Historic Vuelta a España records to remember

Delio Rodríguez holds a record which is unlikely to be broken for a significant period of time. From 1941-1947, Rodríguez won a staggering 39 stages of the Vuelta a España, with 12 of those coming at the 1942 edition. Rodríguez also won the GC in 1945 with 6 stages and the points classification in that edition. 

It's a remarkable statistic considering the Spanish rider accomplished this feat in only five editions, meaning that in those five editions, Rodríguez averaged 7.8 stage wins each time. 

Italian sprinter, Alessandro Petacchi, sits 2nd in the list, with 20 wins, adding to the 22 he took at the Giro d'Italia and 6 at the Tour de France across the 2000s and early 2010s.

Rik Van Looy and Laurent Jalabert are tied in 3rd on 18 stage wins, adding to the glittering careers of two of the most successful riders of all time. Jalabert also claimed the only Grand Tour GC victory of his career at the Vuelta back in 1995.

The same being said for Sean Kelly in 5th, who claimed 16 Vuelta stage wins, adding to the only Grand Tour GC victory of his career, which he took in 1988.

Here is an article looking at the general classification records at the Vuelta a España.

Chris Horner is the oldest winner of the general classification of the Vuelta a España in 2013, and the American also picked up a victory on stage 10, which makes him the oldest stage winner too at the age of 41 years and 315 days old.

Alejandro Valverde claimed his twelfth and final Vuelta stage in 2019 in the rainbow jersey on his way to finishing 2nd overall behind Primož Roglič. 

Celestino Prieto is the youngest stage winner in Vuelta a España history when the Spanish rider rode to victory on stage 4 in the 1981 edition, in what would be his first and only Vuelta stage victory at 20 years and 86 days old.

Tadej Pogačar's breakthrough Vuelta in 2019 saw him land three stage wins and 3rd overall, and the first of the stage successes marked the Slovenian 4th in this list at 20 years and 345 days.

Éric Caritoux's victory in the 1984 Vuelta a España by a mere 6 seconds over Alberto Fernández remains the smallest winning margin in any three-week Grand Tour in history. It was the crowning moment of Caritoux's career, who held the race lead from stage 12 until the finish. 

Caritoux's victory broke the record from a decade earlier in 1974 when José Manuel Fuente came out on top, just 11 seconds ahead of Joaquim Agostinho.

Angelo Conterno (1956) and Agustín Tamames (1975) also won the Vuelta by less than 15 seconds, whilst Sepp Kuss's surprise victory in 2023 saw the American finish 17 seconds ahead of teammate Jonas Vingegaard.

Alejandro Valverde has finished on the podium of the Vuelta a España a record seven times, unsurprisingly giving the consistency and longevity of his career. 

Four riders, Roberto Heras, Primož Roglič, Luis Ocaña and Pedro Delgado have ended on the podium six times each. All four of these riders, plus Valverde, have won the general classification, also. 

The riders who have finished on the podium the most times without winning the overall are José Pérez Francés, Miguel María Lasa, and Enric Mas, 4 times each, with their best finishes all 2nd place respectively.

Alex Zülle, winner of the 1997 and 1998 editions of the Vuelta a España, holds the record for the most race leader's jerseys worn at the race with 48. However, the Swiss rider's first time wearing the jersey came four years before he would win the GC for the first time. 

Zülle won the individual time trial on the opening stage of the 1993 edition and would hold onto the jersey until stage 14, where compatriot Tony Rominger took control. 

Rominger incidentally would carry the jersey all the way to victory, meaning that Swiss riders led the entire race, and the duo also finished 1st and 2nd in the general classification, separated by 29 seconds.

Imanol Erviti holds the record for finishing 15 editions of the Vuelta a España from 2007 to 2023.

In that period, Erviti claimed two stage wins in 2008 and 2010, whilst being a reliable domestique and road captain in his later years, all in the colours of Movistar, and the team's previous sponsor Caisse d’Epargne. 

In total, Erviti finished 27 Grand Tours in his career with 12 Tours alongside the record-breaking number of Vueltas.

Three riders are tied on four points classification victories at the Vuelta a España: Alejandro Valverde, Laurent Jalabert and Sean Kelly. Incidentally, all three riders have also won the general classification.

The traditional sprinter on this list, Erik Zabel, sits 4th, having sprinted to the points classification on three consecutive editions from 2002-2004.

José Luis Laguía was the true king of the mountains at the Vuelta a España in the early to mid-1980s, winning the classification in five out of six editions, and finishing 2nd in the year he wasn't victorious in 1984. Laguía also claimed four stages across the 1982 and 1983 editions.

Whilst he sits 2nd in this list, David Moncoutié achieved what Laguía didn't, and that was winning four consecutive mountains classifications at the Vuelta from 2008 until 2011, alongside four stage wins. José María Jiménez also won the mountains prize four times across his career to add to his nine stage wins.

Sources: Procyclingstats, Wikipedia