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
2012 Vuelta a España of , who finished second in the 2012 Giro d'Italia, Igor Antón of , Jurgen Van den Broeck of , Damiano Cunego of and Robert Gesink of . Riders who could have made the top ten included Froome's Colombian teammates at , Rigoberto Urán and Sergio Henao, 's Bauke Mollema, 's Maxime Monfort, 's Thomas De Gendt and 's Nicolas Roche. For details see 2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 1 to Stage 11 and 2012 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21 There were four main classifications contested in the 2012 Vuelta a España, with the most important being