Stages:
1 Sat, Aug 14 Burgos Catedral VIII Centenario - Catedral 7.1km ITT
2 Sun, Aug 15 Caleruega - Burgos 166.7km Flat
3 Mon, Aug 16 Santo Domingo de Silos - Picón Blanco 202.8km Hills
4 Tue, Aug 17 El Burgo de Osma - Molina de Aragón 163.9km Flat
5 Wed, Aug 18 Tarancón - Albacete 184.4km Flat
6 Thu, Aug 19 Requena - Alto de la Montaña de Cullera 158.3km Hills
7 Fri, Aug 20 Gandía - Balcón de Alicante 152km Mountains
8 Sat, Aug 21 Santa Pola - La Manga del Mar Menor 173.7km Flat
9 Sun, Aug 22 Puerto Lumbreras - Alto de Velifique 188km Mountain
Rest day Mon, Aug 23
10 Tue, Aug 24 Roquetas de Mar - Rincón de la Victoria 190.3km Flat
11 Wed, Aug 25 Antequera - Valdepeñas de Jaén 133.6km Mountains
12 Thu, Aug 26 Jaén - Córdoba 175km Hills
13 Fri, Aug 27 Belmez - Villanueva de la Serena 203.7km Flat
14 Sat, Aug 28 Don Benito - Pico Villuercas 165.7km Mountains
15 Sun, Aug 29 Navalmoral de la Mata - El Barraco 197.5km Mountains
Rest day Mon, Aug 30
16 Tue, Aug 31 Laredo - Santa Cruz de Bezana 180km Flat
17 Wed, Sep 1 Unquera - Lagos de Covadonga 185.8km Mountains
18 Thu, Sep 2 Salas - Altu d’El Gamoniteiru 162.6km Mountains
19 Fri, Sep 3 Tapia - Monforte de Lemus 191.2km Hills
20 Sat, Sep 4 Sanxenxo - Mos Castro de Herville 202.2km Mountains
21 Sun, Sep 5 Padrón - Santiago de Compostela 33.8km ITT
VUELTA A ESPAÑA: PAST WINNERS
2000: Roberto Herasdagger (Esp) Kelme–Costa Blanca
2001: Ángel Casero (Esp) Festina
2002: Aitor González (Esp) Kelme–Costa Blanca
2003: Roberto Heras (Esp) U.S. Postal Service
2004: Roberto Heras (Esp) Liberty Seguros
2005: Roberto Heras (Esp) Liberty Seguros–Würth
2006: Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana
2007: Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank
2008: Alberto Contador (Esp) Astana
2009: Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Caisse d’Epargne
2010: Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas–Doimo
2011: Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky
2012: Alberto Contador (Esp) Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank
2013: Chris Horner (USA) RadioShack–Leopard
2014: Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff–Saxo
2015: Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana
2016: Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
2017: Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky
2018: Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton–Scott
2019: Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma
2020: Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma
VUELTA A ESPAÑA 2021 START LIST
Team Jumbo-Visma
ROGLIČ Primož
KUSS Sepp
OOMEN Sam
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
GESINK Robert
VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan
HOFSTEDE Lennard
BOUWMAN Koen
Lotto-Soudal
HOLMES Matt
KRON Andreas
CRAS Steff
MONIQUET Sylvain
VANHOUCKE Harm
FRISON Frederik
VERMEERSCH Florian
VAN GILS Maxim
Movistar Team
VALVERDE Alejandro
LÓPEZ Miguel Ángel
MAS Enric
JACOBS Johan
ERVITI Imanol
ROJAS José Joaquín
VERONA Carlos
OLIVEIRA Nelson
Ag2r-Citroën Team
BOUCHARD Geoffrey
DEWULF Stan
PRODHOMME Nicolas
CHAMPOUSSIN Clément
VENTURINI Clément
TOUZÉ Damien
CALMEJANE Lilian
CHEREL Michaël
Astana-Premier Tech
VLASOV Aleksandr
IZAGIRRE Gorka
RODRÍGUEZ Óscar
SÁNCHEZ Luis León
IZAGIRRE Ion
ARANBURU Alex
NATAROV Yuriy
FRAILE Omar
Bahrain Victorious
LANDA Mikel
POELS Wout
PADUN Mark
MÄDER Gino
HAIG Jack
TRATNIK Jan
ARASHIRO Yukiya
CARUSO Damiano
Bora-Hansgrohe
SCHACHMANN Max
GROßSCHARTNER Felix
MEEUS Jordi
ZWIEHOFF Ben
GAMPER Patrick
BENEDETTI Cesare
LAAS Martin
PALZER Anton
Intermarché-Wanty Gobert Matériaux
MEINTJES Louis
TAARAMÄE Rein
HIRT Jan
EIKING Odd Christian
KREDER Wesley
VAN MELSEN Kévin
MINALI Riccardo
PETILLI Simone
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
JAKOBSEN Fabio
KNOX James
ŠTYBAR Zdenek
SÉNÉCHAL Florian
ČERNY Josef
BAGIOLI Andrea
VANSEVENENT Mauri
VAN LERBERGHE Bert
Groupama-FDJ
DÉMARE Arnaud
GENIETS Kevin
LE GAC Olivier
MOLARD Rudy
SINKELDAM Ramon
GUARNIERI Jacopo
LUDVIGSSON Tobias
ROUX Anthony
Team BikeExchange
ZEITS Andrey
HAMILTON Lucas
MATTHEWS Michael
NIEVE Mikel
HOWSON Damien
GRMAY Tsgabu
STANNARD Robert
SCHULTZ Nick
Team Qhubeka-Assos
CLAEYS Dimitri
JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt
ARU Fabio
ARMÉE Sander
LINDEMAN Bert-Jan
SUNDERLAND Dylan
HENAO Sergio
BROWN Connor
EF Education-Nippo
CARTHY Hugh
CARR Simon
CRADDOCK Lawson
CAICEDO Jonathan
CAMARGO Diego
CORT Magnus
SCULLY Tom
KEUKELEIRE Jens
Israel Start-Up Nation
CIMOLAI Davide
WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads
NIV Guy
CATAFORD Alex
PICCOLI James
BERWICK Sebastian
EINHORN Itamar
VANMARKE Sep
Ineos Grenadiers
BERNAL Egan
YATES Adam
CARAPAZ Richard
PIDCOCK Thomas
SIVAKOV Pavel
VAN BAARLE Dylan
NARVÁEZ Jhonatan
PUCCIO Salvatore
Team DSM
BARDET Romain
STORER Michael
HAGA Chad
ARENSMAN Thymen
DAINESE Alberto
TUSVELD Martijn
DENZ Nico
HAMILTON Chris
Trek-Segafredo
CICCONE Giulio
BRAMBILLA Gianluca
SIMMONS Quinn
KIRSCH Alex
LÓPEZ Juan Pedro
ELISSONDE Kenny
REIJNEN Kiel
NIBALI Antonio
UAE Team Emirates
TRENTIN Matteo
MAJKA Rafał
DE LA CRUZ David
POLANC Jan
GIBBONS Ryan
OLIVEIRA Rui
MOLANO Sebastian
DOMBROWSKI Joe
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
HERRADA Jesús
HERRADA José
BARCELÓ Fernando
ALLEGAERT Piet
MARTIN Guillaume
ROCHAS Rémy
MORIN Emmanuel
FINÉ Eddy
Burgos-BH
NAVARRO Daniel
MADRAZO Ángel
BOL Jetse
RUBIO Diego
CANAL Carlos
OKAMINA Ander
CABEDO Óscar
SANCHEZ Pelayo
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
ABERASTURI Jon
LASTRA Jonathan
AMÉZQUETA Julen
CEPEDA Jefferson
BAGÜES Aritz
LAKZANO Oier
MARTÍN Sergio
CUADROS Álvaro
Alpecin-Fenix
VINE Jay
DE TIER Floris
PHILIPSEN Jasper
PLANCKAERT Edward
THWAITES Scott
MODOLO Sacha
BAYER Tobias
KRIEGER Alexander
Euskaltel-Euskadi
BIZKARRA Mikel
MATÉ Luis Ángel
BOU Joan
ITURRIA Mikel
MARTÍN Gotzon
SOTO Antonio Jesús
LOBATO Juan José
AZPARREN Xabier Mikel
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23 Teams (with 8 members each)
184 competitors in total
Fascinating to see how Pidcock goes.
Roglicz favourite again?
Bruce
2018 winner Simon Yates not riding this year…
i wonder if he has recovered from his TdF crash, or lost form (?)
His twin brother Adam has signed up with the plastic grenadiers.
Number of competitors per nation:
Spain: 40
Belgium: 20
France: 18
Italy: 14
Netherlands: 14
Australia: 11
Great Britain: 7
United States: 6
Colombia: 5
Germany: 5
Ecuador: 4
Slovenia: 4
Austria: 3
Czech Republic: 3
Denmark: 3
South Africa: 3
Canada: 2
Estonia: 2
Israel: 2
Kazakhstan: 2
Luxembourg: 2
New Zealand: 2
Poland: 2
Portugal: 2
Russia: 2
Switzerland: 2
Japan: 1
Norway: 1
Sweden: 1
Ukraine: 1
Total competing riders = 184
Saturday 14th August 2021
2021 La Vuelta starts off with a Stage One prologue where differences among the favourites are expected to be minimal (no more than 10-15 seconds).
Burgos is hosting an individual time trial for specialists that, as with most races held in an urban setting, will be highly technical. Although short at 7.1 km it includes some climbing.
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Anyone watching this live on Eurosport?
Any guesses who’s likely to win? 
It doesn’t seem to be on Eurosport until 4.30.
You’re lucky, i have to wait until 11:00 pm to see the highlights on Quest which is nearly entirely commercials albeit they occasionally stop the adverts to show a bit of bike racing here and there 
Yes, I have seen the ‘cycling’ on Quest and it is exactly as you say - absolutely dire. I picked up from someone that Eurosport do winter offers and I got a year’s subscription in November for £20. That will renew for £40 later this year, so I will then have a decision to make. So the Vuelta isn’t on ITV4, then? I had assumed that they would at least have an early evening summary programme and was planning to watch that because it’s better most days than dipping in and out of the live coverage, when one can easily miss key moments. Alternatively one has to sit for hours keeping track. It can be quite restful but it does eat up the hours and makes me feel I have wasted the day.
STAGE ONE: BURGOS TO BURGOS (7.1KM - ITT)
- Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 8-32 + red jersey
- Alex Aranburu (Esp) Astana-Premier Tech, at six seconds
- Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, at 8s
- Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education-Nippo, at 10s
- Josef Černy (Cze) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at same time
- Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, at 11s
- Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 12s + white jersey
- Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education-Nippo, at 13s
- Michael Matthews (Aus) BikeExchange, at 14s
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech, at same time
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Polkadot Jersey
- Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
- Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation
- Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE-Team Emirates
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Team Classification
- Team Jumbo-Visma 0h 26m 13s
- Astana - Premier Tech - at 06 seconds
- Deceuninck - Quick Step - at 10 seconds
Sunday 15th August 2021
Stage 2 : a flat stage of 167 km should give a the sprinters the first chance of a win
STAGE TWO: CALERUEGA TO BURGOS (166.7KM)
- Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix, in 3-58-57 *
- Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at same time
- Michael Matthews (Aus) BikeExchange
- Juan Sebastián Molano (Col) UAE Team Emirates
- Alex Aranburu (Esp) Astana - Premier Tech
- Jon Aberasturi (Esp) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
- Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrone
- Riccardo Minali (Ita) Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert
- Florian Vermeersch (Bel) Lotto-Soudal
- Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis, all at same time
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GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE TWO
- Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 4-07-29
- Alex Aranburu (Esp) Astana-Premier Tech, at four seconds
- Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, at 10s
- Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education-Nippo, at same time
- Josef Černy (Cze) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 11s
- Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, at 12s
- Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 14s
- Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education-Nippo, at 15s
- Michael Matthews (Aus) BikeExchange, at same time
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech, at 17s
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Jasper Philipsen finished last in Saturday’s Stage One ITT, perhaps taking it easy in preparation for a Stage Two sprint win yesterday (?) 
His TdF exploits earlier this year gained him three 2nd places (one being on the Champs-Élysées), and three 3rd placings, but no wins… so he will probably be relishing his win yesterday - which also gains him enough points to lead and wear the green jersey.
Monday 16th Aug:
Stage 3 A relatively short climb for a category 1, but very tough 7.6 km summit finish up the Picón Blanco should show who has form, and bring about GC changes.
I didn’t appreciate this until today, but it’s worth pointing out that the crash on stage 2 had a significant effect for some of the GC contenders. There may be others but certainly Hugh Carthy and Adam Yates lost about 30 seconds each. I feel particularly for Yates who did notably well in the time trial.
STAGE 3 Results: SANTO DOMNGO DE SILOS TO PICON BLANCO (204.8KM)
- Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert, in 5-16-57
- Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates, at 21s
- Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo, at 36s
- Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Ag2r-Citroën Team, at 1-16
- Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, at 1-45
- Miguel Ángel López (Col) Movistar Team, at 1-48
- Primož Roglič (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
- Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
- Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain Victorious
- Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, all at the same time.
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GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE THREE
- Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert, in 9-25-44
- Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo, at 25s
- Primož Roglič (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma, at 30s
- Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Ag2r-Citroën Team, at 35s
- Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, at 45s
- Miguel Ángel López (Col) Movistar Team, 51s
- Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, 57s
- Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
- Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, all at the same time
- Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain Victorious, at 1-09.
Other riders
12. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech, at 1-13
14. Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM, at 1-16
16. Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1-21
24. Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo, at 2-02
27. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, at 2-15
POINTS CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE THREE
- Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix, 50pts
- Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, 50pts
- Alex Aranburu (Esp) Astana-Premier Tech, 50pts
MOUNTAINS STANDINGS AFTER STAGE THREE
- Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert, 10pts
- Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo, 7pts
- Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates, 6pts
YOUTH STANDINGS AFTER STAGE THREE
- Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, in 9-26-41
- Gino Mäder (Sui) Bahrain Victorious, at 13s
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech, at 16s
TEAM STANDINGS AFTER STAGE THREE
- UAE Team Emirates, in 28-19-20
- Movistar Team, at 22s
- Bahrain Victorious, at 50s
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I bet when Rein Taaramäe got out of bed this morning, he didn’t expect to get into the breakaway, win the stage, the red jersey, and the polkadot jersey. 
Although the GC results are far from settled due to early days yet, they could stand until the next hilly stage on Thursday… maybe.
The green jersey is by far the most vulnerable which could change riders tomorrow.
The [mountain points classification] polkadot jersey will be worn by Kenny Elissonde tomorrow
Tuesday 17th August 2021 - Stage 4
El Burgo de Osma - Molina de Aragón (163.9km)
Today’s flat stage expectation is mass finish with the second chance for a sprinter win.
With three riders equal on 50 sprint points the green jersey is up for grabs.
Jersey wearers on Stage 4:
Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert
Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo (on loan from Taaramäe)
Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
UAE Team Emirates - Team Classification leader