Vuelta a España 2024

As if the last two years hadn’t happened at all, Alexander Vinokourov is back at the Vuelta a España and back on the Astana team. Ignore that two-year racing ban for illegal blood transfusions and forget about the behind-the-scenes power struggle at Astana involving Johan Bruyneel, Vinokourov and the power cadre of Kazakh backers. At least that’s what Vinokourov wants everyone to do.

Australian Allan Davis will have the chance to make amends for missing the Tour de France in July after he was named in Quick Step's squad for the upcoming Vuelta a España. Davis, a sprinter, was Quick Step's “tenth man” for the Tour in July, but missed out on a place after teammate Tom Boonen was given 11th hour clearance to race despite having tested positive for cocaine, for the second time in his career, two months previously.

Ivan Basso is taking aim at nothing short of overall victory for the 64th Vuelta a España, which clicks into gear Saturday in Holland. The Italian said he’s better prepared for the Vuelta than the Giro d’Italia earlier this season, where he finished fifth overall. “I trained myself in the best way without any stress,” Basso said in a team statement. “The final victory is a concrete goal.”

Team Columbia-HTC believes powerful German sprinter André Greipel can help continue its impressive 2009 season once the Vuelta a España clicks into gear this Saturday. Mark Cavendish's stunning haul of six stage wins from this year's Tour de France took his tally to 10 in two participations, and was the highlight of a hugely successful season for the American outfit so far.

Alexander Vinokourov is now officially part of the Astana team and is set to ride the Vuelta a España. The back-room wrangling over the return of Vinokourov went down to the wire, but team officials reached an agreement Monday to ease the way for his return to the Kazakh-backed team. Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel and Rinus Wagtmans, the authorized representative for the Kazakh sponsors, hammered out an agreement Monday. Vinokourov will be immediately welcomed into the Astana team and has a contract to race through the 2010 season.

There won’t be a late-hour bid to include Michael Rasmussen in the 64th Vuelta a España. At least Rasmussen isn’t expecting one. “All I can say regarding the Vuelta is that the team did not register me in time and that Unipublic did not want to make an exception by letting me in,” Rasmussen told VeloNews via e-mail. “They did, though, make exceptions with three Lotto riders that were not on the preliminary start list. Anyways — no Vuelta.” Rasmussen did not disclose the name of the team.

Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde will lead Caisse d'Epargne at this year's Vuelta a España, the team announced on Monday. The 29-year-old, who finished second in the 2006 Vuelta, did not compete in this year's Tour de France after being banned from competing in Italy for two years by the Italian Olympic Committee after he was implicated in the Operación Puerto doping scandal. The decision, which Valverde has contested, kept him out of the Tour, the 16th stage of which passed through Italy. The Vuelta takes place from August 29 to September 20.

Cadel Evans will lead Silence-Lotto at the 64th Vuelta a España with hopes of reaching the podium in the season’s final grand tour. Evans struggled through the recent Tour de France, finishing out of the top 10 for the first time, but will be riding to make amends for a frustrating performance in July with something big at the Spanish tour. The Aussie all-rounder has raced the Vuelta three times, abandoning in 2004, finishing 60th in 2004 and just missing the podium with fourth in 2007.

Tour de France stage-winner Juan Manuel Garate will be part of Rabobank’s starting nine for the upcoming Vuelta a España. Garate, who won atop Mont Ventoux ahead of Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC), crashed during the Clásica San Sebastián earlier this month and broke a finger. He’s been able to recover in time and will be at the start line Saturday in Assen, Holland for the commencement of the 64th Vuelta. The presence of the veteran Spanish climber brings added firepower to the strong Rabobank squad for the season’s third and final grand tour.

Liquigas-Doimo heads to the 64th Vuelta a España with a strong team and even stronger ambitions. Led by GC threats Ivan Basso and Roman Kreuziger, Liquigas will start the Spanish tour with high hopes for a shot at overall victory as well as stage victories with the likes of Daniele Bennati and Manuel Quinziato.

Française des Jeux’s Yoann Offredo has been ruled out of next week’s Vuelta a España, after suffering injuries in the Eneco Tour. The 22-year-old Offredo crashed in the second stage of the Eneco Tour on Thursday and suffered a collarbone fracture. Offredo had been listed on Française des Jeux’s preliminary start list for the Vuelta.

There only thing certain about Alexander Vinokourov’s immediate future and whether or not he’ll race the Vuelta a España is that it is all far from certain. Despite some reports that Vinokourov has the go-ahead to start the Vuelta next weekend with Astana, nothing is settled yet for the returning Kazakh rider. According to Astana team spokesman Philippe Maertens, paperwork that would ease the way for Vinokourov’s return to the Astana fold is complete, but there’s still no final agreement between all the major players.

Recent injuries have put GC-threat Juanjo Cobo's Vuelta a España in doubt. The 28-year-old Fuji-Servetto leader crashed during training last week ahead of the Trittico Lombardo, resulting in serious abrasions and bruises to his arms and hands. Later X-rays revealed a fracture in the Spaniard's right shoulder. Despite doctors’ orders to stay off the bike for three weeks, Cobo is still hoping to start the Vuelta. Team manager Joxean Fernández included Cobo as part of the starting nine for the Vuelta, with Iker Camaño as the first replacement.

Reigning Olympic road race champion Samuel Sánchez will wear the No. 1 bib for the upcoming Vuelta a España in the season’s third and final grand tour, August 29- September 20. With none of last year’s top-3 podium finishers back for the 2009 edition, race organizers released a preliminary start list Thursday that includes the Euskaltel-Euskadi leader with el número uno.

Preliminary Start List – Vuelta a España 2009EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI (EUS) - ESP Race Numbers 1- 09SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel (ESP) ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor (ESP) MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN Egoi (ESP) PEREZ LEZAUN Alan (ESP) PEREZ MORENO Ruben (ESP) ISASI FLORES Inaki (ESP) HERNANDEZ GUTIERREZ Aitor (ESP) IRIZAR ARANBURU Markel (ESP) TXURRUKA Amets (ESP) • Reserve Rider - URTASUN PEREZ Pablo (

Following his victory this weekend at the Vuelta a Burgos, Alejandro Valverde now has his eyes set on the overall title at the Vuelta a España. On Sunday, Valverde did what he needed to on the climbing stage to the Lagunas de Neila to bounce ahead of Tom Danielson (Garmin-Slipstream) and claim the overall at the 31st Burgos tour. It marked Valverde’s seventh win on the 2009 season.

Teams are already releasing preliminary start lists for the upcoming Vuelta a España (August 29-September 20) and Rabobank will bring a strong team with sights on overall victory and stage wins. The Dutch outfit released 10 names for the Spanish tour and will look to Robert Gesink, who crashed out of the Tour de France with a fractured wrist in stage 5, to take aim for the final podium.

None of last year’s top three are expected to be back, but the 2009 Vuelta a España will see a strong field for the season’s final grand tour. Last year’s winner Alberto Contador – still celebrating his Tour de France victory – has confirmed he will not defend his Vuelta title. Runner-up Levi Leipheimer, recovering from his crash at the Tour, and third-place Carlos Sastre, exhausted after racing four consecutive grand tours, are both steering clear of the Spanish tour. That leaves a huge vacuum that several top names will be jostling to fill.

Twenty-one teams are heading to the Vuelta a España in late August, but not everyone is going to be happy. Among the major teams left on the sidelines for the season’s third grand tour are two ProTour squads, the Russian-backed Katusha and Spanish Fuji-Servetto teams, as well as the Italian continental standout, LPR. The Vuelta organization, which released its list of invitees Friday morning, included 16 of 18 ProTour teams among the starting lineup.

The 2009 Tour of Spain will begin in the Netherlands, in the first overseas launch of the race in more than 12 years, organizers announced Wednesday. 2009 Vuelta a Espana Stages Saturday, Aug 29 - stage 1: 4.5km around Assen (Netherlands), individual time trial Sunday, Aug 30 - stage 2: 202km from Assen to Emmen (Netherlands)

Samuel Sánchez continues to soak up the attention that comes with the Olympic gold medal. Everywhere he goes, journalists are knocking down his door for an interview. This week, “Samu” is on vacation in Spain’s Canary Islands and told reporters there more details about his racing schedule for the upcoming season. He’ll skip the 2009 Tour de France (where he finished seventh overall last year) and focus on trying to win the Vuelta a España.

Defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre says he’s all but certain to skip next year’s Vuelta a España and said he’s looking forward toward a possible showdown with Lance Armstrong at the 2009 Tour. Speaking to reporters at an engagement in Spain, Sastre reconfirmed that he’ll likely start the Giro d’Italia to prepare for the Tour and then skip the Vuelta, where he finished third overall in September.

The Vuelta a España already has a new director. Victor Cordero, who is stepping down at the end of this season as the head of the Spanish tour, is making way for Javier Guillén. Guillén has been the secretary general at the Vuelta for the past five years and will help steer the season’s third grand tour into the future. Earlier this year, the Amaury Sport Organization (owners of the Tour de France, Paris-Nice and other major races) bought 49 percent of the race.

02:15 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 21st - and Final! - stage of the 2008 Vuelta a España, a largely ceremonial cruise from San Sebastian de los Reyes to the traditional finish in Madrid.

With his third grand tour victory in barely a year, Alberto Contador has quickly grown from cycling’s boy wonder to the peloton’s new alpha male. The 25-year-old Spanish climber lived up to expectations to win the 63rd Vuelta a España to complete cycling’s “triple crown” and becomes just the fifth rider to win all three grand tours.

Vuelta a España director Victor Cordero called the 63rd edition of the Spanish tour the “best in years.” “We are very satisfied to see Contador likely to win and to see the quality of racing during this Vuelta,” Cordero told VeloNews on Saturday evening. “It’s the best Vuelta in years and we hope to build on this momentum in the coming years.”

01:22 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 20th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a España, a 17.1-kilometer individual time trial from La Granja de San Ildefonso to the summit of the Category 1 Puerto de Navacerrada.Riders will be leaving the starting house beginning at 2:45 p.m. We have posted a complete list of riders and their departure times: www.velonews.com/article/83409

How close was it between Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador in Saturday’s nail-biting 17.1km time trial at the Vuelta a España? Very close. Leipheimer gave his Astana teammate a scare and blasted up the Cat. 1 Puerto de Navacerrada to win his second time trial stage at this year’s Vuelta and chewed considerably into Contador’s 1:17 head start in the Vuelta’s penultimate stage. Leipheimer stopped the clock in 33 minutes, 6 seconds (30.997kph), 31 seconds faster than Contador and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) to secure second place overall.

The full start list and departure times for the stage 20 individual time trial at the Vuelta a España, a 17.1-kilometer individual time trial from La Granja de San Ildefonso to the summit of the Category 1 Puerto de Navacerrada. Follow the progress of the Vuelta's top riders with our Live up-to-the-minute coverage.

12:47 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 19th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a relatively short, but potentially difficult 145.5-kilometer race from Las Rozas to Segovia. The route tackles the southern face of the Category 1 Puerto de Navacerrada (Saturday’s climbing time trial will ride up the northern approach) and then the Cat. 1 Puerto de Navafría before descending toward Segovia.

David Arroyo won the second stage in a row for Caisse d’Epargne while Alberto Contador fended off last-gasp attempts to blow apart the race in Friday’s two-climb, 145.5km stage across the rugged sierra north of Madrid to safely retain the overall lead Vuelta a España. Arroyo, 28, is one of the worker bees who occasionally gets to taste the honey themselves. The veteran gregario was fulfilling his obligations to follow the breakaways over two first category climbs to set up team captain Alejandro Valverde when fate turned his way.

12:28 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of thr 18th Stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 167.4-kilometer ride from Valladolid to Las Rozas. This stage rolls south across the central plateau, starting in Valladolid and climbs over the Sierra de Guardarrama north of Madrid before ending in Las Rozas. The first 122km gradually takes the peloton from an altitude of 700 meters to the start of the day's only rated climb.

Spanish rider Imanol Erviti out-kicked Nicholas Roche from an 18-man breakaway that lit up Thursday’s 18th stage to pump some fresh excitement into the Vuelta a España. With the favorites cooling their jets ahead of this weekend’s final showdown in the mountains north of Madrid, two-time world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) snuck away in the big, dangerous breakaway that the Vuelta was waiting for.

11:53 AM: Good day and welcomeTo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 17th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a generally flat race from Zamora to Valladolid.

Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini have each won two stages in this year’s Vuelta a España and had already planned to pull out after Wednesday’s stage into Valladolid, so the Quick Step superstars decided to sit up in their final sprint and leave it the second-tier sprinters to take a shot. Budding Belgian talent Wouter Weylandt stepped boldly into the void, holding off a wild sprint ahead of Matti Breschel (CSC-Saxo Bank) to win by a half-tire length to give Quick Step victory its fifth win at the Vuelta.

12:36 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 16th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 186.3km race from Ponferrada to Zamora.

It was a fast and exciting conclusion Tuesday into Zamora to one of the slowest and most tedious stages any grand tour has endured in years. Tom Boonen (Quick Step) pipped Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) to win his second stage of this year’s Vuelta a España, but the 186.3km stage was marked by its sluggish speed and lackadaisical attitude of the peloton. 2008 Vuelta a EspanaStage 16

Alberto Contador came close Monday to learning that sometimes clichés are true. Ever since he took the Vuelta a España race leader’s jersey with an emphatic victory atop the Angliru on Saturday, he’s been sounding like a broken record and kept repeating that nothing’s won until the final stage in Madrid on Sunday. Contador dodged a bullet Monday when he rode away with relatively light abrasions and scrapes to his left elbow, knee and shoulder after he hit the deck in Monday’s 202km 15th stage after riding into the gutter and falling hard on his left side.

01:09 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 15th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 202-kilometer ride from Cudillero to Ponferrada.

David García gave Xacobeo-Galicia the stage victory Monday that the team missed when Ezequiel Mosquera didn’t receive much charity from Astana in Sunday’s summit finish high in the Catabrian mountains. García charged out of a busted-up 17-man breakaway with 3km to go, but the real story was Alberto Contador, who brushed off a spill in Monday’s 202km 15th stage from Cudillero to Ponferreda to retain his lead at the 63rd Vuelta a España. [nid:83282]The Vuelta leader fell with about 50km to go, but suffered little more than scrapes to his left knee and elbow.

01:20 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 14th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 158.4-kilometer race from Oviedo to a mountain-top finish at the Fuentes de Invierno Ski Resort. It's another tough day, opeing with a series of Category 3 climbs:The Alto del Padrón (which summits at12.km)The Alto de San Tirso (22km)The Alto de Santa Emiliano (34.5km)

No gifts. Alberto Contador might be Spain’s newest prince, but he’s not ready to play the role of kingmaker yet at the Vuelta a España. Contador wasn’t about to give away a golden opportunity to win his second stage in a row and tighten his grip on the Vuelta’s golden leader’s jersey despite Ezequiel Mosquera’s hope for mercy in Sunday’s 14th stage. The 32-year-old Xacobeo-Galicia rider poured everything into a daring attack with 5km to go in the Vuelta’s final hard mountain summit to drop everyone except Contador and Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer.

01:01 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 13th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 209.5-kilometer race from San Vicente de la Barquera to the top of the Alto de L´Angliru. This is a stage that everyone has either been waiting for or dreading. We suspect that the majority of the remaining 154 riders in the Vuelta fall into that latter category.

Alberto Contador (Astana) is king of the hill in Spain. Spain’s climbing sensation added more fodder to the argument that he’s the best contemporary rider with a thrilling victory atop the most vicious climb in Europe. Contador attacked with 5km to go in Saturday’s 209.5km 13th stage to drive home victory up the feared Angliru climb and grab the overall lead at the Vuelta a España.

Levi Leipheimer (Astana) enters Saturday’s showdown in the Angliru in perfect position. Teammate Alberto Contador has an entire nation – not to mention the whole Vuelta peloton – watching his every move. Poised in second place at 11 seconds back, the veteran American can bide his time and watch the fireworks before making his move. Back to the Vuelta for just the second time since his breakthrough third place in 2001, Leipheimer is in prime position to make a run for his third career grand tour podium and perhaps even more.

Saturday’s summit finish up the feared Angliru should provide Alberto Contador (Astana) with the launching pad he’s been impatiently waiting for to rocket decisively into the lead at the Vuelta a España. So far through nearly two weeks of racing, determined rivals have stymied the precocious Spanish climber on roads that he claims just haven’t been steep enough for his taste.

05:59 AM: Tune in Thursday at 7:00 a.m. ETfor live coverage of stage 11 12:56 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 12th stage of the Vuelta a España, a 186.4-kilometer race from Burgos to Suances. Today's stage a potential leg-breaker ideal for head-bangers looking to finally hold off the sprinters.

Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) jumped with 300 meters to go on a rising finish into rainy Suances to fend off an attacking Alberto Contador on Thursday to win for a second time in the 63rd Vuelta a España. Bettini, who won on a similar finish into Toledo in stage 6, fended off compatriot Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) in a wild and wet stage into northern Spain that saw Alejandro Valverde’s podium chances fade when he lost more than three minutes.

12:27 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.comcom's Live Coverage of the 11th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a España, a 178-kilometer race from Calahorra to Burgos.

The world championships are still more than two weeks away, but the big dogs are starting to hit their fighting form. Wednesday’s hot and windy 11th stage at the Vuelta a España across the meseta looks nothing like the undulating roads around Varese the pros will square off on Sept. 28, but a thrilling finish-line duel between Tom Boonen and Oscar Freire gave a titillating preview of what’s waiting.

The possible arrival of seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to Astana could complicate Alberto Contador’s plans to win his second Tour crown. If the 2007 Tour champion is quietly cursing Armstrong’s imminent comeback, however, he certainly isn’t giving anything away publicly. The Spanish climber said Wednesday that Armstrong would be welcomed with open arms if the Texan rejoins his former sport director Johan Bruyneel at Astana.

12:54 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 10th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a España, 151.3-kilometer ride from Sabiñánigo to the high plains of Zaragoza.

Crédit Agricole couldn’t imagine a better going away present than a stage victory Tuesday in the 63rd Vuelta a España in what’s its swansong grand tour. The long-standing French team — set to fold at the end of the 2008 season after a new sponsor couldn’t be found to replace the departing French bank — earned a rare bunch sprint victory with French veteran Sébastien Hinault.

12:18 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the ninth stage of the 2008 Vuelta a España, a 200.8-kilometer ride from Vielha to Sabiñánigo.

Call it the hot potato leader’s jersey. Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) became the seventh rider in nine days of racing to hold the golden jersey at the 63rd Vuelta a España. Astana might have had the jersey when it started Monday’s 200.8km ninth stage across the southern flanks of the Pyrénées, but it sure didn’t want to have it when the race arrived in Sabiñánigo some five hours later.

01:14 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Cverage of the eighth stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 151 race from Andorra to a mountain-tip finish at Pla de Beret.

The 63rd Vuelta a España might look like it’s still a close race after rolling out of two hard days in the Pyrénées. Sure, David Moncoutie (Cofidis) won a well-deserved comeback stage victory out of an all-day, five-man breakaway and Levi Leipheimer (Astana) recaptured the race leader’s jersey at the end of Sunday’s 151km eighth stage to Pla de Beret. And, yes, it still looks tight on paper, with the GC stacked with seven riders within less than three minutes of the lead.

01:32 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the seventh stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 223.2-kilometer race from Barbastro to a mountain-top finish at Naturlandia, atop La Rabassa in Andorra.

Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) was close all season in races he was expected to win: third in Paris-Roubaix and second in Monte Paschi Eroica and GP Ouest France-Plouay. With the 63rd Vuelta a España’s tackling its first summit finish, everyone expected the Spanish mountain goats to take over -- and no one expected Ballan. But it was the classics head-banger who delivered the surprise victory through pouring rain and cold and snuck away with the leader’s jersey as an added bonus.

As the organizer of the third of the world’s three grand tours, Victor Cordero spotted a unique opportunity to turn the 2008 Vuelta a Espana into something special when Spaniard Alberto Contador won this year’s Giro d’Italia.

01:09 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the sixth stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 150.1-kilometer race from Ciudad Real to Toledo.

How happy was Paolo Bettini after ripping across the finish ahead of Philippe Gilbert (FDJeux) victorious in Thursday's sixth stage at the Vuelta a España? The two-time reigning world champion pumped both arms in the air, then his fist and before yelling something very Italian that might not be printable, even on the Web. Ever since 2005, Bettini's used the Vuelta as a trampoline for success at the world championships. He's won at least one stage in each Vuelta since then and won back-to-back rainbow jerseys in 2006-07.

01:39 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the fifth stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 42.5 individual time trial at Ciudad Real.

Back in 2001, Levi Leipheimer became the only American to stand on the Vuelta a España podium with a breakout third-place finish that announced his arrival to the elite levels of the sport. Flash forward to Wednesday’s 42.5km individual time trial on the flat, wide-open roads around Cuidad Real and Leipheimer made more history at the Vuelta. Following a fabulous come-from-behind victory, Leipheimer becomes the fifth American to win a Vuelta stage and just the second to wear the leader’s jersey.

1. Aurélien Clerc, Bouygues Telecom, starts at 1:41 p.m.2. Oscar Gatto, Gerolsteiner, starts at 1:42 p.m.3. Stef Clement, Bouygues Telecom, starts at 1:43 p.m.4. Cyril Lemoine, Credit Agricole, starts at 1:44 p.m.5. Kevin Van Impe, Quick Step, starts at 1:45 p.m.6. Ivan Santaromita, Liquigas, starts at 1:46 p.m.7. Volodymyr Diudia, Team Milram, starts at 1:47 p.m.8. Fco. José Martinez Perez, Andalucia-Cajasur, starts at 1:48 p.m.9. Mikhail Ignatiev, Tinkoff Credit Systems, starts at 1:49 p.m.10.

12:09 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the fourth stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 170.3-kilometer race from Cordoba to Puertollano.

This time there were no late climbs or rising finishes. Tuesday’s flat and treacherous arrival into Puertollano in the fourth stage of the Vuelta a España was a flat, fast and furious finish ideal for the pure sprinters. So it was no surprise that Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) made up for the disappointment of losing Monday with a definitive victory ahead of arch rival Tom Boonen (Quick Step).

01:23 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the third stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 168.6-kilometer ride from Jaen to Cordoba. Today's stage covers more of the dry, hilly territory in Spain's olive country. While much of today's route is punctuated by rolling terrain, there is only on rated climb - the Category 3 ascent of the Alto de San Jeronimo, 26km from the finish.

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) – two riders who missed this summer’s Tour de France for dissimilar reasons – were both back on the podium spotlight in Monday’s 168.6km third stage at the Vuelta a España. Barred from the Tour after he tested positive for cocaine in late May an out-of-competition test, Boonen jumped off Bennati’s wheel with 100 meters to go into a stiff headwind to claim his first Vuelta stage-win in his career.

01:23 PM: Good day and welcometo VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the second stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 167.3-kilometer race from Granada to Jaen.

It was a double-dose of delight for Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) in Sunday’s second stage at the Vuelta a España. Capping what’s been a spectacular season for Spain’s Green Bullet, Valverde opened up a winning sprint with 200 meters to go in a rising finish into Jaén to claim victory and surge into the overall leader’s jersey thanks to time bonuses.

05:41 PM: Good day and welcometo the first stage of the the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 7.7-kilometer team time trial at the Parque Tec. Ciencias de la Salud in Granada.

The 63rd Vuelta a España is supposed to be a showdown between Alberto Contador and Carlos Sastre, but it was Filippo Pozzato of Liquigas who wanted to remind everyone that there are more than two teams in the season’s final grand tour. Liquigas worked in perfect cohesion over a short, but technical 7.7km course in the shadow of the Alhambra to win the opening team time trial, with Pozzato surging across the line first to take the Vuelta’s first leader’s jersey.

The 63rd Vuelta a España roars out of Granada on Saturday afternoon in a fitting start with a team time trial in what should be a dogfight between cycling’s two strongest teams and Spain’s two biggest stars. The showdown between Alberto Contador and Carlos Sastre and their respective Astana and CSC-Saxo Bank teams should provide plenty of drama during a three-week course loaded with hard mountains spread judiciously among a long string of sprint-friendly stages.

Thirty-eight year old Eric Zabel will lead the Milram team at the Vuelta a Espana starting Saturday. The German vet will lead an otherwise young team looking for stage wins at the Spanish tour. The team's average age is under 25.

Sastre leads CSC-Saxo BankCarlos Sastre will lead CSC-Saxo Bank as the Tour de France champion tries to double in the Vuelta a España. The Spanish media will be playing up the duel against 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador, but Sastre says he wants nothing more than to enjoy what should be an exciting and wide-open race.

Astana brings a loaded team looking for nothing short of domination in the 63rd Vuelta a España that opens with a team time trial Saturday in sunny Granada. Still miffed it was left out of the 2008 Tour de France, the Astana blue swaggers into Granada with its A-team for the season’s third tour with overall victory as the main objective. Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer provide heft to the nine-man lineup, but it’s budding Spanish super star Alberto Contador who will be captain of this ship.

Team CSC - Saxo Bank1. Carlos Sastre Candil, (ESP)2. Michael Blaudzun, (DEN)3. Matti Breschel, (DEN)4. Lopez De Castro Inigo Cuesta, (ESP)5. Volodymir Gustov, (UKR)6. José Haedo Juan, (ARG)7. Alexandr Kolobnev, (RUS)8. Karsten Kroon, (NED)9. Jurgen Van Goolen, (BEL)Ag2r - La Mondiale11. José Luis Arrieta Lujambio, (ESP)12. Renaud Dion, (FRA)13. Hubert Dupont, (FRA)14. John Gadret, (FRA)15. Julien Loubet, (FRA)16. Lloyd Mondory, (FRA)17.

Cadel Evans will not be in the Silence-Lotto team competing in the Tour of Spain, starting on August 30 at Granada, the team announced on its Web site. The Belgium-based outfit has left the Australian out of the Vuelta, which finishes on September 21 in Madrid. The 31-year-old, who injured his knee in the aftermath of finishing second overall in the Tour de France at the end of July, finished 15th in the road race and fifth in the individual time trial at the Beijing Olympics.

Astana’s Chris Horner will miss the Vuelta a España later this month after suffering a broken collarbone in a crash at the Tour of Elk Grove on Saturday. Horner broke his left clavicle in a crash in the final sprint of the second stage of the Illinois stage race and, after crossing the finish line, was transported to a nearby hospital where the break was diagnosed.