2011 Vuelta a España

The 66th Vuelta a España will begin Saturday and run through Sunday, September 11, 2011. The race will cover 3,300 km and will have 21 stages with the following profiles:

9 flat stages,
10 mountain stages
1 team time-trial stage (the opening stage)
1 individual time-trial stage


Distinctive aspects of the race:

6 summit finishes
2 rest days
14 km team time-trial
40 km individual time-trial stage

Teams participating:
UCI ProTeams:
AG2R LA MONDIALE (FRA)
BMC RACING TEAM (USA)
EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI (ESP)
HTC-HIGHROAD (USA)
KATUSHA TEAM (RUS)
LAMPRE - ISD (ITA)
LEOPARD TREK (LUX)
LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (ITA)
MOVISTAR TEAM (ESP)
OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO (BEL)
PRO TEAM ASTANA (KAZ)
QUICKSTEP CYCLING TEAM (BEL)
RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM (NED)
SAXO BANK SUNGARD (DEN)
SKY PROCYCLING (GBR)
TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO (USA)
TEAM RADIOSHACK (USA)
VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM (NED)

Invited Teams:
ANDALUCIA CAJA GRANADA (ESP)
GEOX-TMC (ESP), Italian owned team registered in Spain
COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE (FRA)
SKIL - SHIMANO (NED)


Vincenzo Nibali (above) of Liquigas-Cannondale, last year's winner, will be returning to defend his title after skipping the Tour de France. Nibali's teammate Peter Sagan is on form and will be on fire. Michele Scarponi, who was 2nd to Nibali's 3rd in the Giro d'Italia in May will be the Lampre-ISD leader. Teammate Alessando Petacchi will be looking for sprint victories. For GEOX-TMC the two time Vuelta winner Dennis Menchov (2005 and 2007) and Carlos Sastre, winner of the 2008 Tour de France, will be hoping to bring the first major victory to the team.

The teams:
LIQUIGAS:
NIBALI Vincenzo
CAPECCHI Eros
CARUSO Damiano
DA DALTO Mauro
DALL'ANTONIA Tiziano
MARANGONI Alan
NERZ Dominik
SAGAN Peter
WURF Cameron

LAMPRE-ISD
SCARPONI Michele
KVACHUK Oleksandr
MARZANO Marco
MORI Manuele
NIEMIEC Przemyslaw
PEREZ ARRIETA Aitor
PETACCHI Alessandro
RIGHI Daniele
SPEZIALETTI Alessandro

GEOX-TMC
COBO ACEBO Juan Jose
BLANCO RODRIGUEZ David
DE LA FUENTE RASILLA David
DUARTE AREVALO Fabio Andres
DURÁN AROCA Arkaitz
FLORENCIO CABRE Xavier
MENCHOV Denis
SASTRE CANDIL Carlos
VALLS FERRI Rafael

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