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Clasificación por puntos

The green jersey in the Vuelta is awarded to the rider who comes first in the point-based classification. It was first awarded in 1945, but although the sponsor Pirelli said that the classification was a great success, it did not return the next edition. The next time that a points classification was calculated, was in 1955, and it has been always since. Nowadays it's sponsored by Škoda and in the past years it has often been a close fight between the sprinters and gc contenders:

YEAR	1st	2nd	3rd
2016	Fabio Felline	Nairo Quintana	Alejandro Valverde
2015	Alejandro Valverde	Joaquim Rodríguez	Esteban Chaves
2014	John Degenkolb	Alejandro Valverde	Alberto Contador
2013	Alejandro Valverde	Chris Horner	Joaquim Rodríguez
2012	Alejandro Valverde	Joaquim Rodríguez	Alberto Contador

Points are given to the riders according to the place they obtain in each of intermediate sprint or stage arrival, based on the following points system:

Points at the stage Finish:

PLACE	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th to 15th
POINTS	25pt	20pt	16pt	14pt	12pt	10pt to 1pt

Points at the Intermediate Sprint:

PLACE	1st	2nd	3rd
POINTS	4pt	2pt	1pt

the same amount of points is warded for each type of stage (apart from the team time trial).

Favorites for the Maillot Verde

Among the fastest sprinters in the race are probably the winner from 2014 John Degenkolb, Magnus Cort and Sacha Modolo, but with only ~5 stages suitable to end in a sprint, it is probably more likely to be a gc rider again who takes the jersey in the 2017 edition of the race. Among the other favorites are those gc riders with a good sprint, like Julian Alaphilippe, Wilco Kelderman or Esteban Chaves, who came close two years ago already. But also Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali or Fabio Aru could win the jersey if either of them ends up dominating on the climbs - or even an outsider like Carlos Betancur or José Gonçalves, in case one of them takes green during the hilly stages of the first week and then focuses to defend the jersey for the rest of the race.

Clasificación de montaña

The mountain classification of the Vuelta a España has a long tradition, first established in 1935, when it was won by Italian Edoardo Molinar. Until 2005 the leader in the classification was awarded with green jersey, before it it turned orange in 2006, and finally white with blue dots in 2010. It's sponsored by the Loterias y Apuestas del Estado.

Over the past year, it was more often won by opportunists rather than gc riders

YEAR	1st	2nd	3rd
2016	Omar Fraile	Kenny Elissonde	Robert Gesink
2015	Omar Fraile	Rubén Plaza	Fränk Schleck
2014	Luis León Sánchez	Alberto Contador	Alejandro Valverde
2013	Nicolas Edet	Chris Horner	Daniele Ratto
2012	Simon Clarke	David de la Fuente	Joaquim Rodríguez

The points scheme remains unchanged, there are no double points awarded at the mountain top finishes as in the Tour de France, for example.

CATEGORY	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Cima Alberto Fernández (1x)	20	15	10	6	4	2
Categoría especial (3x)	15	10	6	4	2
1ª categoría (14x)	10	6	4	2	1
2ª categoría (10x)	5	3	1
3ª categoría (20x)	3	2

In total, a maximum of 315 points are available, 91 of those at the stage finishes. This year's Cima Alberto Fernández is the Alto Hoya de la Mora, the finish of stage 15.

Contrary to past editions there are no stand-out breakaway stages with a load of points available though. Stages 3, 5, 12, 17, 19 and 20 all come with ~15-25 points on offer underway, but there's no opportunity to seal the jersey in one or two stages alone - unless the breakaway stays clear on a mountain top finish.

Favorites for the Maillot es Blanco con Puntos Azules

To name a favorite for the mountain classification used to be very tough after David Mouncoutie's retirement a couple of years ago, but since then Omar Fraile has taken over, winning the jersey two times in a row now, and he will surely aim to make it three in 2017. Generally, the jersey was often won by a rider who took it early on and then defended it, benefiting from to a lack of interest among the other teams. That way Simon Clarke and Nicolas Edet were able to take the glory in the most mountainous grand tour of the year. despite a lack of first class climbing abilities.

With the relatively point-heavy stages 3 and 5 early on in the race something similar might happen this year. The Wild Card teams are usually among those very interested in the jersey, having taken it 3 times during the past 5 years. Among those riders could be Lluís Mas, Dani Navarro, Larry Warbasse or Juan Pablo Villegas. They are likely to fierce strong competition from Warren Barguil, Darwin Atapuma or Alexandre Geniez though, who all may have an eye on it. But also the gc riders are possible contenders of course, in case the escapees keep snatching away the points from each other.

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in case anyone was wondering about the points association on the (brutal, 1,6% over 2400m) climb during the TTT...



"The points for the Nimes Climb (3rd categories), will be owarded [sic] according to the first tree [sic] riders of the fastest team in that climb"

Source: Rulebook, page 7

[LukasCPH]

"The points for the Nimes Climb (3rd categories), will be owarded [sic] according to the first tree [sic] riders of the fastest team in that climb"

Source: Rulebook, page 7

Oh. My. God.
I have so many comments ... but it isn't worth it.

[Carlo Algatrensig]

in case anyone was wondering about the points association on the (brutal, 1,6% over 2400m) climb during the TTT...



"The points for the Nimes Climb (3rd categories), will be owarded [sic] according to the first tree [sic] riders of the fastest team in that climb"

Source: Rulebook, page 7

That English translation of the rule book looks as if someone had it dictated to them by Sean Kelly and they just wrote it down how it sounded. Will have a look later to see if there are any mention of "Bonifications" or "Making the calculation" in there.

[LukasCPH]

That English translation of the rule book looks as if someone had it dictated to them by Sean Kelly and they just wrote it down how it sounded. Will have a look later to see if there are any mention of "Bonifications" or "Making the calculation" in there.

Yeah, the language of it is one thing.
Another thing is that it is surely possible to time every rider on the climb ... they just don't bother to do it and instead make it up as they go.

[Carlo Algatrensig]

Yeah, the language of it is one thing.
Another thing is that it is surely possible to time every rider on the climb ... they just don't bother to do it and instead make it up as they go.

Or just do what I think they have done in the past when they have started with a TTT which is give the GC jersey to the first rider across the line from the winning team. Give the Points jersey to the first rider across the line from the second team and give the mountains jersey to the first rider across the line from the third team. All jerseys are still given a presentation at the end of the stage and all are worn during the opening road stage so sponsors of competitions should be happy you'd hope.

[LukasCPH]

Or just do what I think they have done in the past when they have started with a TTT which is give the GC jersey to the first rider across the line from the winning team. Give the Points jersey to the first rider across the line from the second team and give the mountains jersey to the first rider across the line from the third team. All jerseys are still given a presentation at the end of the stage and all are worn during the opening road stage so sponsors of competitions should be happy you'd hope.

And you'll have three (or even four) teams happy to have a jersey, too!

[Carlo Algatrensig]

And you'll have three (or even four) teams happy to have a jersey, too!

Yes I forgot 4th team across the line get the combined jersey.