1973 Vuelta a España to win the 1973 Giro d'Italia and became the first cyclist to win the Vuelta-Giro double. Merckx also won the points classification and José Luis Abilleira won the mountains classification. With Merckx finishing first, Ocaña second and Thévenet third the podium of the 1973 Vuelta contained one previous winner and two future winners of the Tour de France making it one of the best podiums in the history of the race, according to the official race website. Gerben Karstens won 4 stages in this Vuelta A total of eight teams were invited to participate in the 1973 Vuelta a España.
2017 Vuelta a España Giro d'Italia in May, as well as both Adam and Simon Yates (both ). The route of the 2017 Vuelta a Espana was revealed by Unipublic on 12 January 2017. Keeping with the tradition of the past few years, the race started off with a team time trial. However, the race started in France, just the third time in history that the Spanish Grand Tour began outside of its home country. The third stage saw the race leave France, with a mountain stage to Andorra la Vella. The first uphill finale was on stage 5, with a summit finish atop