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The 12 Australian stage winners at the La Vuelta a España

12 Aug 2021 | 04:15 PMBy: Josh Davies

The 76th edition of the La Vuelta a España starts this weekend in the early hours of Sunday morning, with 11 Australians pinning a number on in Burgos at the third and final Grand Tour of 2021.

Of those 11 Aussies, Canberran Michael Matthews enters as the standout prospect to claim stage wins over the next three weeks as the leader of Team BikeExchange’s opportunistic squad.

Matthews’ last stood on the top step of a La Vuelta stage back in 2014 during a lumpy Stage 3 from Cádiz to Arcos de la Frontera.

The stage win was enough to catapult Matthews into the red leader’s jersey, which he would then hold for three days up until Stage 7.

Matthews’ success in 2014 was his third stage win at La Vuelta following two stage wins in Stage 5 and 21 the year prior.

The Australian Cycling Team member is one of 12 Australian La Vuelta stage winners to taste glory under the Spanish sun, with the trailblazing Don Allan the first to do so in 1975.

The winners

Don Allan - 1975 Stage 17 (Durango to Bilbao)

Allan was a pioneer when it came to Australia’s representation at La Vuelta, becoming the first to race it and win a stage in 1975.

Across a career that included the 1972 Munich Olympics, most of the Spring Classics and two starts at both the Tour de France and La Vuelta, Allan was without a doubt one of the first to showcase Australia’s cycling pedigree in Europe.

The Blackburn Cycling Club product raced the 1975 Vuelta with Dutch team Frisol off the back of an impressive 22nd at the 1975 World Championships in Yvoir, Belgium.

The future six-day track racing star’s breakthrough La Vuelta win came on Stage 17 from Durango to Bilbao.

Speaking to CyclingTips in 2010, Allan recalled big-name pros scoffing as he was brought to the front of the peloton, before putting that all behind him as the bunch entered a soccer stadium to the roar of thousands.

On the shifting track, Allan hit the line ahead of 1972 world champion and multiple Grand Tour stage winner Marino Basso.

Michael Wilson – 1983 Stage 19 (Palazuelos de Eresma to Madrid)

Michael Wilson’s win at the final stage of the 1983 edition of the La Vuelta in Madrid was a gutsy display of breakaway nous.

In a similar display to his 1982 stage win at the Giro d'Italia, Wilson first formed part of a breakaway group and then dropped his escapee companions in pursuit of the finish line.

On this occasion, it was an attack with only a couple kilometres remaining of several circuits of Madrid from the Alfa Lum – Olmo man which proved the catalyst for success.

Wilson, a rider with time trial ability, used his strengths to hold his advantage over Laurent Fignon to the line to become Australia’s second stage winner at La Vuelta.

Brad McGee – 2005 Stage 2 (Granada to Córdoba)

The current Australian Cycling Team Road Technical Director enjoyed a terrific start to the 2005 La Vuelta.

Following a third on Stage 1’s ITT in Granada, McGee would find himself wearing the leader’s jersey in the aftermath of his second-place finish in Stage 2. Note: Stage winner Leonardo Bertagnolli’s results from 2003 to 2011 were disqualified due to issues with his biological passport.

McGee wore red for a total of four days in 2005 until the race entered the mountains in Stage 6.

Heinrich Haussler - 2005 Stage 19 (San Martin de Valdeiglesias to Alcobendas)

Racing as a neo-pro at his first Grand Tour, Heinrich Haussler turned heads in 2005 with his Stage 19 win at La Vuelta.

Racing at the time under a German license (Haussler relinquished his German citizenship in 2010), the man born and raised in Inverell won a four-man long, uphill sprint to the delight of his Gerolsteiner team.

Haussler proved his win was a sign of things to come just two days later in Madrid with a third-place finish to end his debut La Vuelta.

Simon Gerrans – 2009 Stage 10 (Alicante to Murcia)

2009 was a year to remember for the Australian favourite Simon Gerrans, with a stage win at both La Vuelta and the Giro to accompany a win at the Bretagne Classic.

Riding for Cervelo TestTeam, the Melburnian formed part of a 19-man breakaway during Stage 10 to Murcia, which split apart on the second category Col de la Cuesta del Gallo close to the finish.

With the break whittled down to four riders, Gerrans showed patience among a flurry of last-ditch attacks from Ryder Hesjedal to eventually race round the Canadian for a comfortable win.

Gerrans’ win in Murcia also placed him into the rarified air of becoming a stage winner at all three Grand Tours.

Matt Goss – 2010 Stage 1 TTT (Sevilla to Sevilla)

Goss was a member of Team HTC-Columbia 2010 La Vuelta team largely built around Mark Cavendish, who would win a further three stages during the tour.

The Team HTC-Columbia train proved to be the strongest on the opening day of La Vuelta, besting Liquigas-Doimo by 10 seconds at the finish of the 17km TTT in Sevilla.

Chris Sutton – 2011 Stage 2 (La Nucía to Playas De Orihuela)

Chris Sutton outwitted the pure sprinters on the second day of the 2011 La Vuelta to claim the first and only Grand Tour stage win of his career.

Sutton added a huge win to his palmarès courtesy of a savvy sprint finish ahead of Vicente Reynès and Marcel Kittel.

Sutton followed the wheel of Reynes after an early surge by Tom Boonen, who ran out of gas short of the finish line.

Simon Clarke – 2012 Stage 4 (Barakaldo to Estación De Valdezcaray) and 2018 Stage 5 (Granada to Roquetas de Mar)

Dual La Vuelta stage winner Simon Clarke made his first win at the professional level a momentous one, stepping on the top step of a Grand Tour podium after comfortably outsprinting Tony Martin to the line from an original breakaway group of five riders.

Clarke’s 2012 win was the igniter for a successful assault at the polka-dot jersey, which remains Australia’s sole classification glory at La Vuelta.

Australian Cycling Team’s road captain next tasted glory six years later draped in EF Education First-Drapac colours in an elongated cagey finish between himself, Bauke Mollema and Alessandro De Marchi.

Simon Clarke

In what he described as a flashback to his track cycling days as a junior, Clarke outsprinted his rivals to claim a memorable win.

Michael Matthews – 2013 Stage 5 (Sober to Lago de Sanabria) and Stage 21 (Leganés to Madrid Madrid); 2014 Stage 3 (Cádiz to Arcos de la Frontera)
Adam Hansen – 2014 Stage 19 (Salvaterra de Miño to Cangas de Morrazo)

Although most known for his record of starting and finishing 20 consecutive Grand Tours as well as his cycling engineering ingenuity, Adam Hansen also did some winning during his marvellous career.

The recently retired ironman of the professional peloton claimed the second of his two Grand Tour stage wins at the tail-end of the 2014 La Vuelta in Cangas do Morrazo.

Hansen held an attack with 5km to go from a diminished bunch on a small rise during the middle mountains day to win solo by five seconds.

Caleb Ewan – 2015 Stage 5 (Rota to Alcalá de Guadaíra)

Caleb Ewan’s Grand Tour debut lived up the billing in 2015, with the young pocket rocket claiming his maiden Grand Tour stage win in the streets of Alcalá de Guadaíra.

Led by veteran Mathew Hayman, Orica-GreenEdge led Ewan out perfectly, dropping him off in prime position to overtake John Degenkolb and Peter Sagan.

Ewan has since gone on to win 11 stages at Grand Tours.

Ewan will unfortunately not start this year’s La Vuelta due to a collarbone injury sustained in the Tour de France.

Rohan Dennis – 2017 Stage 1 TTT (Nîmes to Nîmes); 2018 Stage 1 ITT (Malaga to Malaga) and Stage 16 ITT (Santillana del Mar to Torrelavega)

Few things come between Rohan Dennis and a shot at the leader’s jersey in a Stage 1 time trial.

The powerhouse from Adelaide claimed the first of his three La Vuelta stage wins to date as the workhorse of BMC Racing’s 2017 team.

A year later, Dennis would make it back-to-back Stage 1 La Vuelta wins in the short opening ITT in Malaga.

16 days later he was back to the top of the pile in a longer 32km ITT from Santillana del Mar to Torrelavega.

Rohan Dennis

The recent bronze medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics never looked in doubt on the day, winning by a margin of 50 seconds ahead of teammate Joey Rosskopf.

Dennis is just the third Australian to have worn the leader’s jersey at every Grand Tour.