Vuelta a Espana jerseys explained - Part 1
Vuelta a Espana 2011 is starting on August 20 as cyclists will ride across Spain for three weeks in a grueling competition. It one of the three Grand Tours including Tour de France and Giro d’ Italia and was started in 1935 after the big success
of Tour de France and Giro d’ Italia
Vuelta a Espana was started in 1935 however since 1955 it is held regularly every year and in 1935 a total of 50 cyclists participated in the event to compete in a 14 stage competition extending up to 3,411 kilometres across Spain.
Race is divided into stages and each day starts with a new stage. There are rest days in the middle of the stages as the two rest days in Vuelta a Espana 2011 are after stage 10 and stage 15. The routes of the race have changed every year as cyclists discover
different parts of Spain.
Race starting on August 20 will conclude on September 11 as cyclists will ride through a total of 3295 kilometres before the top positions for the podium will be decided.
There are four jerseys used in Vuelta a Espana that indicates the different classification of the cyclists. Four different coloured jerseys are hence used to identify the overall race leader, the best climber or the King of Mountains, the best sprinter of
the stage and the last one is the ‘all rounder’ jersey.
1. The overall leader of the race wears the red jersey which has been white, yellow and orange in the past years. The leading rider of the race after the general classifications is honoured with this jersey, in other words cyclist who finishes
every stage in the minimum amount of time is considered as the race leader.
The most Vuelta a Espana victories are by the Swiss professional Tony Rominger and Spaniard Roberto Heras as they both have won the Grand tour three times each and Tony also holds a record of winning the event three times consecutively. Both cyclists hold
the record of wearing the leader’s jersey for a maximum of three times.
Vuelta a Espana’s leaders jersey has been mostly dominated by Spanish cyclists as 23 Spaniards have won the Vuelta 29 times followed by France who has won the Spanish Grand Tour for 9 times with Belgians on third position with seven times.
2. Points classification is also considered as the secondary classification in Vuelta and was introduced in 1945 and it is the top prize for the sprinters and is commonly termed as Sprint Classification as cyclists are awarded points for
winning the intermediate sprints and also for high finishes. Winner of the point classification wears the green jersey and all the good sprinters in the race sets their eyes on this classification as it is the second highly ranked jersey in the Vuelta a Espana.
Wearing the points classification jersey in two Grand tours during a same year is also known as ‘Natural doubles’ and has only been achieved by few. In 1994 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov won the points classification in The Tour de France and Giro d’ Italia.
Eddy Merckx in 1973 managed his natural doubles as he won the Giro and Vuelta in the same year.
Continued in Part 2
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