Vuelta a Espana 2013 on British Eurosport & ITV4

Spain hosts to the third and final UCI Grand Tour of the season as a selection of the world’s greatest bike riders compete in the 68th Vuelta a Espana.

Live coverage of every stage will be shown on British Eurosport, while ITV4 will screen extensive free-to-air highlights each day during the three-week race.

The Vuelta is a race that has been historically, and unsurprisingly, dominated by home riders with nearly half of the previous editions being won by Spaniards.

Alberto Contador took the distinctive red jersey last year but he will not be return to defend his crown in the 2013 edition of the race, which features 11 summit finishes and covers a total distance of 3,300 miles.

In his absence, these stages are likely to be contested by the likes of the Irishman Dan Martin, who is leading the Garmin-Sharp team, as well as Alejandro Valverde, Joaquim Rodriguez, Vincenzo Nibali, and Ivan Basso.

The Spaniard triumphed in the red jersey with over a minute between him and his nearest rival, Valverde, who also won the green point’s jersey.

Simon Clarke of Orica GreenEDGE proved to be the most dominant in the mountains by winning the king of the mountains classification.

With the likes of Eddie Merckx, Tony Rominger and Alberto Contador on the list of winners here, the Vuelta is only preceded by the Tour de France in terms of prestige.

This year’s race will be made up of seven flat stages, 12 mountain stages, one team-trial stage, and one individual time-trial stage, which all add up to a total of 3,300km.

During the race, riders will have to deal with six summit finishes.

The route this year will take participants into two bordering countries of Spain, as the riders journey into France and Andorra. Stage fifteen will start in Andorra and finish in Peyragudes, a ski-resort in the French Pyrenees.

The riders will have to negotiate the same ascent finish that saw Bradley Wiggins all but secure his Tour de France title back in 2012.  

All the top professional teams will be taking part this year such as, Sky Procycling, SaxoBank Tinkoff, Movistar and Astana.

Sergio Henao will spearhead a cosmopolitan Team Sky squad at the Vuelta.

The 25-year-old Colombian is regarded as one of the top climbers in the sport and has been chosen as the leader of a nine-strong group.

Also part of the Sky line-up are Edvald Boasson Hagen, Dario Cataldo, Vasil Kiryienka, Christian Knees, Salvatore Puccio, Luke Rowe, Rigoberto Urán and Xabier Zandio.

Tour de France winner Chris Froome is competing in the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado, where he is supporting his team-mate Joe Dombrowski, while Bradley Wiggins is skipping La Vuelta in favour of preparing for the Road World Championships in Florence next month.

This year’s Vuelta starts in the western Galicia region with a team time trial, with the final mountain stages in the Asturias and Alto de l’Angliru the last mountain finish.

The winner will be crowned in Madrid on Sunday, September 15.

British Eurosport continues its impressive year-round cycling coverage with live action from every stage 0f La Vuelta a Espana 2013.

The pan-European channel will be the only place to watch live action from each stage of the race.

Live coverage will be shown across British Eurosport and British Eurosport 2, as well as in high-definition, plus there will be extended nightly highlights.

Carlton Kirby, Brian Smith and Sean Kelly, who won the race back in 1988, will lead Eurosport’s commentary team.

ITV4 will broadcast daily highlights of the 2013 Vuelta a Espana, following on from the success of its coverage of Chris Froome’s ride to victory in the Tour de France last month.

It’s the third consecutive year that the channel has broadcast the race and it will air a nightly one-hour highlights programme covering each stage of the race

Gary Imlach will present coverage alongside a selection of studio guests for the 21-stage event which starts in Galicia on Saturday, August 24 and ends in Madrid on Sunday, September 15.

Sharing commentary duties for ITV Sport will be the legendary Phil Liggett, Anthony McCrossan and Graham Jones, while reporter Matt Rendell will conduct interviews with the key riders and provide regular updates from the roadside.

ITV.com will simulcast the highlights programmes and they will also be available to watch via the channel’s catch-up service ITV Player.

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