1994 Vuelta a España Vuelta, were expected to be his main rivals. A total of 17 teams were invited to participate in the 1994 Vuelta a España. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, so the Vuelta began with a peloton of 170 cyclists. Out of the 170 riders that started this edition of the Vuelta a España, a total of 121 riders made it to the finish in Madrid. The 17 teams that took part in the race were: The 1994 Vuelta a España began with a brief individual time trial that circuited the city of Valladolid. The official race route contained
2009 Vuelta a España stages being mountain stages, with four mountaintop finishes. The race was won by Spain's Alejandro Valverde who claimed his first grand tour victory. 29 teams sought places in the race, of which 21 were initially invited to compete. , one of two UCI ProTour teams omitted from the list of invited teams, appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and were subsequently granted the right to enter. are thus the only ProTour team absent from the race. "For details see 2009 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11 and 2009 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21."