The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia ( en, Tour of Murcia) is a

road bicycle race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

held in and around

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

, Spain. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs. Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages. However, due to Spain's financial turmoil, the race was scaled back to three stages in 2011 and two stages in 2012. From 2013 to 2018 the Vuelta a Murcia was organised as a single-day race and shifted to mid-February on the international calendar. In 2019 the race was expanded to two stages.Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia (2.1)
on BikeRaceInfo. It is part of the

UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

as a

2.1 The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world's governing body in the sport of bicycle racing, classifies races according to a rating scale. The rating is represented by a code made of two or three parts and indicates both the type or style ...

event. However, due to the postponement of the 2021 edition to May, the race was reverted to its one-day nature, with the expectation that the race will continue as a two-day event in future editions.

Controversies

All Italian teams were banned from taking part in the 2010 edition of the race by race organizers. This decision was made due to the banning of Spanish cyclist

Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . Valverde's biggest wins have been the Vuelta a España in 2009, Critérium du Dauphiné in 2008 and 2009, ...

by the Italian Olympic Committee due to his links with the Operación Puerto blood doping ring. In 2011

Alberto Contador Alberto Contador Velasco (; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish former professional cyclist. He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice ( 2007, 2009), the Giro d'Italia twice (2008, 2015), and the Vue ...

won both the overall and points classification after winning Stage 2 and the Stage 3

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-b ...

. However, in February 2012 he was suspended and all his results after July 2010 were voided, awarding

Jérôme Coppel Jérôme Coppel (born 6 August 1986) is a French former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2016 for the , , and teams. Career Born in Annemasse, Haute-Savoie, Coppel and compatriot Romain Sicard were the focus of a f ...

of Saur Sojasun the overall victory.

Past winners – men's race

Past winners – women's race

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vuelta A Murcia

Recurring sporting events established in 1981 1981 establishments in Spain Sport in the Region of Murcia UCI Europe Tour races