What do different colour jerseys mean at Vuelta?

There are four different jerseys used to differentiate the classifications at the Vuelta a Espana.

A red, a green, a polka-dot and a white jersey is handed out at the end of each stage with the leader in each category wearing it during the next stage.

Riders will battle it out for those jerseys over 21 stages - a mix of flat, hilly and mountain stages - over a distance of 3,151km.

The red jersey

The red jersey is worn by the leader of the general classification. The overall leader, this is the rider who has taken the lowest accumulated time over the course of the race.

At the end of each stage, the race leader is presented with the red jersey and will wear it the following day.

The Vuelta leaders' jersey has changed colours a number of times during its history. It was orange in 1935, its inaugural year, before switching to white.

Having been staged only intermittently from the late 1930s onwards, the Vuelta returned to the cycling calendar in 1955, and organisers adopted the yellow jersey worn in the Tour de France.

It changed again to a gold jersey in 1998, before the red jersey was formally adopted in 2010.

The 2024 Vuelta was won by Primoz Roglic - his fourth victory in the event.

The green jersey

The green jersey is handed to the rider with the most accumulated sprint points at the end of the race.

Riders build up points depending on their positions at the end of each stage. They gain more points for finishes on flat stages, and the fewest for mountain stages and time trials.

Competitors also gain points by winning the intermediate sprint on each stage of the tour - but only the first five riders to cross the line can earn points in the Vuelta.

Kaden Groves won the green jersey in 2023 and 2024, but the Australian is not competing this year.

Polka-dot jersey

The polka-dot jersey is awarded to the rider who collects the most points to lead the mountains classification.

The winner is commonly referred to as the 'King of the Mountains'.

The Vuelta jersey has blue polka dots instead of the red dots seen on the Tour de France version.

White jersey

The white jersey is awarded to the highest-placed rider in the general classification who was under 26 at the start of the year.

The shirt was previously awarded to the winner of the combination classification until 2018, but was changed so the Vuelta could fall into line with the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia.

Denmark's Mattias Skjelmose is the defending holder of the white jersey.

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