Torrevieja, in Alicante province, has never been the finish line for a stage of La Vuelta, but the municipality hosted the start of stage 9 in 2015. That was the day when the young Dutchman Tom Dumoulin first made the headlines, winning the stage at the age of 24. It was his first stage win in a major event, and he came close to winning the overall title. Two years later he won the Giro d’Italia, thus confirming the potential that he first showed, along with other riders, in the Vuelta on that day in Torrevieja.