The 2022 La Vuelta is upon us! HDN previews the stages, teams, riders, and answers all the frequently-asked questions you were afraid to ask.

What is it?

La Vuelta a España is one of the three grand tours of professional cycling. It’s a stage race, comprising 21 stages that traverse different terrain across Spain: flat, hills, mountains. It was first held in 1935, but did not become an annual event until 1955. In recent years the race is usually scheduled for the end of summer from August to September.

The 2022 edition of La Vuelta will be held from August 19 to September 11 and includes a visit to Holland for the first three stages. The route will start in Utrecht, Holland and finish in Madrid, Spain.

How do multi-stage races work?

At La Vuelta teams of riders compete over the course of three weeks, completing one stage of the 21-stage route per day. You must complete each stage to advance to the next one and there is a time cutoff mandating that all riders must complete the stage within a certain amount of time to be eligible to ride the next one. 

Race organizers will plan a route that challenges riders in multiple dimensions. There will be time trial stages to test the time trialists. There will be flat stages to give the sprinters a fast finish. There will be hilly stages to provide opportunities to the breakaway. There will be mountain stages to showcase the climbers and to separate the riders in great form from the riders in good form. 

How do I watch?

Depends on where you live or how nimble you are with a VPN. In Europe you can rely on Eurosport and GCN Race Pass. In the US the NBC Sports and Universal Sports Network is supposed to be carrying the race. In Canada you can stream via FloBikes.

Who are the major contenders?

To be updated as team rosters are announced…

A healthy Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) is far and away the consensus favorite, having won the three previous editions in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Is he healthy after an unlucky and injurious Tour de France?

GC hopeful and Spaniard Enric Mas (Movistar) came in second last year and should be considered a major contender this year. He’d love to win on his home soil. But Roglic’s margin of victory was so dominant in 2021 – 4:42 – that it’s difficult to predict a win for Mas unless something goes wrong for the Slovenian.

What do the riders compete for?

Money (they’re professionals, of course) and prestige. Like other grand tours, La Vuelta uses a jersey system to mark out leaders in different competitive classifications. The major jerseys to compete for include: the red jersey, the green jersey, the polka dot jersey, and the white jersey. Different teams will have different goals when it comes to aiming for the jerseys, more or less realistic based on the talent and health of their personnel.

The red jersey is the most prestigious, representing the leader in the GC competition. The rider with the best overall time as the stage race progresses will wear the red jersey. Compare it to the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.

The green jersey, like in the Tour de France, indicates the leader of the points competition. Riders will earn points depending on how they finish in each stage. Additional points can be earned according to finish at selected sprint zones mid-route.

The polka dot jersey indicates the leader of the King of the Mountains competition. Riders will earn points depending on how they finish certain climbs in certain stages. Not every climb will award points, so KOM riders must be strategic with how they expend their efforts. How many points are awarded can vary as well, but the general principle holds that the more difficult the climb, the more points awarded for getting up first.

Climbs are rated according to difficulty: third category, second category, first category, and high climb finish, from least to most difficult. In addition, there is one climb marked as the Top Alberto Fernandez, the highest point in La Vuelta, which serves as a tie-breaker win in case multiple riders are otherwise tied in the KOM competition.

The white jersey indicates the Best Young Rider. The birthday cutoff to be considered for this jersey competition in the 2022 edition is January 1, 1997.

In addition, there are prizes for the team classification, stage wins, and combativity. Team classification is determined by adding up the overall times of the top three riders of each team. Combativity is awarded to the rider that has put up the “best fight” on each stage.

Who is Tei Tei the Bull?

Tei Tei is a mascot bull introduced in recent years to capture the spirit of the race. He dances, hands out merchandise, makes appearances at the side of the race. Compare him to Maxoo at the Tour de France.