Vuelta organiser Unipublic was faced with a difficult decision before the start of this year's event. Last year's champion Alexander Vinokourov and third placed Andrey Kashechkin both went positive for banned blood transfusions leading to their exclusion from the race, and second placed finisher Alejandro Valverde chose not to start - so who would get to wear number one in Vigo on September 1? Rather than dip down to fourth place to hand the number over to CSC's Carlos Sastre, organisers decided to sort the teams and riders in alphabetical order to determine the bib numbers. This leaves Ag2r's José Luis Arrieta at the top of the start list.
Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*
Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets
After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59
Join now for unlimited access
Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
