the classification. There was also a combativity prize awarded on each stage; three riders were chosen on each stage by a race jury to recognise the rider "who displayed the most courageous effort". There was then a public vote to decide which rider should be awarded the prize; the rider wore a red dossard (race number) the following day. An identical procedure took place on the final stage to decide the most combative rider of the whole Vuelta.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
The 2015 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling race that took place principally in Spain between 22 August and 13 September 2015; two stages also took place partly or wholly in Andorra. The first ten stages took the race from Spain's southern Mediterranean coast to Castellón de la Plana on the eastern coast.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
Stage 1 was a team time trial that took place around the Costa del Sol beach resort of Marbella on 22 August. The day before the stage took place, its route was deemed to be dangerous by the race commissaires; the times did not therefore count for the general classification and several teams rode the stage slowly. The second stage was therefore the first whose times counted; it was the first of nine summit finishes in the Vuelta and was won by Esteban Chaves (Orica–GreenEDGE), who took the leader's red jersey. Stages 3, 4 and 5 were hilly sprint stages, won by Peter Sagan (Tinkoff–Saxo), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) and Caleb Ewan (Orica–GreenEDGE) respectively. Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant–Alpecin) took the red jersey after the fifth stage because of a split in the peloton at the finish line.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
The race returned to the mountains on stage 6 with a third-category summit finish. This was again won by Chaves, who therefore regained the race lead. He retained this the following day on the first first-category summit finish of the race. This was won by riders from a breakaway; the significant general classification changes were the several seconds won by Fabio Aru (Astana) and the time lost by Chris Froome (Team Sky), the winner of the 2015 Tour de France.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
Another hilly stage followed: this was won by Jasper Stuyven (Trek Factory Racing) from a sprint, despite breaking his scaphoid earlier in the stage. Several other riders crashed during the stage, including Sagan, who was hit by a race motorbike. The ninth stage was the first before the Vuelta's first rest day and was another first-category summit finish. It was won by Dumoulin just ahead of Froome; Dumoulin took back the red jersey.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11
After a transfer to Andorra and the rest day, the riders took on a very difficult stage at the beginning of the second week. This involved six categorised climbs in just 138 kilometres (86 mi) of racing, with very little flat road between them. The stage was won by Mikel Landa (Astana), with his teammate Fabio Aru moving into the race lead and Rodríguez moving into second, with Dumoulin third. Chris Froome (Team Sky), who had crashed at the very beginning of the stage and ridden the rest of it with a broken foot, withdrew from the race the following morning.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
22 August 2015 — Puerto Banús to Marbella, 7.4 km (5 mi) (TTT)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
The first stage was a flat, 7.4-kilometre (4.6 mi) team time trial along the sea front from Puerto Banús to Marbella. It was scheduled to take place in the evening, with the first team starting at 18:40 and the last team expected to finish at 20:33. Two days before the stage, several riders arrived at the course and raised concerns about safety. Their concerns included the seven changes in road surface, ramps, a section on a rubber mat on the beach and a raised bridge section. Following a meeting between the race organisers, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the riders' union, it was decided to use the original route but to neutralise the stage for the general classification. The teams would, however, race for stage victory and the times would count for the team classification.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
The first team to set a time was MTN–Qhubeka, who set a time of 8' 40". This was soon beaten by the next team to start, LottoNL–Jumbo, who went 22" quicker. Their lead lasted until the eleventh team to start, Orica–GreenEDGE, beat them by 7" to move into the lead. Trek Factory Racing put in a strong ride but were 11" behind Orica–GreenEDGE. Tinkoff–Saxo then moved into the lead by less than a second. BMC Racing Team then beat this time – again by less than a second.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
The remaining teams – including Team Sky, Astana, Movistar Team and Team Katusha – rode carefully and did not attempt to win the stage, as it had no effect on the general classification. BMC therefore won the stage by a narrow margin ahead of Tinkoff–Saxo; this was their second team time trial success in successive Grand Tours after a similarly narrow victory over Sky in the Tour de France.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
Peter Velits was the first BMC rider to cross the finish line and was therefore awarded the red jersey as the leader of the race, although all the 198 riders were on the same time. He attributed the team's victory to the tactic of sacrificing several riders who rode very hard at the beginning of the stage, while the remaining riders held on to set the time. Velits had previous success in the Vuelta: he finished on the podium of the 2010 edition. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) explained after the stage that his team had not attempted to win the stage because it was "quite dangerous" and there were "a lot of vibrations from the different surfaces", with additional difficulty coming from the time trial bikes.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
23 August 2015 — Alhaurín de la Torre to Caminito del Rey, 158.7 km (98.6 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
The second stage was a 158.7-kilometre (98.6 mi) route that included the first summit finish of the race. Most of the stage was fairly flat, with only the third-category Alto de Ardales after 113 kilometres (70 mi) providing any significant difficulty (5 kilometres (3.1 mi) at 4.4%). The finish of the stage, however, was on the third-category Alto de la Mesa. This was 4.7 kilometres (2.9 mi) at an average of 6.5%, including a section of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) at almost 9% and shorter sections of 15%. The stage finished near the Caminito del Rey, one of the most famous sights in Málaga.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
The first crash of the Vuelta came after just 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of racing: Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) was riding at the back of the peloton and crashed on a corner as Movistar rode hard at the front. He suffered abrasions and road rash and was forced to abandon the race. A breakaway escaped approximately 18 kilometres (11 mi) later. It was formed of Nelson Oliveira (Lampre–Merida), Davide Villella (Cannondale–Garmin), Walter Pedraza (Colombia), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL–Jumbo), José Gonçalves (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA) and Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale). Although the six riders were unable to build a significant lead, they did lead over the first climb of the day; Pedraza won the mountain points at the top of the Vuelta's first climb. At this point, the break's lead was about one minute.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
With 30 kilometres (19 mi) remaining, however, there was a large crash in the peloton, delaying a large number of riders. Vincenzo Nibali and Fabio Aru (both Astana) were among the riders caught up in the crash. Aru was quickly given a bike and was soon with the main peloton, but Nibali waited a long time before Giuseppe Martinelli provided him with a new bike. Nibali was then forced to make a long chase to return to the peloton. Another Astana rider, Paolo Tiralongo also crashed and was seen after the incident bleeding from his head. After the team lost Pelucchi early in the day, IAM Cycling's David Tanner was also caught in the crash and suffered a broken pelvis.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
On the climb to the finish, Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar) was the first to attack, but was soon caught by Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who was in a group with Nicolas Roche (Sky) and Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant–Alpecin). After work from his team, Esteban Chaves (Orica–GreenEDGE) attacked and bridged across to the leading three riders. Chaves soon dropped Quintana from the group and, despite an attack from Roche in the final 1 kilometre (0.6 mi), took the stage victory. This was his first ever Grand Tour stage victory and gave him the leader's jersey.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
Dumoulin was second on the stage with Roche third. Dan Martin (Cannondale–Garmin) was fourth, 14" back, with Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) and Quintana a further 12" behind. Chris Froome (Sky) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) came in together 30" behind Chaves, with Aru and all the other contenders further behind. As well as taking the overall lead of the race, Chaves also took the lead in the other three classifications (the points classification, the mountains classification and the combination classification).


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
After the stage, a video emerged of Nibali holding onto his team car as it accelerated away from a group of riders that had been caught up in the crash. The acceleration helped Nibali to rejoin the peloton ahead of the final climb. As a result of the incident, the race jury disqualified Nibali from the race, describing the situation as "really clear". One of the team's directeurs sportifs, Alexander Shefer, was also excluded from taking further part in the race. Nibali apologised for the incident after the race, but also expressed his frustration at having been abandoned by his team.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
24 August 2015 — Mijas to Málaga, 158.4 km (98 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
The third stage of the race was a mixed, 158.4-kilometre (98.4 mi) route from Mijas to Málaga. After 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of flat roads at the start, there was the third-category Alto de Mijas (6 kilometres (3.7 mi) at 7%). Following a long descent, there were 30 kilometres (19 mi) more flat roads, before the first-category Puerto del León (16 kilometres (9.9 mi) at 5.2%). More flat roads followed as the riders approached Málaga along the coast, though there were more small hills in the final 15 kilometres (9.3 mi). The final kilometres were flat, though there was a tight turn with just over 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) to the finish line.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
A breakaway was formed early into the day, without significant chasing. It included eight riders: Natnael Berhane (MTN-Qhubeka), Sylvain Chavanel (IAM), Omar Fraile (Caja Rural), Walter Pedraza (Colombia), Martin Velits (Etixx-Quick Step), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida) and Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo). They had a three-minute lead over the peloton as they crossed the Alto de Mijas, with Fraile taking the mountains points. The first significant incident of the day was Paolo Tiralongo's abandoning the race; he had failed to recover from the crash on stage 2. Fraile also won the second mountain sprint of the day on the Puerto del León to take the lead of the mountains classification.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
Despite the exposed course of the race, there were no significant winds and the most notable incident was the crash of Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) in the main peloton. Bouhanni clashed wheels with Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo) with 44 kilometres (27 mi) to the end of the stage; both returned to the main peloton. Bouhanni was assisted in getting back to the peloton by a "sticky bottle", where his directeur sportif handed him a bottle of water; handing the bottle over took twelve seconds, during which time the team car accelerated, helping Bouhanni in his chase. The incident drew comparisons with the one that had led to Nibali's disqualification the previous day; Bouhanni, however, was fined CHF 100.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
After the intermediate sprint – won by Chavanel – the breakaway broke up, with Tjallingii and Gougeard continuing in the lead; at one point they were 1' 40" ahead of the chasing peloton. The peloton was controlled by Tinkoff-Saxo (riding for Peter Sagan) and Giant-Alpecin (riding for John Degenkolb). The combined pressure of these teams caused Caleb Ewan (Orica–GreenEDGE) to be dropped and the breakaway was caught soon afterwards. Giant-Alpecin led out the sprint, but Sagan and Bouhanni were able to come around Degenkolb and Sagan took the stage victory. The victory was Sagan's first in a Grand Tour in over two years, since stage 7 of the 2013 Tour de France.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
25 August 2015 — Estepona to Vejer de la Frontera, 209.6 km (130.2 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
The fourth stage was a 209.6-kilometre (130.2 mi) route from Estepona to Vejer de la Frontera. The route did not include any categorised climbs. However, it was not expected to suit the sprinters, because there was a sharp incline in the closing part of the stage. With 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) remaining, there was a 1-kilometre (0.6 mi) section at approximately 13%, followed by a flatter section, a short descent and then another incline to the line. The roads used were narrow and twisting; the finale was expected to suit the puncheurs.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
The breakaway was again swift to form in the early part of the stage. It included six riders: Mickaël Delage (FDJ), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Nikolas Maes (Etixx-Quick Step), Jimmy Engoulvent (Europcar), Kristijan Đurasek (Lampre-Merida) and Markel Irizar (Trek Factory Racing). Their lead extended to thirteen minutes early in the stage, but it was quickly cut down by Orica–GreenEDGE along with Movistar and Katusha, to around seven minutes at the halfway point of the stage. Tinkoff–Saxo joined the chase in the second half of the stage and the lead was gradually reduced.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
The most significant moment during the chase came 33 kilometres (21 mi) from the finish, when several riders fell on a tight corner. These included Tejay van Garderen (BMC), who was helped to return to the peloton by his teammates. Another rider caught up in the incident was Ben King (Cannondale–Garmin), who stood by the side of the road waiting for his team to bring him a new bike. While he was waiting, one spectator stole his bicycle computer and another attempted to ride off on his bike, although a mechanical problem stopped him.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
Engoulvent and Irizar attacked from the breakaway and gained a 30-second lead, but they were caught by the peloton before the ascent in the final kilometres. Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto–Soudal) was the first rider to attack; after he fell back, Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural) attacked with 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the finish. He was caught 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) later, at which point Samuel Sánchez (BMC) and Nicolas Roche attacked. They initially had a significant lead, but the incline in the final part of the stage allowed the peloton to come back to them. Sánchez was caught first, with Roche caught in the final 200 metres (660 ft). Alejandro Valverde won the stage, with Sagan second and Daniel Moreno (Team Katusha) third. Roche held on for fourth place on the stage. The stage was the ninth Vuelta stage victory of Valverde's career.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
Chaves retained his red jersey and the white jersey of the combination classification, but Sagan took over the lead of the points classification.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
26 August 2015 — Rota to Alcalá de Guadaíra, 167.3 km (104.0 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
The fifth stage was another fairly flat stage: a 167.3-kilometre (104.0 mi) route from Rota to Alcalá de Guadaíra. Cyclingnews.com described it as "on paper, ... the most straightforward stage of the race". The first part of the course was along the coast, before turning inland towards Jerez de la Frontera then north towards the finish. There was a slight gradient in the final 750 metres (2,500 ft). The principal difficulty in the stage was expected to be the heat, with crosswinds also a possibility.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
The stage started with a solo attack from Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre–Merida). After 19 kilometres (12 mi) of racing, Iljo Keisse (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Antoine Duchesne (Team Europcar) joined him to form a three-man breakaway. The three riders gained a lead of over seven minutes; Giant-Alpecin and Tinkoff-Saxo then began to control the front of the peloton and reduce the breakaway's advantage; with 70 kilometres (43 mi) remaining, Grmay, Keisse and Duchesne had a lead of about five minutes. This was reduced further when Cofidis began to assist in the chase in support of Bouhanni. The breakaway broke up after Grmay stopped contributing to the group's effort: Keisse was visibly annoyed at him, then attacked and went off in a solo move. Grmay and Duchesne were first to be caught; Keisse was then brought back by the peloton inside the final 10 kilometres (6.2 mi).


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
The peloton rode hard on the flat roads approaching the incline at the finish. Astana, Tinkoff-Saxo, Sky and Katusha all contributed at the front of the group before the sprinters' teams took over. MTN-Qhubeka was the first of these, while Cofidis were unable to position Bouhanni correctly. Orica–GreenEDGE, who had not been involved in the chase for most of the stage, came to the front for the final section, with its several tight corners.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
Degenkolb was the first to open the sprint with Sagan on his wheel, but Orica–GreenEDGE's Caleb Ewan was able to come past both of them to take the stage victory. Degenkolb was second and Sagan third. The stage was Ewan's first Grand Tour stage victory: the Vuelta was his first Grand Tour and came in the first year of his professional career.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
There were several splits in the peloton at the finish. Fourteen riders – including Chris Froome, Tom Dumoulin, Samuel Sánchez and Rafał Majka – finished two seconds behind Ewan, with most of the other general classification riders – including Chaves, Valverde, Rodríguez and Aru – a further six seconds back. Dumoulin therefore took over the race lead from Chaves by one second; Chaves retained his lead of the combination classification.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
27 August 2015 — Córdoba to Sierra de Cazorla, 200.3 km (124.5 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
The sixth stage was a 200.3-kilometre (124.5 mi) route from Córdoba to Sierra de Cazorla. The route was consistently undulating, with small hills throughout the first two-thirds. The final third was the most difficult and included two third-category climbs. The first of these was the Alto de Baeza (11.8 kilometres (7.3 mi) at 3.9%), the summit of which came with 55.8 kilometres (34.7 mi) to the end of the stage. Another undulating section was followed by a descent and then a long climb to the finish.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
The road climbed consistently for around 20 kilometres (12 mi) before a short descent and then the climb to the summit finish, the Alto de Cazorla. This final climb was 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) at 6.3% and was expected to produce some of the biggest gaps of the Vuelta so far.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
The day's breakaway took a long time to form. Various riders attacked, but the peloton brought back all the moves for the first 60 kilometres (37 mi) of racing. Eventually a five-rider breakaway was allowed to form, composed of Steve Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka), Peter Velits (BMC), Kristijan Đurasek (Lampre-Merida), Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick Step), and Cyril Gautier (Europcar), and they were soon joined by Miguel Ángel Rubiano (Colombia).


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
The six riders gained a lead of over four minutes, but it was already being brought back by the peloton by the time they reached the Alto de Baeza, where Gautier was the first rider to the summit. Giant-Alpecin (on behalf of Dumoulin) and Movistar controlled the pace at the front of the peloton. With 19 kilometres (12 mi) remaining, as the roads began to go uphill, the lead was under a minute.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
Cummings attacked with 11.5 kilometres (7.1 mi) to the end of the stage and built a lead: with 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the finish line his lead was 48 seconds. Terpstra was the only rider from the breakaway to chase him; the other riders sat up and were caught by the peloton.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
Cummings's lead was slowly reduced by the peloton; he only had a small lead when the categorised portion of the climb started in the final 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi). Esteban Chaves, who was one second behind Dumoulin going into the stage, attacked the peloton with 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) remaining as the roads reached a gradient of 15%. Chaves said after the stage that he was worried that he had attacked too soon and would not be able to keep a lead to the top of the climb. He quickly caught and passed Cummings.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
When the gradient eased with 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) remaining, Dumoulin counter-attacked to try to defend his red jersey. Other attacks came from Dan Martin and from Nicolas Roche, but they were unable to catch Chaves, who held on to take the stage victory. Martin finished second, five seconds behind Chaves, with Dumoulin on the same time. A large group, including all the general classification favourites, finished six seconds further back.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
Chaves's win was his second of the race and the third for Orica–GreenEDGE. With the aid of the time bonuses, he moved into a ten-second lead ahead of Dumoulin and took back the red jersey. He also retained the white jersey of the combination classification. Martin moved into third place overall, 33 seconds behind Chaves. Alejandro Valverde said after the stage that he now considered Chaves a "big rival" for the overall victory.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
28 August 2015 — Jódar to La Alpujarra, 191.1 km (118.7 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
The seventh stage included the most significant summit finish of the race so far. The route started in Jódar and travelled 191.1 kilometres (118.7 mi) to La Alpujarra. The route was generally south, looping around the western part of the Sierra Nevada and finishing on the edge of the mountain range. The roads were up and down all day, though there were only two categorised climbs. The first of these was the Puerto de los Blancares (9 kilometres (5.6 mi) at 3.3%), the summit of which came after 87 kilometres (54 mi).


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
The next 85 kilometres (53 mi) also followed roads that consistently went up and down, with very few flat sections. The final climb started 18.7 kilometres (11.6 mi) before the finish line and had an average gradient of 5%. This was the Alto de Capileira, which was rated as a first-category climb. The climb came in three sections: the first 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) climbed consistently; there were then around 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) of fairly flat roads; the final 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi) were the steepest part of the climb, with sections of around 14% towards the top.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
The breakaway was quick to form, with five riders going on the attack. These were Carlos Quintero (Colombia), Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural), Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Jérôme Cousin (Europcar). The teams in the peloton, especially Orica–GreenEDGE, were not willing to expend significant effort and the gap was nearly eight minutes after 30 kilometres (19 mi) of racing. This increased further and at one point exceeded thirteen minutes. Shortly after this, however, work from Movistar began to reduce the advantage. A large number of riders were dropped from the peloton under Movistar's pressure and the gap fell to five minutes. The pressure continued until the flat section midway up the climb; here their pressure eased and Astana began to take responsibility for the chase.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
Cousin was the first of the riders in the breakaway to attack. Txurruka brought him back, but the acceleration was too much for Quintero, who was dropped from the break. Koshevoy then attacked several times; he dropped Txurruka, but Cousin and Lindeman were able to follow him and the breakaway was reduced to three riders. It was reduced further when there was a collision in the final 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) between Cousin and Koshevoy; Koshevoy was able to continue, but Cousin was dropped from the break. Lindeman attacked with about 200 metres (656 ft) remaining to the finish and took the victory by nine seconds. The victory was Lindeman's first World Tour victory.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
In the main peloton, Dan Martin was the first to attack, but he was quickly brought back by a group of riders. A significant attack then came from Fabio Aru, who immediately won a gap ahead of the other riders in the group. Aru went past Cousin and finished the stage third, 29" behind Lindeman. The main group of general classification riders came in seven seconds behind Aru. Aru's attack, however, had dropped a large number of riders from the group, including Chris Froome, Mikel Landa and Tejay van Garderen. Froome fell out of the top ten. Chaves, however, finished in the main group and retained his lead in the general classification. His sixth-place finish also won him enough points to move into the lead of the points classification. Aru moved up two places into eighth; Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) also entered the top ten.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
29 August 2015 — Puebla de Don Fadrique to Murcia, 182.5 km (113 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
The eighth stage was a 182.5-kilometre (113.4 mi) stage from Puebla de Don Fadrique in the province of Granada to Murcia, the home town of Alejandro Valverde. The first 110 kilometres (68 mi) of the stage were generally downhill. This was followed by a section of flat roads before the riders arrived in Murcia. After passing through an intermediate sprint, the riders left the town for two laps of an 18.7-kilometre (11.6 mi) circuit. This included the third-category climb of the Alto de la Cresta del Gallo (4.2 kilometres (2.6 mi) at 7.5%). After the second lap, there were about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) of flat roads, after which the riders returned to the centre of Murcia for the stage finish. The stage was expected to be too difficult for the sprinters.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
The stage's early breakaway was formed of six riders: Alex Howes (Cannondale-Garmin), Iljo Keisse (Etixx-Quick-Step), Jimmy Engoulvent (Europcar), Tom Van Asbroeck (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jasper De Buyst (Lotto-Soudal), and Ángel Madrazo (Colombia). They built a lead of nearly five minutes, but Giant-Alpecin and Tinkoff-Saxo controlled their advantage throughout. The first major incident of the day was a crash that came 48 kilometres (30 mi) from the finish line, as the peloton approached the first of the day's climbs. This involved more than twenty riders.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
Four riders were forced to withdraw from the race: Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin), Kris Boeckmans (Lotto-Soudal) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis). Van Garderen suffered a broken shoulder and Martin a broken clavicle. Boeckmans had been at the origin of the crash: he was drinking from a bidon when he hit a hole in the road and fell hard to the ground. He suffered a range of injuries, including facial trauma and fractures, a concussion, broken ribs and a pneumothorax; he was taken to hospital and placed in an induced coma. He remained in the coma for over a week; he left hospital several weeks later following major facial surgery. Among the other riders delayed in the crash were Chaves, the race leader, and Jasper Stuyven (Trek Factory Racing).


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
The breakaway's lead was reduced to less than two minutes at the foot of the first climb. Howes attacked alone, with Madrazo following. On the descent, however, Howes fell. He was passed by Madrazo and by the peloton, which had caught the remainder of the breakaway. On the flat section that followed the climb, several groups, including that of Chaves, came back together. Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick Step) attacked, but was soon caught and passed by his teammate Gianluca Brambilla, who was part of a four-man group that formed on the final ascent of the day. Tom Dumoulin attempted to control the peloton on the climb, but there were attacks from various riders including some of the general classification favourites. After the descent, the groups came back together and the lead group was formed of approximately 40 riders.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
Another breakaway was then formed by José Gonçalves (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA), Kenny Elissonde (FDJ) and Alberto Losada (Katusha); although they gained a lead of nearly 20 seconds, they were brought back by Trek and Tinkoff-Saxo. With 8.2 kilometres (5.1 mi) remaining, there was another crash. This involved Peter Sagan, who was hit from behind by a motorbike belonging to the Shimano neutral service team and knocked to the ground with leg injuries. Following the incident, Sagan gestured towards the motorbike and appeared to kick his own bike and to punch the medical car. He was dropped from the lead group and was unable to contest the sprint.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
One last attack came from Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) with 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) remaining, but he was unable to escape the bunch. The stage therefore came down to a sprint, which was won by Jasper Stuyven, with Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA) second and Kévin Reza (FDJ) third. This was the first win of Stuyven's professional career. Except for Dan Martin's withdrawal, there were no significant changes to the standings in the general classification.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
Following the stage, however, it was announced by Trek Factory Racing that Stuyven had suffered a broken scaphoid in the first major crash and he was forced to withdraw from the race. Sagan was also forced to abandon the Vuelta after the stage, as he had suffered cuts and burns on his left side and a contusion in his left arm. Sagan was also fined €300 for his behaviour following the crash, while the rider of the motorbike was excluded from the remainder of the Vuelta.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
30 August 2015 — Torrevieja to Cumbre del Sol, Benitachell, 168.3 km (105 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
The ninth stage took the riders 168.3 kilometres (104.6 mi) along the coast (the Costa Blanca) from Torrevieja to a summit finish on the Alto de Puig Llorença (also known as the Cumbre del Sol) outside Benitachell. The first 130 kilometres (81 mi) of the stage were fairly straightforward, with no significant climbs. After this, however, the riders entered a complex sequence of roads around the finishing town. First they climbed the first 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) of the Alto de Puig Llorença, then descended for a 40-kilometre (25 mi) loop to the north of Benitachell. They then returned to the same roads that they had used earlier, but continued for the full length of the climb (4.1 kilometres (2.5 mi) at 8.9%). The climb was expected to suit the punchy climbers.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
The early breakaway included fourteen riders. These were Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Nikolas Maes, Pieter Serry and Maxime Bouet (all Etixx-Quick Step), Geraint Thomas (Sky), Lorenzo Manzin (FDJ), Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre-Merida), Yoann Bagot (Cofidis), Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo), Omar Fraile (Caja Rural), Tony Hurel (Europcar), Danny van Poppel (Trek Factory Racing), Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Songezo Jim (MTN-Qhubeka). The breakaway's lead was over five minutes at one point, but was gradually reduced as the peloton approached the final climb of the day; Katusha did most of the work through the day on behalf of Joaquim Rodríguez. The breakaway led over the first, partial climb of the Alto de Puig Llorença, with Fraile the first to the top of the climb to extend his lead in the mountains classification.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
The breakaway was eventually caught at the bottom of the final climb. Valverde, who had crashed earlier in the day, was the first to attack. As soon as he was caught, his teammate Nairo Quintana put in his own attack. These attacks dropped Chris Froome from the front group. Dumoulin was the next to attack, seeking to take back the race lead from Chaves. Chaves and Quintana initially followed him, but were soon dropped. Valverde was also unable to follow the pace, but Froome had kept a steady pace and by this point was leading the chase of Dumoulin.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
Dumoulin led the race under the flamme rouge with Froome chasing; Rodríguez was by this point the only rider able to stay with Froome. As soon as the two riders caught Dumoulin, Froome attacked again and briefly held the lead. Dumoulin was stronger in the final, steep 200 metres (660 ft). He caught Froome and came around to take the stage win and the race lead, finishing 2" ahead of Froome. Rodríguez was a further 3" behind, with significant time gaps to the other general classification riders. Chaves finished in fifteenth place, nearly a minute behind Dumoulin, and fell to third on the general classification.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
31 August 2015 — Valencia to Castellón de la Plana, 146.6 km (91 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
The tenth stage was the final one before the first rest day. It was a 146.6-kilometre (91.1 mi) route from Valencia to Castellón de la Plana. The stage again travelled north between two coastal towns; this stage, however, took an inland, hillier route. The first of the day's two climbs was the third-category Puerto del Oronet (6 kilometres (3.7 mi) at 4.4%). After the descent from the climb, there were more hilly roads before another descent to sea level.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
There were then around 40 kilometres (25 mi) of flat roads, taking the riders through Castellón and out again to the north, before the day's second climb. This was the second-category Alto del Desierto de las Palmas (7 kilometres (4.3 mi) at 5.6%). From the top of the climb there were 17 kilometres (11 mi) of descent and flat roads to the finish line. The stage was expected to suit the sprinters.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
The breakaway took some time to form; on the first climb of the day, a group of 40 riders went clear, including at least one rider from every team in the race. The group was never allowed to get clear, with Giant-Alpecin and Movistar determined to set up the stage victory for their sprinters. The breakaway's lead was consistently around one minute, with various riders dropping back to the main group and others attacking. The breakaway was caught with 55 kilometres (34 mi) remaining in the stage.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
Niki Terpstra attacked, as he had done on several other stages, but was not able to escape the peloton, which came into the final climb together. Nicolas Roche (Sky) was involved in a crash on a roundabout and received treatment from the medical car as his teammates helped him back into the main pack.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
There were several attacks on the climb. The first of these came from Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), with Romain Sicard (Europcar) following him. A second attack came from Kenny Elissonde (FDJ) and Jérôme Coppel (IAM Cycling). Elissonde caught and passed Sicard and De Marchi and set off alone. Another attack came from Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-Quick Step), while Dumoulin himself was leading the peloton in order to defend his race lead and set up the sprint for Degenkolb, his teammate. De Marchi and Sicard caught Elissonde at the top of the climb, where they were around 30" ahead of the peloton. Sergio Henao (Sky) who had suffered a puncture before the climb and was riding hard to get back into the peloton, crashed on the descent and lost his bike over the side of the road; he lost several minutes and fell from fourteenth place overall to twenty-sixth.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
At the foot of the climb, the leading group only had a small advantage over the peloton and were soon caught. There were no lead-out trains in the final kilometres, with fewer than 60 riders left in the group. Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Soudal) was the first to sprint, but Kristian Sbaragli (MTN-Qhubeka) came past him and took the stage victory. Degenkolb was the quickest in the final metres, but he had been badly positioned and was only able to finish second. José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar) finished third. The stage was Sbaragli's first win in over two years. It was the second win of his career and the first in a Grand Tour.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
2 September 2015 — Andorra la Vella to Cortals d'Encamp, 138 km (86 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
The eleventh stage came after the first rest day of the Vuelta and a transfer to Andorra la Vella. Although a short stage at just 138 kilometres (86 mi), it was very difficult, with six categorised climbs and few flat roads. It started in Andorra la Vella and immediately climbed the first-category Collada de Beixalis (6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) at 8.7%).


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
After the descent and some false flat, the riders climbed the first-category Coll D'Ordino (9.9 kilometres (6.2 mi) at 7%), followed by another long descent past Andorra la Vella and onto the next first-category climb, the Coll de la Rabassa (13.8 kilometres (8.6 mi) at 6.6%). Following the descent, the riders climbed the hardest climb of the day, the especial-category Collada de la Gallina (11.7 kilometres (7.3 mi) at 8.5%).


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
After the descent, the riders once again went past Andorra la Vella (this time climbing the second-category Alto de la Cormella on the way) to reach the foot of the final climb. This was the Alto Els Cortals d'Encamp and was 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi) at 9.1%. The stage was designed by Joaquim Rodríguez; before the stage, he described it as "dramatic". The manager of Movistar, Eusebio Unzué, described it as "the toughest Vuelta stage that he has seen in more than 30 years". Javier Guillén, the race director, agreed, describing it as "possibly the hardest stage we have ever put together in terms of the amount of climbing involved".


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
The first significant moment came in the approach to the Collada de Beixalis, the first climb of the day. Chris Froome hit a wooden barrier and then a wall, injuring his left shoulder and knee and his right foot. He was dropped from the lead group and, with the help of teammates, started a long chase back to the leading group. The first riders to attack were Romain Sicard (Europcar) and Darwin Atapuma (BMC); they were followed by seventeen other riders, including Fraile, the leader of the mountains classification. They led over the summit of the climb, with Fraile the first over the summit to extend his lead in the classification. Froome regained contact with the main group on the descent from the climb.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
There was another significant incident at the bottom of the first climb. This involved Sérgio Paulinho (Tinkoff-Saxo): he collided with a race motorbike, causing significant cuts to his leg. Paulinho first attempted to continue riding; he was then treated by the race doctor, who put staples in his leg. He lay down on the road for treatment. Although he attempted to continue riding, he was forced to withdraw from the race just before the summit of the climb; he then went to hospital and received seventeen stitches.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
Paulinho's teammate Peter Sagan had also been hit by a motorbike on stage 8 and the team had issued a statement calling for an apology from the race organisers and measures to prevent such incidents. Following Paulinho's incident, Oleg Tinkov, the team's owner, suggested on Twitter that the team may withdraw from the race; a statement from the team after the stage said, "the team will consider whether it is safe to continue racing under the current arrangements".


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
Rubén Plaza (Lampre-Merida) led the breakaway over the second climb of the day, with Fraile second. The breakaway was around two minutes ahead of the peloton. Imanol Erviti (Movistar) attacked on the descent and led the race solo for some distance; he was first to reach the summit of the next climb, the Coll de la Rabassa, with Fraile again second. He was eventually brought back by work from Mikel Landa (Astana) on the descent.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
On the Coll de la Gallina the breakaway broke up: the lead group was formed of Landa and Fraile, along with Ian Boswell (Sky), Romain Sicard (Europcar), Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida), Darwin Atapuma (BMC) and Paweł Poljański (Tinkoff-Saxo). Fraile was first over the summit. The climb also caused difficulty in the main group: Chris Froome was unable to stay in the group; his injured shoulder was treated at the medical car and he was then guided through the rest of the stage by Geraint Thomas. Froome lost two minutes on the climb. Nicolas Roche was also dropped from the lead group and Mikel Nieve took over the leadership of Team Sky.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
On the descent, Valverde and Rodríguez attacked and were joined by teammates from the breakaway. They had a 40-second advantage over a group containing Dumoulin and Fabio Aru. Aru's teammate Dario Cataldo was able to bring him back to Valverde and Rodríguez; Dumoulin was then also able to return to the group.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
Landa attacked the breakaway at the bottom of the final climb, while Aru attacked the group of favourites at approximately the same point. Aru was followed by Valverde and Rodríguez, but another attack 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the finish left him alone. Landa, meanwhile, had taken his team radio earpiece out and was ignoring instructions from his team to drop back and assist Aru. Landa rode alone to the top of the climb and took the stage victory.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
Aru caught and passed Ian Boswell – the only other rider remaining from the breakaway – and finished the stage 1' 22" behind Landa. Boswell took third place, while Rodríguez was the first of Aru's general classification rivals to finish, 37" behind him. Tom Dumoulin and Esteban Chaves finished together, losing nearly two minutes. Aru therefore took the lead of the general classification, 27" ahead of Rodríguez, with Dumoulin 3" further back in third.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
Quintana was also dropped on the climb, losing nearly three minutes to Aru, and fell to ninth on the general classification; he later revealed that he had been suffering from a fever. Froome, meanwhile, finished nearly nine minutes down and struggled to put weight on his foot after the stage. An MRI scan revealed a break in his foot and he withdrew from the Vuelta the following morning.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
The 2015 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling race that took place principally in Spain between 22 August and 13 September 2015; two stages also took place partly or wholly in Andorra. The final ten stages took the race from the mountains of Andorra to the conclusion of the Vuelta in Madrid. After the first eleven stages, Fabio Aru (Astana) held the race lead, around half a minute ahead of Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) and Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant–Alpecin).


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
Stage 12 was a flat stage, won by Danny van Poppel (Trek Factory Racing). Stage 13 was won by Nelson Oliveira (Lampre–Merida) from the breakaway; it was followed by a series of three consecutive summit finishes. The first of these was won by Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing Team), as Aru and Rodríguez gained time on Dumoulin. Rodríguez won stage 15, putting him just one second behind Aru, while Dumoulin again lost significant time. Stage 16 was the final summit finish of the race and the final stage of the second week. It was won by Fränk Schleck (Trek Factory Racing), again from the breakaway. Rodríguez gained further time on Aru and took over the race lead, though only by a single second, while Dumoulin again lost time. The following day was a rest day.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
The final week of the race began with an individual time trial on stage 17. This was Dumoulin's speciality and he won the stage by over a minute, with all his rivals for the general classification even further behind. He moved into the race lead, three seconds ahead of Aru, while Rodríguez dropped to more than a minute off the race lead. The subsequent three stages were all won by the breakaway, with Aru and his team trying to attack Dumoulin throughout. They were won by Nicolas Roche (Team Sky), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) and Rubén Plaza (Lampre–Merida) respectively.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
Plaza's victory came after a 117-kilometre (73 mi) solo breakaway. On the same stage, Aru was finally able to escape from Dumoulin, who lost nearly four minutes and fell to sixth place, while Aru took the overall lead. Stage 21, the final stage of the race, was a sprint stage that took the riders into Madrid. It was won by John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), while Aru sealed his overall victory ahead of Rodríguez and Rafał Majka (Tinkoff–Saxo).


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
3 September 2015 — Escaldes-Engordany, Andorra to Lleida, 173 km (107 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
Stage 12 started in Escaldes-Engordany, on the outskirts of Andorra la Vella, but the riders immediately left Andorra to return to Spain for the remainder of the Vuelta. The stage was much flatter than the previous day: there was just one categorised climb on the route. This was the second-category Coll de Bóixols (15.8 kilometres (9.8 mi) at 5%). The summit came after 55 kilometres (34 mi) of racing, with 118 kilometres (73 mi) to the finish line.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
The remainder of the stage was mostly flat, and the finish was relatively uncomplicated: there were 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) of straight roads leading into Lleida, with only two roundabouts. The stage was expected to suit the sprinters, as their teams would have plenty of time after the climb to catch a breakaway.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
Despite Oleg Tinkov's threat to pull Tinkoff–Saxo from the race, all the teams started the race in Andorra, with Chris Froome (Team Sky) the only rider not to start the stage. The day's breakaway was fairly quick to form: Maxime Bouet (Etixx–Quick-Step), Miguel Ángel Rubiano (Colombia), Jaco Venter (MTN–Qhubeka), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL–Jumbo) and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) escaped early in the stage. Bouet was the best-placed of the riders on the general classification, over twenty minutes behind Fabio Aru (Astana). They led over the Coll de Bóixols (Bouet was the first to the summit) and built a three-minute lead over the peloton. Astana were unwilling to commit to the chase, so the peloton was generally led by Team Giant–Alpecin and Trek Factory Racing.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
The five riders in the breakaway rode strongly and the peloton was forced to ride hard all day to chase down their lead. With 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) remaining, the breakaway had a lead of 1' 20". A few kilometres later, the lead was under a minute. Trek Factory Racing's efforts stopped around 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from the end of the stage, when their sprinter Danny van Poppel suffered a flat tyre. After a conversation with the team, van Poppel decided to change his wheel. He then chased back into the peloton through the team cars and several teammates helped him back to the front of the group; other riders remained at the front to chase the breakaway down after van Poppel had rejoined the group.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
With 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) remaining, the breakaway had not been caught and still had a lead of 20". Bouet and Gougeard both attacked and were brought back. Venter then attacked in the final 1 kilometre (0.62 mi), with only Bouet able to follow, but they were caught by the peloton as the road rose to the finish line. The sprint was disorganised, with only LottoNL–Jumbo attempting to control it. Daryl Impey (Orica–GreenEDGE) sprinted first; van Poppel followed and came around him to take the stage victory. Impey held on to take second place with Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto–Soudal) third. The victory was van Poppel's first Grand Tour stage victory. All the general classification riders finished in the peloton with the standings unchanged.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
4 September 2015 — Calatayud to Tarazona, 178 km (111 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
The thirteenth stage was the last before three consecutive summit finishes. The stage covered a 177-kilometre (110 mi) route from Calatayud to Tarazona. There were three categorised climbs: the third-category Alto Collado de Oseja (8.2 kilometres (5.1 mi) at 3.7%) and the first-category Alto de Beratón (10.9 kilometres (6.8 mi) at 4.7%) came in the first half of the stage; the final climb was the third-category Alto de Moncayo (8.5 kilometres (5.3 mi) at 4.5%), the summit of which came with 33.5 kilometres (20.8 mi) to the finish. The stage was expected to suit riders from a breakaway.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
As the breakaway was expected to win the stage, the day's racing began with strong competition to get into the move. At one point a group of about 50 riders – more than a quarter of the peloton – was in a lead group, but this was caught before the Alto Collado de Oseja. Sylvain Chavanel (FDJ) initiated the main move of the day on this first climb.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
Chavanel was then joined by seven other riders: Nelson Oliveira and Rubén Plaza (both Lampre–Merida), Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), Mikaël Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale), Jérôme Coppel (IAM Cycling) and Cameron Meyer (Orica–GreenEDGE). Plaza was the first of the group to cross the summit of the climb. Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who had been in eighth place before the stage, was dropped from the peloton on the climb; his teammates were able to bring him back to the group after the summit.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
A second group, containing 16 riders, had formed on the road. These were Sergio Henao and Nicolas Roche (Sky), Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r-La Mondiale), David Arroyo (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA), Yoann Bagot and Julien Simon (Cofidis), Niki Terpstra and Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx–Quick-Step), Kenny Elissonde and Kévin Reza (FDJ), Valerio Conti (Lampre–Merida), Maxime Monfort (Lotto–Soudal), José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar), Steve Cummings (MTN–Qhubeka), Romain Sicard (Europcar) and Paweł Poljański (Tinkoff–Saxo). On the climb of the Alto de Beratón, the two lead groups came together to make a 24-man breakaway. Sicard and Brambilla were the two best-placed riders in the breakaway, over six minutes behind Aru, and their presence forced Astana to keep the breakaway within reach; on the descent the lead was around four minutes.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
The breakaway stayed together until the final climb. Chavanel and Oliveira were the first to attack, but Poljański was able to come past them and led solo at the top of the climb. He was caught before the descent, however, whereupon Oliveira attacked again. He reached speeds of around 70 km/h (43 mph) and had opened up a large lead by the foot of the descent. Oliveira rode the final 30 kilometres (19 mi) of the stage alone – using his strong time-trialling skills – and was able to maintain his advantage.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
He was aided by Plaza and Conti, who marked the attacks that came from the rest of the group, and took a solo stage victory. Simon won the sprint for second place, with Roche in second, as the group finished a minute behind Oliveira. This was the first Grand Tour stage win of Oliveira's career.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
Towards the end of the stage, there was an attack in the main peloton from Gediminas Bagdonas (AG2R La Mondiale); he finished 4' 43" behind Oliveira. Cycling Weekly described his attack as "strange" and suggested that he had briefly thought he could take the stage victory himself. The rest of the peloton came in five seconds later. The top eight in the general classification were unchanged; Quintana and Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka) dropped out of the top ten, however, with Sicard and Brambilla moving up thanks to their presence in the day's breakaway.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
5 September 2015 — Vitoria-Gasteiz to Alto Campoo, Fuente del Chivo, 215 km (134 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
The fourteenth stage was the first of three consecutive summit finishes. It began in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque Country, and took the riders 215 kilometres (134 mi) to Alto Campoo. The stage included three categorised climbs, all of which came in the second half of the stage. The first 105 kilometres (65 mi) of the stage took the riders west, before the riders reached the first categorised climb. This was the third-category Puerto Estacas de Trueba (11 kilometres (6.8 mi) at 2.9%).


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
After the descent, the riders immediately climbed the first-category Puerto del Escudo (11.5 kilometres (7.1 mi) at 6.4%). There was then a flat section of around 40 kilometres (25 mi) that took the riders to the foot of the final climb. This was the Alto Campoo (18 kilometres (11 mi) at 5.5%). The climb was fairly regular and, though long, was not particularly steep and was not expected to result in large gaps between the general classification riders.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
There was again aggressive racing for the first hour to get into the breakaway. Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) attacked three times during this period. The third attack came after 50 kilometres (31 mi) and ended up forming the day's main breakaway. De Marchi was joined by Salvatore Puccio (Sky), José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar), Mikaël Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale) and Carlos Quintero (Colombia). Cherel was the best-placed rider on the general classification; he was, however, over an hour down, so there was no urgent need for the peloton to chase.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
At the top of the first climb, the five riders had a lead of over eight minutes. This extended to nearly ten minutes following the descent and was still over nine minutes at the base of the day's final climb. Cherel was the first to attack and Puccio was the first of the riders to be dropped, though he quickly came back to the group. De Marchi pulled the other three riders back to Cherel, whereupon attacks came from Puccio and Rojas. De Marchi dropped Cherel and Quintero, then caught Rojas. With 900 metres (3,000 ft) remaining, he passed Puccio and went on to take the stage victory. Puccio finished 21 seconds further back in second place, with Rojas another 11 seconds behind in third.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
Astana, meanwhile, led the peloton in support of Aru. Luis León Sánchez and Mikel Landa were the first to apply pressure on the climb; Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant–Alpecin) was isolated from most of his teammates as the group was reduced to around 40 riders. Dario Cataldo took over and, when he tired, Aru attacked and only Quintana was able to follow for long. Rodríguez and Chaves were eventually able to catch Aru and Quintana. Quintana attacked on the steepest portion of the climb; he crossed the finish line 3' 32" behind De Marchi in sixth place on the stage. Rodríguez was six seconds behind, with Chaves and Aru a further second back. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Dumoulin finished together, 19 seconds behind Aru. Dumoulin was therefore now 49 seconds behind Aru overall.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
6 September 2015 — Comillas to Sotres, Cabrales, 175.8 km (109.2 mi)


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
The fifteenth stage was the second of three consecutive stages with summit finishes. It was a 175.8-kilometre (109.2 mi) route from Comillas to Sotres. The first 105 kilometres (65 mi) of the stage were fairly flat. The first climb was the second-category climb of the Alto del Torno (10.1-kilometre (6.3 mi) at 3.2%). The descent was followed by around 20 kilometres (12 mi) of flat roads before the uncategorised climb at Ortiguero. This was followed by more flat roads leading to the base of the final climb, which started after 163 kilometres (101 mi). This was the first-category Alto de Sotres (12.7 kilometres (7.9 mi) at 7.9%). The climb was mixed, with a steep first section, followed by around one kilometre (0.62 mi) of false flat, a section of around 7% and then a very steep final section.


2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
The breakaway again took a long time to form. The peloton had covered around 50 kilometres (31 mi) before a nine-rider group formed. The riders were Blel Kadri (AG2R-La Mondiale), Ricardo Vilela (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA), Dominique Rollin (Cofidis), Brayan Ramirez (Colombia), Nikolas Maes (Etixx-Quick Step), Natnael Berhane (MTN-Qhubeka), Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Maarten Tjallingii (Lotto NL-Jumbo), and Haimar Zubeldia (Trek Factory Racing). The breakaway was chased hard by Movistar, who were working to improve Nairo Quintana's overall position in the race and their lead never went over five minutes. After Rollin was the first to the summit of the Alto del Torno, the lead dropped quickly; the breakaway had just two minutes' lead at the base of the final climb.