The Vuelta a España or the Tour of Spain is a three-week road race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI ProTour circuit. The other 2 races in the Grand Tour are Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, all three races are similar in format being multi-week races with daily stages.

The Vuelta was first held in 1935 and annually since 1955.  The Vuelta runs for three weeks in a changing route across Spain.

History
The inaugural event (1935) saw 50 entrants face a 3,411 km (2,119 mi.) course over only 14 stages, averaging over 240km (149 mi.) per stage. It was inspired by the success of the Tours in France and Italy, and the boost they brought to the circulations of their sponsoring newspapers (L'Auto and La Gazzetta dello Sport respectively); Juan Pujol of the daily Informaciones instigated the race to increase his circulation.

It was formerly held in the spring, but since 1995 the race has been run in September. The course includes two individual time trials. The finish of the Vuelta is traditionally the Spanish capital, Madrid. In 1999, for the first time, the course crossed the Alto de El Angliru in Asturias, which climbs 1,573 meters (5,160 feet) over 12.9 km (8 mi.) with grades as steep as 23.6 percent (at Cueña les Cabres) making it one of the steepest in Europe. Credit for the discovery of this climb and its addition to the Vuelta goes to Miguel Prieto.

Jerseys
The overall leader wears the 'Jersey de Oro' (a Golden jersey) - the Spanish counterpart to the yellow jersey of the Tour de France. The best climber (King of the Mountains) wears the 'Jersey naranja' (orange jersey) and the points classification the Jersey rosa (pink jersey).

Laurent Jalabert in the 1995 Vuelta a España won all 3 jerseys and is the only rider to have achieved this.

Winners
The record for most wins is held jointly by Switzerland's Tony Rominger, who won three consecutive Vueltas in 1992, 1993 and 1994; and Roberto Heras of Spain, winner in 2000, 2003 and 2004. Heras also won the 2005 event, but was disqualified for a doping offense. Spaniards have dominated, winning 26 of the 57 runnings of the Vuelta. France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Colombia, Ireland (Sean Kelly in 1988), Russia and most recently Kazakhstan have also had first place finishers.

Denis Menchov won the Vuelta in 2007 for the second time (initally in 2005).

2008 Vuelta
The Tour will start in Granada on 30th August and finish in Madrid 21st Sept and will cover 3,169 km. There is 21 stages including 2 individual time trials, a team time trial, and 2 rest days. Its really a climbers Tour with 40 categorised climbs, including five mountain top finishes and the 16km time trial up the Alto de Navacerrada.

Stage 1, Aug 30: Granada - Granada (7 km) - team time trial
Stage 2, Aug 31: Granada - Jaen (167 km)
Stage 3, Sept 1: Jaen - Cordoba (165 km)
Stage 4, Sept 2: Cordoba - Puertollano (153 km)
Stage 5, Sept 3: Ciudad Real - Ciudad Real (40 km) - individual time trial
Stage 6, Sept 4:Ciudad Real - Toledo (162 km)
Sept 5: rest day
Stage 7, Sept 6: Barbastro - La Rabassa, Andorra (224 km)*
Stage 8, Sept 7: Escaldes-Engordany, Andorra - Pla de Beret (160 km)*
Stage 9, Sept 8: Viella - Sabinanigo (198 km)
Stage 10, Sept 9: Sabinanigo - Zaragoza (173km)
Stage 11, Sept 10: Calahorra - Burgos (178 km)
Stage 12, Sept 11: Burgos - Suances (180 km)
Sept 12: rest day
Stage 13, Sept 13: San Vicente de la Barquera - Alto de L'Angliru (199 km)*
Stage 14, Sept 14: Oviedo - Fuentes de Invierno (158 km)*
Stage 15, Sept 15: Cudillero - Ponferrada (194 km)
Stage 16, Sept 16: Ponferrada-Zamora (185 km)
Stage 17, Sept 17: Zamora - Valladolid (160 km)
Stage 18, Sept 18: Valladolid - Las Rozas (179 km)
Stage 19, Sept 19: Las Rozas - Segovia (161 km)
Stage 20, Sept 20: La Granja - Navacerrada (16km)* - individual time trial
Stage 21, Sept 21: San Sebastian de los Reyes - Madrid (110 km)
*Denotes mountain finish