Key race facts
3,358.9 – In kilometres, the total race distance of the 68th Vuelta a Espana.
11 – Number of summit finishes, one more than in 2012.
224.9 – The length (in kilometres) of this year’s longest stage (15, from Andorra to Peryragudes).
31 – Number of different nationalities represented among the 197 starters. (There were 38 Spanish riders, the most of any nation.)
144 – Number of finishers, out of 197 starters.
84:36:04 – Total race time for overall winner Chris Horner.
6 – Nationalities represented in the top ten on GC: Spain (four), Italy (two), USA, Ireland, France and the Czech Republic (one each).
1 – Number of single-nationality teams: Euskaltel-Euskadi (all Spanish). FDJ had eight Frenchman and Finn Jussi Veikkanen.
1 – Only one team placed more than rider in the top ten: Katusha.
7 – Only seven riders finished within ten minutes of Horner’s winning time. (Just 27 finished less than an hour in arrears.)
4:49:30 – Lampre’s Massimo Graziato was the last classified finisher, nearly five hours slower than Horner. Lampre riders occupied three of the bottom four places on GC.
The champion
Horner celebrates his first stage win (Image: Vuelta website)
41 – Age of Chris Horner. Firmin Lambot was the previous oldest grand tour winner – 36 when he won the 1922 Tour de France.
37 – In seconds, Horner’s winning margin over runner-up Vincenzo Nibali.
2 – Stages won by Horner during the race (three and ten).
5 – Days in the red jersey, in three separate stints. By contrast, Nibali held the overall lead for 13 days.
The jerseys
5 – Five riders wore the leader’s red jersey: Horner, Nibali, Janez Brajkovic, Nicolas Roche and Daniel Moreno. The last three carried the honour for just one day each, all before the first rest day.
4 – Four riders led the green jersey points competition during the race: winner Alejandro Valverde and Moreno (both eight days), and Nicolas Roche and Michael Matthews (both two days).
Matthews was an early wearer of the points jersey (image: Vuelta website)
4 – Number of riders who led the polka dot jersey King of the Mountains competition: Roche (eight days), Horner (four). Daniele Ratto (one) and winner Nicolas Edet (seven).
3 – Horner also won the white jersey for the combination classification, which he led for nine days. He was one of only three riders to head the classification, alongside Roche (ten days) and Moreno (one).
The stage winners
16 – Number of individual stage winners (excluding the team time trial).
4 – Number of riders with multiple stage victories: Chris Horner, Daniel Moreno, Warren Barguil and Michael Matthews each won twice.
Two stage wins for Barguil (Image: Vuelta website)
12 – Different nationalities who won stages: France led the way with four, while Spanish riders won three. The record for any race ever is 13 (Vuelta 2009 & Tour de France 2007).
3 – All three Spanish stage wins were recorded by Katusha riders: Moreno (two) and Joaquim Rodriguez.
13 – 13 of the 22 teams won stages during the race (including the team time trial). Katusha and RadioShack-Leopard had three apiece.
4 – Stages won by French riders: Barguil (two), Alexandre Geniez and Kenny Elissonde – three more than at the Tour de France.
1 – Philippe Gilbert‘s stage 12 win was his first of the season. In 2012, his first victory of the year also came at the Vuelta – he went on to claim a second stage before winning the World Championship road race.
Gilbert left it late but managed to avoid the curse of the rainbow jersey (Image: Vuelta website)
4 – Number of French riders who have won a Vuelta stage ending in France: Alexandre Geniez won at Peyragudes (stage 15) to join Gilbert Bauvin (1955), Jean Graczyk (1962) and Laurent Jalabert (1995).
2 – Vasil Kiryienka became only the second Belarusian to win a Vuelta stage after Yauheni Hutarovich in 2010.
And a few other random stats …
41 – Age of Chris Horner, the oldest rider in the race. He is also the oldest stage winner, race leader and overall winner in grand tour history.
0 – Number of riders older than Horner to have ever finished a Vuelta a Espana.
21 – Age of Niklas Arndt, youngest rider in the race.
25 – Nicolas Roche became the first Irish rider to lead a grand tour in 25 years, since Sean Kelly won the Vuelta in 1988.
A good race for Roche and Irish fans (Image: Vuelta website)
7 – Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol) has now started the last seven grand tours, dating back to the 2011 Vuelta – and finished them all.
7 – Riders from Caja Rural won the daily combativity prize on seven occasions. Javier Aramendia led all riders with three awards and won the overall combativity prize.
14 – This is the first grand tour since the 2008 Vuelta without a British stage winner, ending a streak of 14.
2 – This was only the second grand tour ever (after the 1951 Giro) to have two riders – Horner and Nibali – with three stints in the race lead.
Some information courtesy of infostradalive.com, Cillian Kelly @irishpeloton and Cycling Weekly.
Link: Official website
“0 – Number of riders older than Horner to have ever finished a Vuelta a Espana.”
I think the is false – two 45 year old’s finished the race in the 70’s (?)
Really? Happy to amend it if you can provide correct details and source. I got this from Cillian Kelly (@irishpeloton) originally, who’s normally pretty reliable with his facts.