The 2021 Vuelta a España was the 76th edition of Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Vuelta began in Burgos on 14 August, and Stage 11 from Antequera to Valdepeñas de Jaén occurred on 25 August. The race finished in Santiago de Compostela on 5 September.
Classification standings Legend Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the team classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the winner of the combativity award
Stage 1 14 August 2021 – Burgos to Burgos, (ITT)
The Vuelta began with a individual time trial in Burgos. Immediately from the start at Burgos Cathedral, the riders began to go uphill before tackling the third-category Alto del Castillo, a climb with an average gradient of 7.1 percent. The quickest rider at the top took the first blue polka-dot jersey as the leader of the mountains classification. Afterwards, the riders took on a descent before a flat section as the riders looped back towards the finish at the cathedral.
The first rider to set a benchmark time was the thirteenth rider to start, Omar Fraile (), who, with a time of 8' 55", was the first rider to finish under nine minutes. Shortly after, Adam Yates () beat Fraile's time, going three seconds quicker. Several riders threatened Yates' time before his teammate, Dylan van Baarle, went nine seconds quicker with a time of 8' 43". His time stood until Alex Aranburu () finished with a time of 8' 38", five seconds faster than van Baarle. Aranburu stayed in the hot seat for a long time as multiple riders went faster than him on the climb before eventually falling short by the finish. Jan Tratnik (), Tom Scully (), and Josef Černý () came closest to beating Aranburu's time but they fell short by two to four seconds. The last rider off the start ramp was the two-time defending champion, Primož Roglič (). With a time of 8' 32", Roglič knocked Aranburu off the hot seat by six seconds to win the stage. In doing so, Roglič took the red and green jerseys as the first leader of the general and points classifications. Roglič's teammate, Sepp Kuss, set the fastest time atop the Alto del Castillo to take the blue polka-dot jersey while Andrea Bagioli (), who finished seventh, took the white jersey as the best young rider.
In the battle amongst the other GC favorites, Aleksandr Vlasov () was the closest rider to Roglič at 14 seconds down. Romain Bardet () and Enric Mas () finished 17 and 18 seconds behind, respectively, while the other contenders lost between 20 and 40 seconds.
Stage 2 15 August 2021 – Caleruega to Burgos,
The second stage of the Vuelta featured a course with an almost entirely flat terrain that suited the sprinters. There were no categorized climbs on the route apart from a few minor lumps on the course. With to go, there was an intermediate sprint at Tardajos that offered three, two, and one bonus second(s) to the first three riders across, respectively.
As soon as the flag dropped, three riders, Diego Rubio (), Sergio Martín (), and Xabier Azparren (), broke away from the peloton. The trio built a maximum advantage of around four minutes before and began to control the gap for their sprinters, Arnaud Démare and Fabio Jakobsen, respectively. The gap gradually came down before the pace in the peloton rapidly increased with around to go as they rode into exposed roads. The trio's advantage came down to around 33 seconds before the peloton knocked off the pace, allowing the break's lead to increase again to more than a minute and a half. With around to go, the break split as Rubio soloed off the front before he was caught by the peloton with left; for his efforts, he was awarded the stage's combativity award.
Almost immediately, came to the front in an attempt to bring Alex Aranburu closer to the red jersey with the bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint. At the sprint, Aranburu was led out by his team, but Jakobsen came across first with Aranburu in second. With to go, a crash took down some riders in the middle of the peloton. The crash caught some contenders out, including Adam Yates (), Hugh Carthy (), and David de la Cruz (), with all three losing 30 seconds to a minute. In the final sprint to the line, Juan Sebastián Molano () launched his sprint first but Jasper Philipsen () came around him to win the stage. Second place went to Jakobsen, who was forced to take a longer route around Molano and the third-place finisher was Michael Matthews (). With his win, Philipsen also took the lead in the points classification. Primož Roglič () finished safely in the peloton to retain the red jersey.
After the stage, Alexander Cataford (), who had gone down in the late crash, was diagnosed with a broken collarbone. As a result, he was unable to start stage 3 and became the first withdrawal of the race.
Stage 3 16 August 2021 – Santo Domingo de Silos to Espinosa de los Monteros – Picón Blanco,
The third stage featured the first summit finish of the race as the riders headed from Santo Domingo de Silos to Picón Blanco. The first was undulating and included the third-category climb of Puerto del Manquillo, which crested after . Afterwards, the terrain was mostly flat until the riders passed through the intermediate sprint in Medina de Pomar with left. With to go, the riders tackled the third-category Alto de Bocos, a climb with an average gradient of 6.3 percent. There were bonus seconds on offer for the first three riders to cross the summit. After passing through Espinosa de los Monteros, the riders reached the foot of the final climb of Picón Blanco, a long first-category climb with an average gradient of 9.3 percent.
Before the stage started, Frederik Frison () became the second rider to abandon after suffering from a high fever; the Belgian rider's COVID-19 tests had all come back negative. A few kilometres after the flag dropped, Ryan Gibbons () attempted to break away together with Antonio Jesús Soto (). After the two were brought back, Soto tried to break away again and this time, he was joined by seven other riders. The eight-man break extended their lead to three minutes before took control at the front of the peloton. At the top of the Puerto del Manquillo, Kenny Elissonde () took maximum points to tie Sepp Kuss () for the lead of the mountains classification. Over the next few kilometres, the break's advantage ballooned to nine minutes, making it almost certain that the someone from the break would win the stage. At the intermediate sprint, Julen Amezqueta () took maximum points. With other teams taking over at the front, the peloton began to set a furious pace, bringing the break's lead down to about four minutes. At the top of the Alto de Bocos, Tobias Bayer () took maximum points, which, when added to the points he had previously accumulated in the stage, catapulted him to the top of the virtual KOM standings.
With to go, Lilian Calmejane () attacked off the front, building an advantage of 20 seconds before being chased down ahead of the final climb of Picón Blanco. At the bottom of the climb, the break began to split apart, with Amezqueta, Calmejane, Elissonde, Joe Dombrowski (), and Rein Taaramäe () remaining up front. from the top, Dombrowski upped the pace in the break, bringing only Taaramäe and Elissonde with him. Further up the climb, Taaramäe dropped his companions, eventually soloing to the stage win. Dombrowski took second, 21 seconds down, while Elissonde finished 36 seconds behind. In the GC group, set a steady tempo on the final climb. David de la Cruz () attacked but he was unable to build a gap. After losing time the previous day, Adam Yates () put in a few digs but the headwind on the climb made it hard for the riders to create any gaps. Near the finish, Enric Mas () accelerated from the group, gaining three seconds on a seven-man group of favourites. With the GC group crossing the line at almost two minutes behind Taaramäe, the Estonian became the new race leader and took the red jersey from Primož Roglič (). With the 10 points Taaramäe took at the summit of Picón Blanco, he also became the new leader of the mountains classification and took the blue polka-dot jersey.
Some contenders lost contact with the GC group towards the top. De la Cruz lost 15 seconds to Mas while Hugh Carthy () conceded more than 20 seconds. Romain Bardet (), Aleksandr Vlasov (), and Damiano Caruso () conceded 32 seconds to Mas while Richard Carapaz () struggled and lost a minute. Additionally, Carapaz was handed a 20-second penalty for taking a feed out of the authorized zone.
Stage 4 17 August 2021 – El Burgo de Osma to Molina de Aragón,
Stage 4 covered from El Burgo de Osma to Molina de Aragón, travelling southeast through central Spain and leaving Castile and León. The undulating route had several hills but no categorised climbs, and it was expected to favour the sprinters. The only point of note along the stage was the intermediate sprint after of racing, at the top of a small rise in Alcolea del Pinar; bonus seconds were also on offer for the first three riders to cross the sprint line. The final began with a false flat up to to go before a short descent into the final kilometre. The road then flattened out before a uphill drag to the line with gradients between three and seven percent.
Right from the start, a breakaway of three was formed. This trio consisted of three Spaniards, with Joan Bou () being joined by the duo of Ángel Madrazo and Carlos Canal; Canal was the youngest rider in the race at 20 years and 50 days. The breakaway quickly built an advantage of almost three minutes, but at around in, it had increased to a maximum of about four and a half minutes. At that point, the peloton began to close the gap ahead of the intermediate sprint, where Bou took maximum points ahead of Madrazo in second and Canal in third. In the peloton behind, Florian Sénéchal () took fourth ahead of the points classification leader, Jasper Philipsen (), to limit the losses for his teammate Fabio Jakobsen; Philipsen and Jakobsen were tied for the lead in that classification, with the former wearing the leader's green jersey by virtue of his stage 2 victory. The peloton gradually chased down the break before the trio was swept up with to go, and among them, Madrazo was awarded the stage's combativity award. With to go, race leader Rein Taaramäe () went down near the back of the peloton, but he was able to get back up quickly. At the front of the peloton, , , and took control for their respective sprinters. In the finale, Sacha Modolo () was the first to begin sprinting while looking behind for his teammate Philipsen, who was boxed in behind other sprinters. On the uphill sprint to the line, led out their sprinter, Arnaud Démare, before Jakobsen emerged from his wheel in the final to win the stage on the line. With the 50 points he gained at the finish, Jakobsen also took the lead in the points classification. Magnus Cort () finished third, while Philipsen settled for ninth.
Because Taaramäe's crash occurred in the final , he was credited with the same time as the peloton, thus retaining the red jersey and the lead in the general classification. The rest of the top 10 in the GC remained unchanged as everyone finished in the peloton.
Stage 5 18 August 2021 – Tarancón to Albacete,
The fifth stage of the race took the riders from Tarancón to Albacete with another stage that was expected to suit the sprinters, with the mostly flat route having no categorised climbs. The intermediate sprint took place in La Roda with to go and offered bonus seconds to the first three riders across.