The five most dramatic Vuelta a España stages of the 21st century
A quarter of the way into the 21st century, we take stock and look back at some of the most memorable days of racing on the modern Vuelta a España.
The Vuelta a España has now been in its current slot on the calendar for 30 years and the race has repeatedly shown a tendency to throw up all sorts of curveballs than one might not encounter at Grand Tours earlier in the season.
Ahead of the 2025 edition of the race, we look back at some of the most dramatic days on the Vuelta in the 21st century, an era of scandals and crises, of collapses and comebacks.
The Vuelta has also been a race of big personalities in this era, from Alberto Contador to Nairo Quintana, from Tom Dumoulin to Primož Roglič. And above all, it's been a race where the unexpected can always happen.
2001 Vuelta a España, stage 21 - Casero takes gold from Sevilla at the last
In 2001, Óscar Sevilla was the coming man of Spanish cycling. He had just won the best young rider at his debut Tour de France, placing 7th overall, and he had delivered an assured performance across the three weeks of the Vuelta, carrying the maillot d’oro through the final week.
El Niño looked set to continue Kelme’s sequence of success after Roberto Heras’ victory the previous year, but Ángel Casero was proving to be a doughtier foe than anticipated. The Festina rider had once been the future of Spanish cycling, winning the Tour de l’Avenir in 1994, but he had never quite delivered on that promise.
The race all came down to the final time trial in Madrid. Sevilla entered the stage with a lead of 25 seconds over Casero, and the jury was out as to whether that would be enough against the clearly superior time triallist.
Sevilla initially held up well in the 38km test before he began to fade dramatically around the midpoint. It later emerged that his aero bars had begun to work loose. Casero, meanwhile, held up his end of the bargain to place fourth on the stage and win the Vuelta by 47 seconds, while a hitherto-unheralded US Postal rider called Levi Leipheimer produced the ride of his life to move up to third overall. Casero's was the smallest winning margin in a Grand Tour since Greg LeMond’s eight-second victory over Laurent Fignon on the 1989 Tour.
But the drama of the day didn’t end with the podium ceremony. In the Vuelta of the 2000s, it never did. A month after the race, El Mundo reported that Kelme’s team doctor, one Eufemiano Fuentes, had also been secretly working with Casero, even going as far as to advise the Festina rider on how to approach to the key Alto de Aitana summit finish.
“I’m not Casero’s doctor, and I can’t say that I am because that would be lying and would expose me to a lawsuit from the rider. I can’t reveal the names of my patients without their permission,” Fuentes said.
Kelme manager Vicente Belda had his own view of the arrangement: “It may be legal, but I don’t think it’s very ethical.” Five years later, during Operación Puerto, both Sevilla and Casero – by then retired after a spell with Belda’s team – would be named as Fuentes clients.
2012 Vuelta a España, stage 17 - Contador's Hail Mary at Fuente Dé
Alberto Contador arrived at the 2012 Vuelta with a point to prove. In February of that year, he had been belatedly banned for his positive test for Clenbuterol on the 2010 Tour, being stripped of both that race and the 2011 Giro.
He sat out the 2012 Tour before returning to action just ahead of the Vuelta, but through the opening two weeks of the race, he struggled to make the impact of old. Although he moved up to second overall in the Pontevedra time trial, red jersey Joaquim Rodríguez was proving to be an irresistible foe on the race’s interminable sequence of short, sharp summit finishes.
With five days to go, Contador trailed Rodríguez by 28 seconds, but with no time trials remaining, ‘Purito’ was the consensus favourite to carry red to Madrid.
Contador decided to roll the dice on the rugged day to Fuente Dé on stage 17, incessantly joining the early attacks. Each time, Katusha pinned him back, but they eventually relented on the climb of Collado De la Hoz with a little over 50km still to go.
Even though Contador got himself into a group of fifteen riders, Rodríguez believed he had enough bodies with him to close the gap in the valley that followed. It wasn’t to be. The race spiralled out of control, and Contador pressed clear on the long, shallow climb to Fuente Dé in the company of former teammate Paolo Tiralongo.
On the 2011 Giro, Contador had famously yielded stage victory at Macugnaga to Tiralongo, and he called in the favour. Tiralongo buried himself in the service of his old leader, while the red jersey group splintered behind.
There were shades of Pedro Delgado in 1985 or Stephen Roche at Sappada about the move. By the time Rodríguez realised his error, the damage was already done. By day’s end, Contador was in red, 1:52 clear of Alejandro Valverde, who impressed in the finale, while Rodríguez dropped to third overall.
That’s how it stayed to Madrid. Contador was that rarest of riders, capable of winning a Grand Tour even when he wasn’t the strongest in the race. Fuente Dé may well have been his masterpiece.
2015 Vuelta a España, stage 11 - Six-climb thriller in Andorra
Designed with input from Andorra resident Joaquim Rodríguez, this stage shoehorned six climbs into just 138km of racing. It was billed as the toughest stage in Vuelta history, and it lived up to the tag.
This was a day where seemingly anything could happen, and it started happening early. Pre-race favourite Chris Froome was a faller before the first climb and although he remounted and rejoined the red jersey group, he started to fade on the HC Collada de la Gallina, losing seven minutes by day’s end. It later emerged he had broken his foot in the fall.
Out in front, Mikel Landa would eventually claim stage victory after dancing clear of the early break on the final haul to Cortals de Encamp, but there were fireworks aplenty in the red jersey group too.
Rodríguez and Valverde had looked to blow the race apart by attacking on the descent of the penultimate climb, the Alto de la Comella, but they were reeled in ahead of the final ascent. By then, the rain had begun to fall, and the attritional nature of the day began to take its toll.
Nairo Quintana was distanced and so too was Valverde. The Vuelta was becoming an elimination race.
The red jersey Tom Dumoulin held tough for as long as he could, but he would have to succumb to Astana’s forcing as the climb went on. Although his teammate Landa was up the road, Fabio Aru sensed his chance to move into red, and he attacked with intent in the finale.
Aru would take second on the stage, enough to move into red, 27 seconds clear of Rodríguez and 30 seconds up on Dumoulin. A race that many had previewed as a Froome-Quintana joust was now set to be duel between Aru and Dumoulin.
2016 Vuelta a España, stage 15 - Skyfall for Froome as race goes haywire
By 2016, Quintana had suffered three defeats to Froome at the Tour de France in as many attempts, but the Vuelta offered a shot at redemption. The Colombian began the 2016 race in fine fettle, dropping Froome at La Camperona and then moving definitively into red with victory at Lagos da Covadonga on stage 10.
With a long time trial to come, however, Quintana’s 54-second lead over Froome seemed a precarious one, particularly as the Sky rider looked to be growing into the race after some wobbly displays in the opening week.
Enter Alberto Contador. The Spaniard was some three minutes down after two weeks and he entered stage 15 to Formigal with the nagging sense that he had nothing left to lose. Shades of Fuente Dé all over again.
The stage was just 118km in length and Contador figured he might as well go all-in. When his early accelerations split the peloton, Quintana was wise to the danger and the Colombian joined a 14-rider break in the opening kilometres.
Crucially, each man had two teammates for company, and they buried themselves to give the move breathing room. Even more importantly, Froome was isolated behind. The peloton had splintered into shards, and the bulk of his Sky teammates were AWOL.
For much of the day, Froome was forced to take up the reins of pursuit himself, while Quintana’s teammate Alejandro Valverde stuck to him like a limpet. Perhaps for the first time in their imperial phase, a race had simply spiralled beyond the control of Team Sky. It was dizzying stuff.
Out in front, Gianluca Brambilla would outsprint Quintana for stage victory, but the red jersey picked up 20 seconds on his ally of circumstance Contador and, above all, 2:40 on his old nemesis Froome. Time trial be damned, Quintana’s new cushion on 3:37 would carry him to Vuelta victory a week later.
The day was so delirious that 93 riders would gain a reprieve after finishing outside the time limit. Had the cut been enacted, seven of Froome’s teammates would have gone home that night. Froome’s dissatisfaction with their display was palpable the next day. “Personally, I think the rule probably should have been upheld,” he admitted.
2020 Vuelta a España, stage 17 - Roglič staves off déjà vu at La Covatilla
Primož Roglič had been through the wringer in the pandemic-condensed 2020 season. For three weeks, he was the strongest rider at the Tour de France, but he and his Jumbo team failed to hammer home that advantage and he suffered the trauma of losing yellow to his compatriot Tadej Pogačar at the last.
A week later, a tired Roglič was heavily criticised in Belgium for the apparent sin of failing to ride for his trade teammate Wout van Aert at the Imola Worlds. Seven days after that, Roglič scored an improbable win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after newly minted world champion Julian Alaphilippe celebrated too soon.
The silliest season continued into November with the delayed Vuelta. Roglič was the defending champion and the favourite, and he duly rattled off four stage wins to carry a 45-second lead over Richard Carapaz into the final weekend.
The race looked won, but then again, he had held a 57-second lead at the corresponding point of the Tour. It couldn’t happen again, could it?
It very nearly did. On the final mountain stage to the Alto de la Covatilla, Carapaz bided his time and waited for his moment. After Roglič had shut down a pair of attacks from Hugh Carthy, Carapaz struck out with 3.5km to go and immediately opened a sizeable gap.
With 2km remaining, he had 25 seconds in hand on a struggling Roglič, who was now without teammates. Shades of La Planche des Belles Filles all over again. The Vuelta was slipping from his fingers, just like the Tour.
This time, however, Roglič wasn’t entirely alone. Although Carthy danced clear of him, Roglič managed to steady the ship by following the wheel of Movistar’s Enric Mas. That respite proved crucial. On the final ramps, Roglič kicked again, and he did enough to limit the damage on Carapaz to 21 seconds. The Vuelta was his, but not without a fright.
