The 2012 Vuelta a España began on 18 August, and stage 11 occurred on 29 August. The 2012 edition began with a team time trial stage – where each member of a team started together racing against the clock – in Pamplona, Navarre with the race remaining in Spain until the finish to the eighth stage, with a summit finish at the Collada de la Gallina in Andorra. After the ninth stage, the race's first rest day saw the riders travel across Spain by air from Barcelona to Ponteareas; a road stage was followed by the only individual time trial of the race, where each remaining member of the starting peloton of 198 riders competed against the clock.
The were the winners of the race-opening team time trial, recording a time ten seconds quicker than any other squad; their first rider to cross the line, Jonathan Castroviejo, became the first race leader as a result. He maintained his lead through the first mass-start stage the following day – the first of four stage victories for German sprinter John Degenkolb, who also won stages 5, 7 and 10 – but lost the lead following the first summit finish of the race in Eibar. The rojo jersey remained within the team however, as Alejandro Valverde picked up the race lead after pipping Joaquim Rodríguez in a photo-finish at the stage end. Valverde gave up the lead the following day, after crashing with several other members of his team just as the peloton's pace was being increased by the team on the front, . As a result, Valverde apportioned blame to , while his team manager, at one point, pulled alongside his opposite number from for discussions. Rodríguez assumed the lead of the race then, but held a marginal one-second lead ahead of Chris Froome.
There were no changes in the classification until another summit finish on the sixth stage, when Rodríguez and Froome were the two contenders for the stage victory. Froome had attacked to bring himself and Rodríguez, but a second attack from Rodríguez brought him clear, and with time bonuses on the line, extended his lead to ten seconds. In Andorra, it again came down to the main favourites for the race; for a time, Alberto Contador attacked off the front and maintained a lead of around ten seconds – looking for his first victory since his return from a doping ban – before tying up and Valverde and Rodríguez beat him to the line, with Froome having cracked further back. Rodríguez put another twenty seconds into his lead the following day after attacking on the final climb, and his advantage of around a minute prior to the individual time trial was sufficient for him to maintain the lead after the stage; he put in the seventh-fastest time on the stage to keep the leader's jersey, but by only a second from Contador, who moved ahead of Froome in the classification. As a result, Rodríguez topped the overall standings with the more mountainous second half of the Vuelta still to race.
LegendJerseys appearing in the table on the left of the page indicate those worn by the cyclist during the particular stage, while those appearing in the table on the right of the page indicate those awarded to the cyclist after the stage. Denotes the leader of the General classification Denotes the leader of the Mountains classification Denotes the leader of the Points classification Denotes the leader of the Combination classification Denotes the rider designated as the day's most combative s.t. A rider that crossed the finish line in the same group as the one receiving the time above him and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.
Stage 1 18 August 2012 — Pamplona, , team time trial (TTT)
For the third year in succession, the Vuelta began with a team time trial; on this occasion, it began in the Navarre city of Pamplona, hosting the Vuelta for the first time since 1994 when France's Laurent Jalabert won the thirteenth stage of that year's race. The stage itself was in and around Pamplona, with the final kilometre of the stage following the route of the Running of the Bulls, held as part of the festival of San Fermín the month before. Just like the bull-run, the stage finished in the middle of the Plaza de Toros, the city's main bullring. were the first of the race's 22 squads to begin the stage, wearing a different team kit to normal; having received dispensation from the Union Cycliste Internationale, the team wore white and red skin-suits instead of their customary green. However, with a time of 20' 18", the squad ultimately finished the stage in last place.
The teams entered the course at four-minute intervals; were the second team in and comfortably lowered the earlier benchmark, recording a time almost a minute quicker. , who won the team time trial in May's Giro d'Italia, were also setting a good time on course before a crash took down three of the team's riders, and delayed Andrew Talansky, the team's main general classification contender. were the next team to top the timesheets, setting a time of 19' 01" for the course, which held for some time. started the stage slowly but a strong second half of the course pulled them into contention for stage honours, and ultimately edged out by a small margin. They were followed by , who also recorded a time of 19' 01", despite team members Tony Martin and Grand Tour debutant Zdeněk Štybar being led off course by a motorcycle. However, they were marginally quicker than both and .
It was not until the final team to start the stage that the time – and the 19-minute barrier – was beaten. had the honour of starting last due to Juan José Cobo – the winner of the 2011 edition of the race for – being amongst their nine riders. The team were only two seconds slower than to the intermediate time-check, kept their pace up and recorded a time of 18' 51" for the course, to record the first Grand Tour team time trial victory for a Spanish squad in nine years. As the first rider to cross the line, Jonathan Castroviejo assumed the first red jersey of the race for the general classification leader, with four of his teammates in the same time and Cobo in sixth place, having been distanced, by four seconds, in the closing metres.
Stage 1 result TeamTime 1 2 + 10" 3 + 10" 4 + 10" 5 + 12" 6 + 12" 7 + 14" 8 + 15" 9 + 28" 10 + 33"General classification after stage 1 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 0" 3 + 0" 4 + 0" 5 + 0" 6 + 4" 7 + 10" 8 + 10" 9 + 10" 10 + 10"
Stage 2 19 August 2012 — Pamplona to Viana,
The opening road stage of the 2012 Vuelta saw the riders head south from Pamplona, via a loop around Tafalla – where the race's first intermediate sprint point was held – and the first categorised climb, the third-category Alto de la Chapela, before heading towards Viana. In Viana itself, there was an intermediate sprint point on the first passage through the town, before the finish second time around. With most of the parcours being flat, it was expected to ultimately result in a sprint finish at the stage end. Three riders – Spanish pairing Javier Aramendia of and rider Javier Chacón, along with Mikhail Ignatiev () – went clear around after the start of the stage, making the early breakaway from the field, and the trio managed to extend their advantage over the main field to around five minutes. Niki Terpstra had also been a part of the breakaway at one point, but as he trailed overnight leader Jonathan Castroviejo of the by just ten seconds, the breakaway were not allowed to gain a substantial advantage at that point. Terpstra ultimately dropped back into the main field to allow the gap to increase.
Between the lead trio, they swept up most of the available points on offer at the two intermediate sprint positions, while Chacón assumed the first blue-and-white polka-dot jersey for the mountains classification but only after Aramendia was assumed to have sprinted irregularly while crossing the summit of the third-category Alto de la Chapela first. Having guaranteed a jersey at the end of the day, Chacón dropped back with around remaining, when the gap to the main field was around a minute; Alberto Contador () took two bonus seconds for third at the intermediate sprint point in Viana, moving level with his main general classification rival Chris Froome, of . Ignatiev and Aramendia were brought back several kilometres later, and despite several late attacks, the expected sprint finish materialised where sprinter John Degenkolb took his first Grand Tour stage victory, beating 's Allan Davis and Froome's teammate Ben Swift to the line. Castroviejo maintained his overall lead by finishing with the peloton, although he was not confident of keeping it, while Chacón added the white combination jersey to his mountains lead and Degenkolb took the points lead with his stage win.
Stage 2 result RiderTeamTime 1 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 2 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 0" 3 + 0" 4 + 0" 5 + 0" 6 + 4" 7 + 10" 8 + 10" 9 + 10" 10 + 10"
Stage 3 20 August 2012 — Faustino V to Eibar–Arrate,
Although there were four categorised climbs over the parcours, the final climb of the day – the first-category Alto de Arrate – was the key point of the stage. Frequently used in the Tour of the Basque Country stage race held in the spring, the Alto de Arrate climb with a gradient in places at over 11%, crested out with around remaining of the stage, before a false flat to the finish line. With three-time Arrate winner Samuel Sánchez not competing in the Vuelta, 's Joaquim Rodríguez – second in Eibar, in 2012 – was regarded as one of the stage favourites along with rider Alejandro Valverde and Alberto Contador of .
The day's breakaway was made up of eight riders, who all moved ahead of the main field inside the opening of the stage. The octet managed to establish a lead of almost four-and-a-half minutes, despite one of its members – 's Philippe Gilbert, still winless for the year – being just ten seconds behind the leader of the general classification, Valverde's teammate Jonathan Castroviejo. At each of the three categorised climbs prior to the finishing climb, Pim Ligthart of took maximum points on offer, leading from Gilbert at two of them, while Nico Sijmens () crossed the third climb, the Puerto de Campazar, behind Ligthart and ahead of Gilbert. The lead group started to splinter with around , with the peloton's pace being set by the and squads, bringing the gap under a minute.
The latter team's Niki Terpstra was first to make a move on the Alto de Arrate, but was quickly closed down before he could establish any substantial headway off the front of the peloton. maintained their position at the front, setting the pace for Contador, and were joined at the front by . Valverde was the first of the favourites to attack from the rapidly diminishing lead group, with Contador jumping onto his wheel with Rodríguez and 's Chris Froome eventually rejoining their fellow contenders. Contador then launched several more attacks – seven in all – as the lead quartet moved their way up the climb, but each time, the other three riders in the group were able to come back to him. Valverde and Rodríguez contested the sprint for the line, with Valverde taking his sixth career Vuelta stage win in a photo-finish, after Rodríguez free-wheeled in the closing metres; a move that left him furious post-stage. Valverde took the lead in the general, points and combination classifications, while Ligthart took the mountains lead.
Stage 3 result RiderTeamTime 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 + 6" 6 + 6" 7 + 6" 8 + 6" 9 + 6" 10 + 6"General classification after stage 3 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 18" 3 + 19" 4 + 20" 5 + 24" 6 + 28" 7 + 28" 8 + 30" 9 + 33" 10 + 46"
Stage 4 21 August 2012 — Barakaldo to Estación de Valdezcaray,