The 2021 Vuelta a España was a three-week cycling race which took place in Spain between 14 August and 5 September 2021. It was the 76th edition of the Vuelta a España and the third and final grand tour of the 2021 men's road cycling season. The race departed from Burgos and finished in Santiago de Compostela.
The race was won by Primož Roglič of , his third consecutive victory in the race. He became only the third rider to win the race in three successive years. He won by 4' 42", the largest margin of victory since Alex Zülle won by 5' 07" in 1997. He first took the red jersey on the first stage time trial before relinquishing the jersey to breakaway riders on two occasions. Roglič proceeded to win three more stages, stage 11 to Valdepeñas de Jaén, stage 17 to Lagos de Covadonga, and the final day's time trial in Santiago de Compostela, on his way to overall victory. In second place was Enric Mas of , who put in a consistent performance in the mountains throughout the race to become Roglič's closest rival. Jack Haig of took the final step on the podium, finishing 7' 40" behind Roglič. Haig began the Vuelta as a domestique for Mikel Landa, but after Landa's struggles and eventual abandon, Haig became the team's leader. He moved up to third in the penultimate stage after successfully distancing the previous third-placed rider, Miguel Ángel López, with just over on the stage. Haig then held on to third in the final day time trial, even extending his gap over fourth-placed Adam Yates ().
In the race's other classifications, Fabio Jakobsen of took the points classification, winning three sprint stages along the way. Michael Storer of won the mountains classification. He won two stages from the breakaway before taking the lead in the competition in the final two mountain stages. The young rider classification was won by Gino Mäder of , who performed consistently in the mountains while serving as a domestique for first Landa and then Haig. He took the white jersey after following the decisive split in the GC group on the penultimate stage, allowing him to move up to fifth overall ahead of Egan Bernal () in sixth place. won the team classification while 's Magnus Cort, who won three stages, was given the overall combativity award.
Teams
Twenty-three teams participated in the 2021 Vuelta a España. All nineteen UCI WorldTeams were obliged to participate. Four UCI ProTeams also participated: was automatically invited as the best-performing ProTeam in 2020, and the other three wildcard teams were selected by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Usually, only twenty-two teams would participate in the race, but the Union Cycliste Internationale allowed grand tour organizers to invite one extra wildcard team in 2021 to account for hardship created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
UCI WorldTeams
UCI ProTeams
Pre-race favourites
Two-time defending champion Primož Roglič () was considered the pre-race favourite, closely followed by 2021 Giro d'Italia overall winner Egan Bernal (). Bernal's team mate and last year’s runner-up Richard Carapaz (), was seen as one of their main challengers, alongside fellow team mate Adam Yates, Mikel Landa () and 2020 podium finisher Hugh Carthy (). Other riders considered as contenders included duo Miguel Ángel López and Enric Mas, Aleksandr Vlasov () and Pavel Sivakov ().
Riders believed to be the main contenders for victories on the sprint stages were Fabio Jakobsen (), Arnaud Démare (), Jasper Philipsen () and Michael Matthews ().
Route and stages
Vuelta organisers unveiled the route for the 2021 edition on 11 February 2021. Unusually, the race took place entirely within Spain, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 route included one new major mountain pass, the , for the finish of stage 18. This edition of the Vuelta was the first since 2014 to finish outside Madrid. As in 2014, the final stage was an individual time trial in Santiago de Compostela.
+ Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 14 August Burgos to Burgos Individual time trial 2 15 August Caleruega to Burgos Flat stage 3 16 August Santo Domingo de Silos to Espinosa de los Monteros – Picón Blanco Mountain stage 4 17 August El Burgo de Osma to Molina de Aragón Flat stage 5 18 August Tarancón to Albacete Flat stage 6 19 August Requena to Alto de Cullera Medium-mountain stage 7 20 August Gandía to Balcón de Alicante Mountain stage 8 21 August Santa Pola to La Manga del Mar Menor Flat stage 9 22 August Puerto Lumbreras to Alto de Velefique Mountain stage 23 August Almería Rest day 10 24 August Roquetas de Mar to Rincón de la Victoria Hilly stage 11 25 August Antequera to Valdepeñas de Jaén Hilly stage 12 26 August Jaén to Córdoba Hilly stage 13 27 August Belmez to Villanueva de la Serena Flat stage 14 28 August Don Benito to Pico Villuercas Mountain stage 15 29 August Navalmoral de la Mata to El Barraco Mountain stage 30 August Santander Rest day 16 31 August Laredo to Santa Cruz de Bezana Flat stage 17 1 September Unquera to Lagos de Covadonga Mountain stage 18 2 September Salas to Altu d'El Gamoniteiru Mountain stage 19 3 September Tapia to Monforte de Lemos Hilly stage 20 4 September Sanxenxo to Mos (Castro de Herville) Mountain stage 21 5 September Padrón to Santiago de Compostela Individual time trial Total
Race overview
First week
The Vuelta began with a short individual time trial in Burgos. Alex Aranburu () sat in the hot seat for the majority of the day after he set a time of 8' 38". Several riders threatened Aranburu's time, but only Primož Roglič (), the last rider off the start ramp and the defending champion, was able to best him. Roglič set a time of 8' 32", six seconds quicker than Aranburu, to take the first red jersey of the race. The next stage featured a flat route with an opportunity for the sprinters to take the win. With to go, a crash caught out several GC contenders, including Adam Yates (), Hugh Carthy (), and David de la Cruz (), with all three losing 30 seconds to a minute by the finish. In the sprint to the line, Jasper Philipsen () outsprinted Fabio Jakobsen () to take the win and the lead in the points classification while Roglič retained the red jersey.
The third stage featured the first summit finish of the race, with the riders finishing atop the climb of Picón Blanco. An eight-man breakaway was allowed to build a maximum advantage of nine minutes, with content to relinquish the red jersey to a breakaway rider. On the final climb, Joe Dombrowski (), Rein Taaramäe (), and Kenny Elissonde () emerged as the strongest riders from the break. Further up the climb, Taaramäe dropped his companions to win the stage, taking the red jersey and the mountains classification's blue polka-dot jersey in the process. The headwind on the climb discouraged riders in the GC group from attacking, and no one was able to build a substantial gap. Near the finish, Enric Mas () accelerated from the group, gaining three seconds on a seven-man group of favorites. Several contenders, including Carthy, Romain Bardet (), and Aleksandr Vlasov (), lost almost half a minute. Recently crowned Olympic road race champion Richard Carapaz () finished a minute behind the main GC group and was also docked 20 seconds for taking an unauthorized feed.
The fourth stage was mostly flat with a slight uphill ramp to the finish line, though the sprinters were still expected to contend for the stage win. At from the line, Taaramäe, the race leader, crashed, but with the accident occurring inside the final , he was credited with the same time as the peloton and was able to retain the race lead. In the final sprint, Jakobsen outsprinted Arnaud Démare () for the win to take the lead in the points classification and the green jersey from Philipsen. The fifth stage featured another chance for the sprinters with a flat course to Albacete. With to go, a large crash brought down most of the peloton, including Bardet and Taaramäe, but all riders who crashed managed to continue riding. In the sprint, Philipsen outsprinted Jakobsen to take his second stage win of the race; in doing so, Philipsen took back the green jersey. Taaramäe finished two minutes down, thus putting second-placed Elissonde into the red jersey, while Bardet finished 12 minutes down, dropping him out of GC contention.
The sixth stage featured the second uphill finish of the race atop the -climb of Alto de la Montaña de Cullera. With to go, crosswinds temporarily split the peloton into echelons, but the peloton eventually reformed ahead of the final climb. The lead quintet began the climb with a lead of only 20 seconds, with Magnus Cort () dropping his breakaway companions inside the final kilometre. With left, Roglič kicked clear and bridged up to Cort at the line, but Cort held on for the stage win. Most of the other contenders finished up to 27 seconds behind while Carthy lost almost three minutes. With Elissonde losing four and a half minutes, Roglič took the red jersey back.
The seventh stage featured six categorized climbs, including a summit finish atop Balcón de Alicante. After a furious fight for the break, 29 riders broke clear, with the peloton content to let the break battle for the stage win. The fight for the win came down to four riders: Michael Storer (), Pavel Sivakov (), Carlos Verona (), and Andreas Kron (). Verona made the first attack with to go but Storer made the decisive move with to go and soloed to the stage win. In the GC group, Carthy struggled on the first climb before eventually abandoning. On the fourth climb, the Puerto El Collao, Alejandro Valverde () launched an attack with Carapaz and Yates. On the descent, Valverde crashed heavily on a bend, and though he was initially able to continue riding, he was eventually forced to abandon due to his injuries; it was later revealed that he had fractured his collarbone. Carapaz, Roglič, and Miguel Ángel López () also made an attack but they were caught. On the final climb, Yates put in a few attacks that split the GC group, bringing with him Roglič, Mas, López, De La Cruz, Egan Bernal (), and Louis Meintjes () to the finish. Vlasov lost 13 seconds while other contenders lost around half a minute. In the GC, Roglič narrowly held on to his red jersey by eight seconds over Felix Großschartner (), who was in the break. The next stage was another opportunity for the sprinters. After the day's main breakaway trio was caught with around to go, attempted to split the peloton into echelons, but the peloton eventually regrouped for the sprint finish. After a late attack from Jetse Bol () was reeled back in, Jakobsen outsprinted Alberto Dainese () to take his second stage win of the race.
On stage nine, the peloton faced a mountainous route with a summit finish atop the special category Alto de Velefique. The break was finally formed after almost , with 11 riders going off the front. With to go, Damiano Caruso () dropped his breakaway companions on the Alto Collado Venta Luisa. He gradually built his lead over the chasing remnants of the breakaway before holding off the GC contenders to win the stage. In the GC group, Mikel Landa () was dropped at the bottom of the Velefique, eventually losing five minutes on the day. Yates put in a few digs on the climb, with Roglič and Mas the only riders able to stay with him during his last attack. Roglič and Mas eventually dropped Yates before working together to extend their lead, with Roglič sprinting to take second place, one second ahead of Mas, to extend his lead. A chase group composed of Yates, López, Bernal, and Jack Haig () formed behind, with Bernal unable to follow the pace. The chasers finished 39 seconds down on Roglič while Bernal finished with Giulio Ciccone () and Gino Mäder () at more than a minute down. Mas was the only rider within a minute of Roglič heading into the first rest day.
Second week