2003 Vuelta a España

The 58th edition of the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 6 September to 28 September 2003. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Roberto Heras of the U.S. Postal cycling team.

Isidro Nozal lead the general classification for much of the race until succumbing to the pressure posed by Roberto Heras who closed the gap to Nozal over the final days and took the jersey in the final time trial. The points classification was won by Erik Zabel from Germany, the mountains classification was won by Félix Cárdenas from Colombia and the combination classification was won by Alejandro Valverde. iBanesto.com was the winner of the team ranking. Alessandro Petacchi, an Italian sprinter won five stages.

Route

List of stages

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1	6 September	Gijón – Gijón		File:Team Time Trial Stage.svg	Team time trial	Template:Cycling data ONC
2	7 September	Gijón – Cangas de Onís				Template:Flagathlete
3	8 September	Cangas de Onís – Santander				Template:Flagathlete
4	9 September	Santander – Burgos				Template:Flagathlete
5	10 September	Soria – Zaragoza				Template:Flagathlete
6	11 September	Zaragoza – Zaragoza		File:Time Trial.svg	Individual time trial	Template:Flagathlete
7	12 September	Huesca – Cauterets (France)				Template:Flagathlete
8	13 September	Cauterets – Pla de Beret/Val d'Aran				Template:Flagathlete
9	14 September	Vielha – Envalira (Andorra)				Template:Flagathlete
10	15 September	Andorra – Sabadell				Template:Flagathlete
	16 September	Rest day
11	17 September	Utiel – Cuenca				Template:Flagathlete
12	18 September	Cuenca – Albacete				Template:Flagathlete
13	19 September	Albacete – Albacete		File:Time Trial.svg	Individual time trial	Template:Flagathlete
14	20 September	Albacete – Valdepeñas				Template:Flagathlete
15	21 September	Valdepeñas – La Pandera				Template:Flagathlete
	22 September				Rest day
16	23 September	Jaén – Sierra Nevada				Template:Flagathlete
17	24 September	Granada – Córdoba				Template:Flagathlete
18	25 September	Las Rozas – Las Rozas				Template:Flagathlete
19	26 September	Alcobendas – Collado Villalba				Template:Flagathlete
20	27 September	San Lorenzo de El Escorial – Template:Ill		File:Time Trial.svg	Individual time trial	Template:Flagathlete
21	28 September	Madrid – Madrid				Template:Flagathlete
	Total

Jersey Progress

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Combination classification	Team classification
1	ONCE–Eroski	Igor González de Galdeano	Igor González de Galdeano	Jan Hruška	Igor González de Galdeano	ONCE–Eroski
2	Luis Pérez	Joaquim Rodríguez	Joaquim Rodríguez	Luis Pérez	Luis Pérez
3	Alessandro Petacchi
4	Unai Etxebarria	Isidro Nozal	David Etxebarria	Félix Cárdenas	Isidro Nozal
5	Alessandro Petacchi		Alessandro Petacchi
6	Isidro Nozal
7	Michael Rasmussen
8	Joaquim Rodríguez		Joaquim Rodríguez	Joan Horrach
9	Alejandro Valverde		Isidro Nozal	Félix Cárdenas
10	Erik Zabel		Alessandro Petacchi		Alejandro Valverde
11	Erik Zabel		Erik Zabel
12	Alessandro Petacchi				Isidro Nozal
13	Isidro Nozal
14	Alessandro Petacchi		Alessandro Petacchi
15	Alejandro Valverde		Erik Zabel		Alejandro Valverde
16	Félix Cárdenas
17	David Millar
18	Pedro Diaz Lobato
19	Filippo Simeoni
20	Roberto Heras	Roberto Heras	Alejandro Valverde			iBanesto.com
21	Alessandro Petacchi		Erik Zabel
Final		Roberto Heras	Erik Zabel	Félix Cárdenas	Alejandro Valverde	iBanesto.com

General classification

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Template:Flagicon Roberto Heras	U.S. Postal	69h31'52"
2	Template:Flagicon Isidro Nozal	ONCE–Eroski	'28"
3	Template:Flagicon Alejandro Valverde	Kelme–Costa Blanca	2'25"
4	Template:Flagicon Igor González de Galdeano	ONCE–Eroski	3'27"
5	Template:Flagicon Francisco Mancebo	iBanesto.com	4'47"
6	Template:Flagicon Manuel Beltrán	U.S. Postal	5'51"
7	Template:Flagicon Michael Rasmussen	Rabobank	5'56"
8	Template:Flagicon Félix Cárdenas	Labarca 2-Cafe Baque	6'33"
9	Template:Flagicon Unai Osa	iBanesto.com	6'52"
10	Template:Flagicon Luis Pérez	Cofidis	7'56"
11	Template:Flagicon Santos González	Domina Vacanze–Elitron	9'08"
12	Template:Flagicon Óscar Sevilla	Kelme–Costa Blanca	9'52"
13	Template:Flagicon Michele Scarponi	Domina Vacanze–Elitron	10'13"
14	Template:Flagicon Marcos Serrano	Team ONCE	12'51"
15	Template:Flagicon Félix Garcia	Team Bianchi	14'18"
16	Template:Flagicon Txema Del Olmo	Milaneza–MSS	14'38"
17	Template:Flagicon Óscar Pereiro	Phonak Hearing Systems	17'05"
18	Template:Flagicon Iker Flores	Template:Cycling data Euskaltel	18'31"
19	Template:Flagicon Guido Trentin	Cofidis	29'34"
20	Template:Flagicon Josep Jufre	Template:Cycling data REG	33'30"
21	Template:Flagicon Dario Frigo	Fassa Bortolo	40'19"
22	Template:Flagicon Íñigo Cuesta	Cofidis	41'18"
23	Template:Flagicon Leonardo Piepoli	iBanesto.com	46'45"
24	Template:Flagicon Manuel Calvente	Team CSC	47'54"
25	Template:Flagicon Aitor Osa	iBanesto.com	49'39"

External links

• La Vuelta (Official site in Spanish, English, and French)