The 58th edition of the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 6 September to 28 September 2003. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Roberto Heras of the U.S. Postal cycling team.
Isidro Nozal lead the general classification for much of the race until succumbing to the pressure posed by Roberto Heras who closed the gap to Nozal over the final days and took the jersey in the final time trial. The points classification was won by Erik Zabel from Germany, the mountains classification was won by Félix Cárdenas from Colombia and the combination classification was won by Alejandro Valverde. iBanesto.com was the winner of the team ranking. Alessandro Petacchi, an Italian sprinter won five stages.
Teams and riders
Route
+List of stages Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 6 September Gijón to Gijón Team time trial 2 7 September Gijón to Cangas de Onís 3 8 September Cangas de Onís to Santander 4 9 September Santander to Burgos 5 10 September Soria to Zaragoza 6 11 September Zaragoza to Zaragoza Individual time trial 7 12 September Huesca to Cauterets (France) 8 13 September Cauterets to Pla de Beret/Val d'Aran 9 14 September Vielha to Envalira (Andorra) 10 15 September Andorra to Sabadell 16 September Rest day 11 17 September Utiel to Cuenca 12 18 September Cuenca to Albacete 13 19 September Albacete to Albacete Individual time trial 14 20 September Albacete to Valdepeñas 15 21 September Valdepeñas to La Pandera 22 September Rest day 16 23 September Jaén to Sierra Nevada 17 24 September Granada to Córdoba 18 25 September Las Rozas to Las Rozas 19 26 September Alcobendas to Collado Villalba 20 27 September San Lorenzo de El Escorial to Individual time trial 21 28 September Madrid to Madrid Total
Jersey Progress Stage Winner General classification Points classification Mountains classification Combination classification Team classification 1 ONCE–Eroski Igor González de Galdeano Igor González de Galdeano Jan Hruška Igor González de Galdeano ONCE–Eroski 2 Luis Pérez Joaquim Rodríguez Joaquim Rodríguez Luis Pérez Luis Pérez 3 Alessandro Petacchi 4 Unai Etxebarria Isidro Nozal David Etxebarria Félix Cárdenas Isidro Nozal 5 Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi 6 Isidro Nozal 7 Michael Rasmussen 8 Joaquim Rodríguez Joaquim Rodríguez Joan Horrach 9 Alejandro Valverde Isidro Nozal Félix Cárdenas 10 Erik Zabel Alessandro Petacchi Alejandro Valverde 11 Erik Zabel Erik Zabel 12 Alessandro Petacchi Isidro Nozal 13 Isidro Nozal 14 Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi 15 Alejandro Valverde Erik Zabel Alejandro Valverde 16 Félix Cárdenas 17 David Millar 18 Pedro Diaz Lobato 19 Filippo Simeoni 20 Roberto Heras Roberto Heras Alejandro Valverde iBanesto.com 21 Alessandro Petacchi Erik Zabel Final Roberto Heras Erik Zabel Félix Cárdenas Alejandro Valverde iBanesto.com
General classification RankRiderTeamTime1 Roberto HerasU.S. Postal 69h31'52"2 Isidro NozalONCE–Eroski '28"3 Alejandro ValverdeKelme–Costa Blanca 2'25"4 Igor González de GaldeanoONCE–Eroski 3'27"5 Francisco ManceboiBanesto.com 4'47"6 Manuel BeltránU.S. Postal 5'51"7 Michael RasmussenRabobank 5'56"8 Félix CárdenasLabarca 2-Cafe Baque 6'33"9 Unai OsaiBanesto.com 6'52"10 Luis PérezCofidis 7'56"11 Santos GonzálezDomina Vacanze–Elitron 9'08"12 Óscar SevillaKelme–Costa Blanca 9'52"13 Michele ScarponiDomina Vacanze–Elitron 10'13"14 Marcos SerranoTeam ONCE 12'51"15 Félix GarciaTeam Bianchi 14'18"16 Txema Del OlmoMilaneza–MSS 14'38"17 Óscar PereiroPhonak Hearing Systems 17'05"18 Iker Flores 18'31"19 Guido TrentinCofidis 29'34"20 Josep Jufre 33'30"21 Dario FrigoFassa Bortolo 40'19"22 Íñigo CuestaCofidis 41'18"23 Leonardo PiepoliiBanesto.com 46'45"24 Manuel CalventeTeam CSC 47'54"25 Aitor OsaiBanesto.com 49'39"
References
External links La Vuelta (Official site in Spanish, English, and French)