Vuelta Vuelta

The 2015 Vuelta a Espana is now on its second week, and being the poor sibling of its more prestigious siblings, the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, its the sort of last a last chance saloon to redeem the status of a superstar for the year, especially if a superstar (Vincenzo Nibali, e.g.) had nothing to show for this year.

A lot of rider’s career have been prolonged by an exceptional performance in the Vuelta, well, except maybe for American Chris Horner. Horner won the 2013 edition but because of his age (41), and his team (TREK) didn’t resign him the next year. In fact, he had a difficult time getting a new contract.

At 80yo, the Vuelta is not just the youngest of the three Grand Tours, which has reached beyond the century mark of existence, but also the poorest in terms of prize money and status.

It was originally held in early April but big names avoid it like plague. It was too hard if you are an Italian or a French, especially with Giro held in May and the Tour in July. So, it was mostly second tier teams or local riders who dominated the Vuelta.

In 1995, the schedule was moved to September, and although the date was better than April, but still, the event was at the mercy of the performance of the stars early in the season. For example, of the top three finishers of the Tour de France, only third placer Alejandro Valverde has won a stage, with Chris Froome and Nairo Quitana getting dropped in medium mountain stages. Froome and Quintana clearly has motivation problems at this point, after a very demanding Tour, and maybe if not for contractual obligations, both would prefer the heat of the beach than the heat of the simmering heat of the Spanish summer. Alberto Contador is also missing his national Tour, this after winning the Giro and failing royally at the Tour. Basta!

Therefore, its not a surprise that the current leader is an unknown Colombian, Esteban Chaves, whose last win was a team time-trial in the Giro last May. At second spot is Tom Dumoulin, a Dutch rider and TT specialist who quit the Tour last July after crashing hard.

Not only was the Vuelta’s date changed, but also the color of the leaders jersey as well. Yellow and pink are associated with the Tour and the Giro respectively but the Vuelta had the following color procession: orange-white-orange-white with red stripes-yellow-orange-yellow-gold and finally red in 2010! Well, can they not make up their minds?

In the 1969 Tour, Eddy Merckx won all jersey classifications- overall, points and mountain jerseys. In the 1995 Vuelta, Laurent Jalabert won the same jerseys and became the third man (Merckx 1968 Giro) to do so in a grand tour.

Finally, if you think that Greg Lemond’s 8 second win over Laurent Fignon in 1989 was the closest grand tour finish ever, think again. Five years earlier, Frenchman Eric Caritoux won the Vuelta by 6sec over Alberto Fernandez, a name you haven’t heard. But one of the greatest winners in the Tour de France, winning if 5 consecutive times, and one you have heard, never won his hone Tour. Miguel Indurain.