These are the individual stages of the 2008 Vuelta a España, with Stage 12 on 11 September and Stage 21 on September 21.

Stages

Stage 12 11 September 2008 – Burgos to Suances, 186 km

Going into the second rest day, the field faced a hilly stage, with two second and one third-category climb along the course and lots of descending. The final 40 kilometers, after the second-category Alto del Carracol, undulated very gently, so any type of finish was seen as possible.

The escaping breakaway formed after 10 kilometers, involving Sébastien Hinault, Sandy Casar, and Manuel Quinziato. As the breakaway formed, Tinkoff tried to place a rider in it, but was unsuccessful. The main field was paced alternately by Caisse d'Epargne, Quick Step, and Lampre, and their pace combined with the cold and rainy weather of the day proved a tough test for many riders, dropping back from the field. An unexpected rider to crack, toward the end of the stage, was Alejandro Valverde, who finished more than 3 minutes behind the stage winner and fell out of the top ten in the GC. The rest of his Caisse d'Epargne team went back with him to try to pace him back into the front group, but they were not successful. Ezequiel Mosquera also fell out of the front group briefly, but his Xacobeo–Galicia teammates were able to get him back in there.

The pace that Quick Step and Lampre set kept it so that the breakaway never attained more than 4 minutes of advantage. They were caught well before the line, with some 30 kilometers to race. A 28-man group was together with a sizeable advantage over the rest of the field in the stage's final minutes. The group had several members of the top teams in the GC, Astana and Euskaltel–Euskadi, who took the pace. Alberto Contador was the first of this group to attack for the stage win, but the victory went to Paolo Bettini, who had ironically given interviews earlier in the day describing his dissatisfaction over his team Quick Step signing Stefan Schumacher from the dissolving and vowed to ride for someone else in 2009. Contador took back three seconds on Egoi Martínez in the final sprint to the line.

Stage 12 results RiderTeamTime 1 4h 42' 44" 2 + 1" 3 + 1" 4 + 1" 5 + 1" 6 + 4" 7 + 4" 8 + 4" 9 + 4" 10 + 4"General classification after stage 12 RiderTeamTime 1 45h 48' 33" 2 + 11" 3 + 29" 4 + 1' 38" 5 + 2' 10" 6 + 2' 23" 7 + 3' 22" 8 + 3' 40" 9 + 4' 09" 10 + 4' 10"

Rest day 12 September 2008

Stage 13 13 September 2008 – San Vicente de la Barquera to Alto de L'Angliru, 209 km

There were five categorized climbs on this course, including three first-category hills, but the main attraction was the special-category Alto de El Angliru at the finish, which made its fourth appearance in the Vuelta and first since 2002. This brutal climb featured gradients as high as 23% near the summit.

The Euskaltel team kept several attempted breakaways in the first hour from going clear. This was not to protect the overall lead of Egoi Martínez, which was all but assured to be lost on such a stage (as Martínez was not seen as a strong enough climber in comparison with others high in the GC), but to protect the chances of victory in the Vuelta's queen stage for Igor Antón. Ironically, Antón would fail to even finish the stage, abandoning after sustaining a broken collarbone in a crash climbing Angliru.

The rider that succeeded at coming clear was Christophe Kern, allowed to leave after 37 kilometers and an hour in the saddle. Shortly afterward, a two-man chase was formed, comprising Maarten Tjallingii and Matej Jurčo. With so much more looming at the finish, the main field was more than content to let these three top the third-category Alto de Ortigueiro well ahead of them. After the descent, Kern pulled up and literally waited at the side of the road for about two minutes for the other two to join him, so they could all work together.

The Astana Team came forward to take the pace at the bottom of the first first-category climb of the day, the Puerto de Arnicio. The breakaway's lead at this point was 11 minutes, but it slowly and steadily fell until a 20-man group who were able to take Astana's pace caught them just after the summit of the third first-category hill, the Alto del Cordal. Domestiques from Astana and Caisse d'Epargne traded shots setting the pace up the Alto de El Angliru, going up to the finish line. As the climb neared its hardest part, 7 kilometers from the end, it was Levi Leipheimer who came forward to sacrifice himself for Alberto Contador, setting a pace that cracked everyone in the group (and caused Leipheimer himself to bonk), but left Contador free to attack for the stage win. The golden jersey came with it.

Stage 13 results RiderTeamTime 1 5h 52' 35" 2 + 42" 3 + 58" 4 + 1' 05" 5 + 1' 32" 6 + 1' 56" 7 + 2' 18" 8 + 2' 28" 9 + 2' 43" 10 + 3' 01"General classification after stage 13 RiderTeamTime 1 51h 41' 17" 2 + 1' 07" 3 + 3' 01" 4 + 4' 19" 5 + 4' 40" 6 + 4' 51" 7 + 5' 09" 8 + 6' 56" 9 + 7' 39" 10 + 8' 41"

Stage 14 14 September 2008 – Oviedo to Fuentes de Invierno, 158 km

This stage went from hilly to mountainous. There were six categorized climbs on this course, three first-category and three third-category. The three third-category hills were all in the first 35 kilometers, leaving the riders to tackle three first-category climbs over the remainder of the stage, ending nearly as high in elevation as they did the previous day at Angliru when they headed up to the ski resort Fuentes de Invierno.

An eight-man group broke free of the main field after 25 kilometers, just before the third-category climb of San Tirso. A three-man chase joined them on the descent, and the eleven were away as a sustained group for much of the stage. Their maximum advantage grew to five minutes before the main field, paced mostly by Caisse d'Epargne rather than the race leader's Astana Team, started to reel them in. Their sporting director Eusebio Unzué explained that the breakaway had unexpectedly contained some high-profile riders and they needed to keep the time gap as low as possible to try to work for a stage win for Alejandro Valverde at Fuentes de Invierno.

Ezequiel Mosquera made attack after attack on the way up to the summit, and only Valverde and the Astana duo of race leader Alberto Contador and teammate Levi Leipheimer were able to answer. Eventually, Valverde also fell, and the stage was contested among the other three. Contador attacked within a kilometer of the finish and Mosquera couldn't answer, giving Contador a second straight stage win. This time, he had three leader's jerseys awaiting him on the podium – the golden, the white, and the points classification blue jersey.

It was later revealed that Contador and Valverde had struck a deal that they would stick together on the stage and Valverde would take the stage win while Contador retained the overall lead in the Vuelta. However, when Mosquera's attacks cracked Valverde, Contador took the opportunity for the stage win.

Stage 14 results RiderTeamTime 1 4h 16' 01" 2 + 2" 3 + 4" 4 + 20" 5 + 20" 6 + 20" 7 + 1' 00" 8 + 1' 00" 9 + 1' 00" 10 + 1' 00"General classification after stage 14 RiderTeamTime 1 55h 56' 58" 2 + 1' 17" 3 + 3' 41" 4 + 4' 35" 5 + 5' 49" 6 + 6' 00" 7 + 6' 11" 8 + 8' 56" 9 + 9' 32" 10 + 10' 01"

Stage 15 15 September 2008 – Cudillero to Ponferrada, 202 km

This stage had a first, a second, and a third-category climb on it, in succession. There was as well an uncategorized hill about 10 kilometers before the finish that was thought to keep any sprinters that survived that far honest.

The day's breakaway formed after a little over 50 kilometers, as several escape attempts consolidated into one 17-man breakaway. Their lead grew to a maximum of nearly 17 minutes, as the Astana-paced main field was more than content to let them go, seeing no threats in the group. José Luis Arrieta, Juan Manuel Gárate, and David Arroyo traded attacks on the way into Ponferrada, that cracked some of their breakaway mates who finished as much as seven minutes behind them, but it was Xacobeo–Galicia rider David García who won the stage, launching the decisive attack 3 kilometers from the line. The main field finished 14'23" behind the stage winner, but there were no changes to the top ten in the GC.

Stage 15 results RiderTeamTime 1 5h 02' 27" 2 + 17" 3 + 17" 4 + 33" 5 + 36" 6 + 39" 7 + 1' 38" 8 + 1' 38" 9 + 1' 39" 10 + 2' 38"General classification after stage 15 RiderTeamTime 1 61h 13' 48" 2 + 1' 17" 3 + 3' 41" 4 + 4' 35" 5 + 5' 49" 6 + 6' 00" 7 + 6' 11" 8 + 8' 56" 9 + 9' 32" 10 + 10' 01"

Stage 16 16 September 2008 – Ponferrada to Zamora, 186 km

After the first-category Alto del Acebo at the 15 kilometer mark, the riders escaped the mountains for the time being – there were no further categorized climbs in this stage or the next one. After the descent, the course didn't so much as undulate, so a bunched sprint finish was expected.

The field took it very easy for the first hour. There were no breakaway attempts, and that first hour in the saddle covered just the 15 kilometers to the Alto de Acebo. On the descent, the attacks began. Jesús Rosendo, who had earlier in the Vuelta been the first leader of the King of the Mountains, and Walter Fernando Pedraza were the ones that got away, and attained a maximum advantage of 8 minutes on the main field. The field was pulled along not by the race leader's team Astana, but by Quick Step, and in particular Paolo Bettini, working to get Tom Boonen a second stage victory in this Vuelta. The teams of other prominent sprinters came forward to take the pace over from Bettini when he later needed medical attention. The catch occurred 7 kilometers from the line, and Boonen indeed won his second bunched sprint, after an early leadout headed by Bettini.

Stage 16 results RiderTeamTime 1 5h 21' 16" 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General classification after stage 16 RiderTeamTime 1 66h 35' 04" 2 + 1' 17" 3 + 3' 41" 4 + 4' 35" 5 + 5' 49" 6 + 6' 00" 7 + 6' 11" 8 + 8' 56" 9 + 9' 32" 10 + 10' 01"

Stage 17 17 September 2008 – Zamora to Valladolid, 148 km

An almost totally flat stage 17 was the reward for the sprinters who made it this far. There were no categorized climbs at all on this course. While there were not any hills, it was thought that crosswinds would present a bother to the sprinters in the field.

Pedro Horrillo and José Ruiz broke free of the main field after 13 kilometers. The main field kept them well within reach, and kept several other escape attempts from going clear. Horrillo and Ruiz attained a maximum advantage of over 8 minutes, but the bunch, behind the pace of Silence–Lotto and Euskaltel–Euskadi, caught them 7 kilometers from the line. Imanol Erviti tried to attack 3 kilometers from the finish, but the field caught him. The vast majority of the field finished together, and there was no significant change in the GC for the fourth day in a row.

Stage 17 results RiderTeamTime 1 3h 18' 48" 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General classification after stage 17 RiderTeamTime 1 69h 53' 32" 2 + 1' 17" 3 + 3' 41" 4 + 4' 35" 5 + 5' 49" 6 + 6' 00" 7 + 6' 11" 8 + 8' 56" 9 + 9' 32" 10 + 10' 01"

Stage 18 18 September 2008– Valladolid to Las Rozas, 167 km

Branded as flat, this stage gradually increased in elevation to its one categorized climb, the third-category Alto de los Leones at the 39 kilometers to go mark, and then gradually decreased to the finishing town of Las Rozas. Another mass sprint finish was expected, but it did not occur.