Vitoria-Gasteiz is a veteran host city of La Vuelta. The green capital of Euskadi has hosted 18 departures and 18 finish-lines for the Spanish tour since it first appeared in La Vuelta in 1956. In 2020, the municipality will host La Vuelta 20 during its first rest day, following a strenuous stage with a finale at the Col du Tourmalet. The following day, it will host the departure of the 7 th stage, that will end at Villanueva de Valdegovía.
As a departure area, the locality has hosted the start of stages that have usually finished in cities around it, like Bilbao, Santander or Saint Sebastian. An exception occurred in 2015, when Vitoria fired the starting gun for a day that concluded at the extremely tough Fuente del Chivo mountain pass, whose victory went to the Italian rider Alessandro de Marchi.
As a finish-line, the Álava capital has seen iconic cyclists of various generations obtain victory. The first triumph went to the Spanish rider Miguel Chacón, in 1956, and its victory tally now includes such impressive names as Rik Van Looy, Raymond Poulidor, Agustín Tamames and Luis Ocaña, among others. The final triumph went to the recently-retired Italian sprinter, Daniele Bennati in 2011.
