Vuelta a Espana 2004

The 59th Edition of Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 4 September to 26 September 2004. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of 2,925 km (1,818 mi), and was won by Roberto Heras of the Liberty Seguros cycling team.

Halfway through the 2004 Vuelta, it appeared it would become an easy win for Heras, but in the last week his fellow countryman Santiago Pérez won two heavy mountain stages, thus becoming an important rival. Eventually Heras won with only 30 seconds advantage on Pérez. Pérez and Phonak hearing systems teammate Tyler Hamilton would later test positive for blood doping from blood samples taken during the race. Francisco Mancebo, also from Spain took third. The first non-Spaniard was Stefano Garzelli from Italy in 11th. 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 Roberto Heras. Kelme was the winner of the team ranking. Alessandro Petacchi, an Italian sprinter won four stages, but he did not finish the Vuelta.

2004 Vuelta a España

Race details
Dates	4–26 September
Stages	21
Distance	2,925 km (1,818 mi)
Winning time	77h 42′ 46″
Results
Winner  Roberto Heras (ESP) (Liberty Seguros) Second  Santiago Pérez (ESP) (Phonak) Third  Francisco Mancebo (ESP) (Illes Balears–Banesto) Points  Erik Zabel (GER) (T-Mobile Team) Mountains  Félix Cárdenas (COL) (Orbitel) Combination  Roberto Heras (ESP) (Liberty Seguros) Team Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme
← 2003 2005 →

Route

List of stages

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1	4 September	León – León	28 km (17 mi)		Team time trial	U.S. Postal Service
2	5 September	León – Burgos	207 km (129 mi)			Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)
3	6 September	Burgos – Soria	156 km (97 mi)			Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
4	7 September	Soria – Zaragoza	167 km (104 mi)			Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)
5	8 September	Zaragoza – Morella	186.5 km (116 mi)			Denis Menchov (RUS)
6	9 September	Benicarló – Castellón de la Plana	157 km (98 mi)			Óscar Freire (ESP)
7	10 September	Castellón de la Plana – Valencia	170 km (106 mi)			Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)
8	11 September	Almussafes – Almussafes	40.1 km (25 mi)		Individual time trial	Tyler Hamilton  Víctor Hugo Peña (COL)
9	12 September	Xàtiva – Alto de Aitana	162 km (101 mi)			Leonardo Piepoli (ITA)
10	13 September	Alcoy – Xorret de Catí	174.2 km (108 mi)			Eladio Jiménez (ESP)
11	14 September	San Vicente del Raspeig – Caravaca de la Cruz	165 km (103 mi)			David Zabriskie
	15 September				Rest day
12	16 September	Almería – Calar Alto Observatory	145 km (90 mi)			Roberto Heras (ESP)
13	17 September	El Ejido – Málaga	172 km (107 mi)			Alessandro Petacchi (ITA)
14	18 September	Málaga – Granada	167 km (104 mi)			Santiago Pérez (ESP)
15	19 September	Granada – Sierra Nevada	29.6 km (18 mi)		Individual time trial	Santiago Pérez (ESP)
	20 September				Rest day
16	21 September	Olivenza – Cáceres	190.1 km (118 mi)			José Julia (ESP)
17	22 September	Plasencia – La Covatilla	170 km (106 mi)			Félix Cárdenas (COL)
18	23 September	Béjar – Ávila	196 km (122 mi)			Javier Pascual Rodríguez (ESP)
19	24 September	Ávila – Collado Villalba	142 km (88 mi)			Constantino Zaballa (ESP)
20	25 September	Alcobendas – Puerto de Navacerrada	178 km (111 mi)			José Enrique Gutiérrez (ESP)
21	26 September	Madrid – Madrid	28 km (17 mi)		Individual time trial	Santiago Pérez (ESP)
	Total		2,925 km (1,818 mi)

Jersey progress

General classification (final)

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Roberto Heras (ESP)	Liberty Seguros	77h42’46”
2	Santiago Pérez (ESP)	Phonak	30″
3	Francisco Mancebo (ESP)	Illes Balears–Banesto	2’13”
4	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)	Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme	3’30”
5	Carlos García Quesada (ESP)	Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme	7’44”
6	Carlos Sastre (ESP)	Team CSC	8’11”
7	Isidro Nozal (ESP)	Liberty Seguros	8’32”
8	José Ángel Gómez Marchante (ESP)	Paternina-Costa De Almeria	13’08”
9	Luis Pérez (ESP)	Cofidis	13’24”
10	David Blanco (ESP)	Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme	15’15”
11	Stefano Garzelli (ITA)	Vini Caldirola–Nobili Rubinetterie	16’33”
12	Marcos Serrano (ESP)	Liberty Seguros	17’14”
13	Manuel Beltrán (ESP)	U.S. Postal Service	17’43”
14	Francisco José Lara (ESP)	Paternina-Costa De Almeria	24’16”
15	Samuel Sánchez (ESP)	Euskaltel–Euskadi	29’23”
16	Damiano Cunego (ITA)	Saeco Macchine per Caffè	29’51”
17	Jorge Ferrio (ESP)	Paternina-Costa De Almeria	30’49”
18	David Plaza (ESP)	Cafe Baque	31’24”
19	Eladio Jiménez (ESP)	Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme	34’35”
20	Luis Pasamontes (ESP)	Relax-Bergasol	37’49”
21	Unai Osa (ESP)	Illes Balears–Banesto	38’06”