The 2016 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling stage race that took place in Spain between 20 August and 11 September 2016. The race was the 71st edition of the Vuelta a España and the final Grand Tour of the 2016 cycling season.

The race included 21 stages, beginning with a team time trial that started in Ourense. The subsequent stages included 10 summit finishes. The race ended in Madrid.

The overall winner was Nairo Quintana of team Movistar, with Chris Froome (Team Sky) second and Esteban Chaves (Orica–BikeExchange) third.

Teams

The eighteen UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited and obliged to attend the race. The organiser of the Vuelta, Unipublic, was also able to invite four UCI Professional Continental teams – the second tier of professional cycling teams – as wildcards.

The teams entering the race were:

Route

The route of the 2016 Vuelta was announced on 9 January 2016. In contrast to the two previous editions of the Vuelta, which had begun in Andalusia, this edition spent its first week in Galicia in the north-west of Spain. The first stage was a team time trial to Castrelo de Miño. The first significant climb of the race was at the end of the third stage, which was the first of ten summit finishes in the race. The route travelled through Asturias before coming to the Basque Country; the fourteenth stage, described by Cyclingnews.com as the hardest of the race, took place mainly just across the border in France. The route continued down the eastern coast of Spain over the next few days, with several mountainous stages, with the race's only individual time trial coming on stage 19. One more mountainous stage followed, finishing on the Alto de Aitana, before the riders travelled to Madrid for the closing stage on a circuit in the city centre.

+Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 20 August Laias to Parque Náutico Castrelo de Miño Team time trial 2 21 August Ourense to Baiona Flat stage 3 22 August Marín to Mirador de Ézaro (Dumbría) Medium-mountain stage 4 23 August Betanzos to San Andrés de Teixido Medium-mountain stage 5 24 August Viveiro to Lugo Flat stage 6 25 August Monforte de Lemos to Ribeira Sacra, Luintra Hilly stage 7 26 August Maceda to Puebla de Sanabria Hilly stage 8 27 August Villalpando to La Camperona, Valle de Sabero Medium-mountain stage 9 28 August Cistierna to Alto del Naranco, Oviedo Medium-mountain stage 10 29 August Lugones to Lagos de Covadonga Mountain stage 30 August Oviedo Rest day 11 31 August Jurassic Museum of Asturias, Colunga to Peña Cabarga Medium-mountain stage 12 1 September Los Corrales de Buelna to Bilbao Hilly stage 13 2 September Bilbao to Urdax-Dantxarinea Hilly stage 14 3 September Urdax-Dantxarinea to Col d'Aubisque (Gourette) Mountain stage 15 4 September Sabiñánigo to Aramon Formigal, Sallent de Gállego Medium-mountain stage 16 5 September Alcañiz to Peñíscola Flat stage 6 September Castellón de la Plana Rest day 17 7 September Castellón de la Plana to Camins del Penyagolosa, Llucena Medium-mountain stage 18 8 September Requena to Gandia Flat stage 19 9 September Xàbia to Calp Individual time trial 20 10 September Benidorm to Alto de Aitana Mountain stage 21 11 September Las Rozas to Madrid Flat stage Total

Race overview

Classification leadership

The race included four principal classifications. The first of these was the general classification, which was calculated by adding up each rider's times on each stage and applying the relevant time bonuses. These were 10 seconds for the stage winner, 6 seconds for the rider in second, and 4 seconds for the rider in third, and 3, 2 and 1 seconds for the first three riders at each intermediate sprint; no bonuses were awarded on the time trial stages. The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered the overall winner of the Vuelta. The rider leading the classification wore a red jersey.

+ Sprint points Category 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Finish sprint 25 20 16 14 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Intermediate sprint 4 2 1

The second classification was the points classification. Riders were awarded points for finishing in the top fifteen places on each stage and in the top three at each intermediate sprint. The first rider at each stage finish was awarded 25 points, the second 20 points, the third 16 points, the fourth 14 points, the fifth 12 points, the sixth 10 points, down to 1 point for the rider in fifteenth. At the intermediate sprints, the first three riders won 4, 2 and 1 points respectively. The rider with the most points won the classification and wore a green jersey.

+ Mountain points Category 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Cima Alberto Fernández 20 15 10 6 4 2 Special category 15 10 6 4 2 First category 10 6 4 2 1 Second category 5 3 1 Third category 3 2 1

The third classification was the mountains classification. Most stages of the race included one or more categorised climbs. Stages were categorised as third-, second-, first- and special-category, with the more difficult climbs rated higher. The most difficult climb of the race was given its own category as the Cima Alberto Fernández. Points were awarded for the first riders across the summit of each climb; the rider with the most accumulated points won the classification and wore a white jersey with blue polka dots.

The fourth individual classification was the combination classification. This was calculated by adding up each rider's position on the other three individual classifications. The rider with the lowest cumulative score was the winner of the classification and wore a white jersey.

The final classification was a team classification. This was calculated by adding together the times of each team's best three riders on each stage. The team with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the classification. There was also a combativeness prize awarded on each stage; three riders were chosen on each stage by a race jury to recognise the rider "who displayed the most courageous effort". There was then a public vote to decide which rider would be awarded the prize; the rider wore a red dossard (race number) the following day. An identical procedure took place on the final stage to decide the most combative rider of the whole Vuelta.

+Classification leadership by stage Stage Winner General classification Points classification Mountains classification Combination classification Team classification Combativity award 1 Peter Kennaugh not awarded not awarded not awarded not awarded 2 Gianni Meersman Michał Kwiatkowski Gianni Meersman Laurent Pichon Laurent Pichon 3 Alexandre Geniez Rubén Fernández Alexandre Geniez Alexandre Geniez Rubén Fernández Simon Pellaud 4 Lilian Calmejane Darwin AtapumaDarwin Atapuma Thomas De Gendt 5 Gianni Meersman Gianni Meersman Tiago Machado 6 Simon Yates Omar Fraile 7 Jonas van Genechten Luis Ángel Maté 8 Sergey Lagutin Nairo Quintana Sergey Lagutin Alejandro Valverde Jhonatan Restrepo 9 David de la Cruz David de la Cruz Thomas De Gendt David de la Cruz Luis León Sánchez 10 Nairo Quintana Nairo Quintana Alejandro Valverde Omar Fraile Nairo Quintana Luis Ángel Maté 11 Chris Froome Nairo Quintana Tiago Machado 12 Jens Keukeleire David López 13 Valerio Conti Sergey Lagutin Gatis Smukulis 14 Robert Gesink Kenny Elissonde Simon Gerrans 15 Gianluca Brambilla Alberto Contador 16 Jempy Drucker Luis Ángel Maté 17 Mathias Frank Jaime Rosón 18 Magnus Cort Fumiyuki Beppu 19 Chris Froome Chris Froome 20 Pierre Latour Fabio Felline Omar Fraile Luis León Sánchez 21 Magnus Cort not awarded Final Fabio Felline Nairo Quintana Alberto Contador

In stage three, Bryan Nauleau, who was second in the combination classification, wore the white jersey, because first-placed Laurent Pichon wore the polka-dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification. In stage four, Simon Pellaud, who was second in the mountains classification, wore the polka-dot jersey, because first-placed Alexandre Geniez wore the green jersey as leader of the points classification. Alejandro Valverde, who was second in the combination classification, wore the white jersey, because first-placed Rubén Fernández wore the red jersey as the leader of the overall classification. In stage five, Thomas De Gendt, who was second in the mountains classification, wore the polka-dot jersey, because first-placed Alexandre Geniez wore the green jersey as leader of the points classification. Lilian Calmejane, who was second in the combination classification, wore the white jersey, because first-placed Darwin Atapuma wore the red jersey as the leader of the overall classification. In stages 6–8, Alejandro Valverde, who was second in the combination classification, wore the white jersey, because first-placed Darwin Atapuma wore the red jersey as the leader of the overall classification. In stage ten, Alejandro Valverde, who was second in the combination classification, wore the white jersey, because first-placed David de la Cruz wore the red jersey as the leader of the overall classification. In stages 11–21, Chris Froome, who was second in the combination classification, wore the white jersey, because first-placed Nairo Quintana wore the red jersey as the leader of the overall classification. In stages twelve and thirteen, Omar Fraile, who was second in the mountains classification, wore the polka-dot jersey, because first-placed Nairo Quintana wore the red jersey as the leader of the overall classification.

Final standings

Legend Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the combination rider classification

General classification

+ Final general classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time 1 83h 31' 28" 2 + 1' 23" 3 + 4' 08" 4 + 4' 21" 5 + 7' 43" 6 + 8' 33" 7 + 11' 18" 8 + 13' 04" 9 + 13' 17" 10 + 14' 07"

Points classification

+ Final points classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 100 2 97 3 93 4 92 5 75 6 73 7 56 8 56 9 54 10 54

Mountains classification

+ Final mountains classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 58 2 57 3 37 4 28 5 27 6 23 7 22 8 19 9 18 10 18

Combination classification

+ Final combination classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points 1 8 2 17 3 34 4 39 5 41 6 43 7 46 8 48 9 48 10 49

Team classification

+ Final teams classification (1–10) Rank Team Time 1 2 + 4' 43" 3 + 22' 44" 4 + 35' 19" 5 + 35' 30" 6 + 56' 22" 7 + 1h 04' 57" 8 + 1h 08' 38" 9 + 1h 23' 50" 10 + 1h 33' 00"

Controversy In stage 15, more than 90 riders were 10 km/h slower than the winner and finished far outside of the time cut. They were, nevertheless, allowed to stay in the race. Of the six remaining stages, five were won by riders from that grupetto (Drucker, Frank, 2x Cort Nielsen, Latour), Froome being the only exception after winning the time trial (stage 19).

References

Sources

External links