2015 Vuelta a España
The 2015 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling race. It took place principally in Spain, although two stages took place in Andorra. The race was won by Fabio Aru, with Joaquim Rodríguez second and Rafał Majka third. It was the 22nd race in the 2015 UCI World Tour.
About 2015 Vuelta a España in brief
The 2015 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling race. It took place principally in Spain, although two stages took place partly or wholly in Andorra. The race was won by Fabio Aru, with Joaquim Rodríguez second and Rafał Majka third. It was the 22nd race in the 2015 UCI World Tour. The riders represented 37 different countries, with the largest numbers coming from France, Spain and Italy. The top four riders from the 2015 Tour de France all chose to start the Vuelta. Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde were the only two previous winners of the race to start. Alberto Contador, the winner of the 2014 Vuelta, did not aim to ride the race. The number of riders allowed per squad was nine, therefore the start list contained a total of 198 riders. The average age of riders in the Vuetta was 29. 13 years, ranging from the 20-year-old Matej Mohorič to the 38- year-old Haimar Zubeldia. The teams entering the race were: World Tour teams professional Continental teams. UCI wildcards: MTN–Qhubeka, Caja Rural–Seguros RGA, Team Europcar, Movistar, Cofidis and Colombia. The team presentation took place in Benahavís on the evening before the first stage. The Vuelta began in Marbella on 22 August 2015 and finished in Madrid on 13 September. It included 21 stages, beginning with a stage in the Pyrenees and ending in Madrid.
The points classification was decided during the final stage. Tom Dumoulin won the combativity award, while Movistar won the team prize, while Omar Fraile won the mountains classification. The overall winner was Aru, who took the first Grand Tour victory of his career. Froome was expected to be tired following his victory in the Tour of the Alps, but he performed strongly in the mountainous stages of the final stages. He had been second in the 2011 and 2014 Vueltas, and had won the Critérium du Déal du Hérium and the Tour du Hinault. He was attempting to become the first rider to win both the Tour and Vuelta in the same season since Bernard Hultina in 1978. The only stage of the season had come in the Tirreno–Adriatico, but Froome’s only victory of the year had come on the last stage of that race. He also won the Tour de Italy in 2011 and the Criterium du Haut-Roubaix in 2012. The winner of this year’s Vuelta won the points classification and won the combination classification, while Rodriguez won the combined classification. He won the overall classification and was awarded the mountains award. The final stage was a time trial, with Aru finishing in second place, with Rodriguez in third place and Majka in fourth.
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